San Juan Province (Argentina)
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| San Juan | ||
| Province | ||
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| Divisions | 19 departments | |
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| Coordinates | 30°45′S 68°38′W / 30.75°S 68.633°W | |
| Capital | San Juan | |
| Area | 89,651 km² (34,614 sq mi) | |
| Population | 620,023 (2001) | |
| Density | 6.92 /km² (18 /sq mi) | |
| Governor | José Luis Gioja (2003-2011) | |
| - Senators | Roberto Basualdo, Cesar Gioja, Marina Riofrio | |
| ISO 3166-2 code | AR-J | |
| Demonym | Sanjuanino | |
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| Website: http://www.sanjuan.gov.ar | ||
San Juan is a province of Argentina, located in the western part of the country. Neighbouring provinces are, moving clockwise from the north, La Rioja, San Luis and Mendoza. It borders Chile on the west.
The province has an area of 89,651 km2, within which highlights a mountainous little vegetation, fertile oases, turbulent rivers of melting mountain range, mountain ranges and major mining sites and paleontological.
How economic activity stands agriculture, stressing first the wine, with many plantations vid is, has a remarkable production of oil and industry olivícola partner and also a good variety of fruit and vegetables That are produced in the fertile valleys irrigated by artificial channels at the foot of the Andes. As the industry stands of the came, this being the second province in volume production at the national level and in South America, in turn possess outstanding varietal wines. It also highlights an important activity by Mining and the search for oil, in recent years.
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[edit] History
Huarpes, Diaguitas, Capazanes, Olongastas and Yacampis, with influences of the Inca empire, inhabited the area before the arrival of the Spanish conquistadores.
The city of San Juan de la Frontera was founded by Juan Jufré y Montesa in 1562 and relocated 2 kilometres south in 1593 due to the frequent flooding of the San Juan River.
In 1776, the year in which San Juan passed to the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata, an earthquake almost completely destroyed the city.
The father of Argentine independence, Gen. Jose de San Martin, was appointed Governor of Cuyo in 1814 (at the time, the area included San Juan). From there, San Martin began his legendary crossing of the Andes, one of military history's great tactical decisions. San Juan, then a small town, was a great supporter of 's expedition to cross the Andes, supplying gold, men and mules.
In 1820, San Juan was granted autonomy from the Province of Cuyo, thereby becoming a province, itself. The remainder of Cuyo became Mendoza Province.
Following an era of international isolation for Argentina, the advent of new, more liberal government in 1853 attracted a number of exiled intellectuals back into Argentina. Among these, was a San Juan military officer and novelist named Domingo Sarmiento. Sarmiento was eventually elected governor in 1862, pursuing sorely needed public works investments and enacting Argentina's first laws mandating compulsory, modern education (something which, according to a census in that era, about 80% of the adult population lacked). Elected President of Argentina in 1868, these policies became national law.
In 1944 a moderate, yet highly destructive earthquake near the capital destroyed most of the city and killed 10,000 people. A fundraiser to benefit the victims of the quake was instrumental in the meeting of Colonel Juan Perón and his eventual wife and political companion Eva Duarte.
A more powerful earthquake stuck the same city in 1977; but, new construction codes put in effect following the 1944 incident kept damage to a relative minimum. The most noteworthy loss following this event was that of the Cathedral of San Juan (image, at top). A new, modernist house of worship was quickly put up in its place and inaugurated in 1979.
Among the most rapidly growing provinces in Argentina after 1945, the national government appropriated funds for the construction of the National University of San Juan, which opened its doors in 1973. Congress further responded to the needs of San Juan's growing agricultural sector by breaking ground in the mid '70s for the largest hydrostructural project in the province up to that point, the Ullum Dam and Reservoir. On line since 1980, it's contributed to the province's becoming an rival to larger, neighboring Mendoza Province in the production of irrigated desert crops, like olives, figs and, most importantly, wine grapes. San Juan is now Argentina's second largest producer of these three valuable crops.
In 2005, Barrick Gold Corporation, one of the world's largest gold-mining concerns, announced the purchase of large tracts in the San Juan andes. These have, so far, been yielding over 11,000 ounces of gold yearly, though evidence suggests these activities may be having an adverse impact on San Juan's glaciers.
In 2007, Barrick Gold installed the world's highest-situated wind turbine at the Veladero mine in San Juan Province at nearly 4,200m elevation.[1]
[edit] Geography and climate
The province is part of the continental semi-desert Cuyo region. The arid plains on the east, with a few low sierras (hills), swiftly turn into 6,000-meter-high mountain peaks towards the west. Both areas are subject to the dry hot Zonda (a kind of foehn wind). Most of the precipitations take place during the summer, often as storms.
The hot wind has modeled the clay-rich red soil into Pampa del Leoncito (Reserva Natural Estricta El Leoncito) and Valle de la Luna (Parque Provincial Ischigualasto) 200 million year old geological formations.
The Jáchal and San Juan rivers, both part of Desaguadero River system, are the source of fertile valleys and centre of the province's economy. The San Juan River finishes in the Huanacache lagoons (sometimes called Guanacache), on the southeast.
[edit] Population
San Juan concentrates most of its population in the oases or central valleys, Tulum Valley, Zonda, Ullum and Jáchal, Containing nearly 80% of this population. In the minority the rest of that percentage is located in the oasis located at the foot of the Andes in Church and Calingasta, where small towns are viewed mainly dedicated to agriculture and tourism in recent times. Another concentration is in Fertile Valley, in a little organized in small villages scattered.
[edit] Economy
San Juan focuses its economy in agriculture, where stands the vine. In the industry highlighted the development of wine and preserved foods. Has also started to develop intensively mining, with the extraction of various minerals, together with several multinational companies. Tourism is growing every year, and this is becoming an important source of revenue for the province.
San Juan's is a somewhat underdeveloped, yet diversified, economy. Its output was estimated in 2006 at US$3.6 billion, or US$5,820 per capita (a third less than the national average).[2]
Now about 10% of output, agriculture has traditionally played a small, though significant role in San Juan's economy, in that the province produces crops not widely grown in most of the rest of Argentina. This is especially so in regards to wine. San Juan is the second-largest producer of Argentine Wine, after neighboring Mendoza Province.
The vine reaches San Juan between the years 1569 and 1589 at the hands of Spanish conquistadors. Favored by optimal weather conditions and soil, the winemaking largely expressed and accelerated development in the province. AI beginning occurred in small volume, limited to meet the needs of small communities in the colony. We faced several difficulties on the one hand the arid climate forced to build dams and irrigation systems artificial (channels) and on the other hand the jurisdiction of products from Europe higher quality.
Viticulture is the main crop of the province's economy, with some 500 km² (56% of the productive area), and the later wine production from 90% of the crop. San Juan is the second Argentine wine producer after the Mendoza Province. Other plantations include tomato, maize, potato, fig, peach and many others.
Since 1980, San Juan has experienced an industrial expansion that now includes, in addition to the wineries, food processing plants and chemical factories, plastics, iron, auto parts and textiles. Manufacturing now accounts for nearly 20% of San Juan's output.
Also important is the mining industry of very different materials, from gold and lead to graphite and clay. Other industries include food industry and conserves, textiles and mineral processing
In the year 2000, the province came into mineral development with the Veladero Project, which, on the first year of mining alone, yielded more than 11,000 ounces of gold. These efforts were highlighted with more projects including the Easter Lama, with the particularity that it is shared with neighbouring Chile.
Large-acale efforts began, in 2006, in the exploration for petroleum north of the capital, in the department of Jáchal.
Energy production is mainly hydroelectrical, produced by a few dams such as Quebrada de Ullum, La Roza, San Emiliano and El Pinar Station, which also help regulate water the level for irrigation of the arid lands. Electricity is also produced, in a lesser proportion, by thermal power stations.
As throughout Argentina, San Juan is beginning to have considerable income from tourism. Ischigualasto Provincial Park, San Guillermo National Park and Mercedario Hill have long been the main tourist attractions, where tourists come from all over the world (mainly from Europe), also underscoring ecotourism and adventure tourism. Beginning in 2005, a trend towards agrotourism started, particularly around the wine industry, creating the so-called "Wine Routes."
International tourism is not very developed in the province and it has long consisted mainly of local visitors. Its main attractions are the city of San Juan (and birth house of Sarmiento) the Ischigualasto Provincial Park, the Ullum Dam, the Pismanta hot springs, and the pagan Difunta Correa shrine.
[edit] Political division
The province is divided into 19 departments (Spanish: departamentos).
Department (Capital) The province is divided into 19 departments. The Constitution that governs the province was passed in 1986.
In San Juan departments and municipalities are the same entity, these date back to the fitted, which marked the institutional life of America when it was under Spanish rule, after the May Revolution desaparcer and began in San Juan ceased to exist in 1821.
In 1824, Governor Martin Yanzón organized the territory of the province into two departments,Department of the North 'andDepartment of the South ", with three [ [district]] s each. Later, a regiment of irrigation in 1851 San Juan divided into regional sections, each headed by a board of irrigation.
The first provincial constitution of 1856 after an organization in the Department s in the district s, but in 1909 was completed to determine more precisely the boundaries, headers and their respective names. Later legislation made changes in this area, but until 1942 was not set the current track in 19 departments.
- Albardón (General San Martín)
- Angaco (Villa del Salvador)
- Calingasta (Tamberías)
- Capital (San Juan)
- Caucete (Caucete)
- Chimbas (Paula Alabarracín de Sarmiento)
- Iglesia (Rodeo)
- Jáchal (San José de Jáchal)
- Nueve de Julio (9 de Julio)
- Pocito (Villa Alberastain)
- Rawson (Villa Krause)
- Rivadavia (Rivadavia)
- San Martín (San Isidro)
- Santa Lucía (Santa Lucía)
- Sarmiento (Media Agua)
- Ullum (Ibañez)
- Valle Fértil (San Agustín)
- Veinticinco de Mayo (Santa Rosa)
- Zonda (Basilio Nievas)
[edit] Tourism
San Juan known as the land of the sun has mountains, valleys and turbulent rivers of melting of the Andes to create a unique landscape, has numerous attractions, which are beginning to be intensively exploited for tourism.
As in all the Argentina, San Juan is beginning to take conciderables nature tourism revenues, and the Ischigualasto Provincial Park, the main tourist attraction, where tourists come from all over the world mainly in Europe, also highlights ecotourism with San Guillermo National Park and adventure tourism, with stairs to the hill Mercedario. Also from the year 2005, started operation of a tourism theme vasado in wine, with the creation of so-calledWine Routes ", and this province in 2006 which became the leader in wine tourism as the province where it increased the number of visitors to the cave s, almost 80% compared to 2005, according to a report by "Bodegas de Argentina". The visits went from 41,460 to 74,481 a year.
It also is developing strongly with tourism infrastructure related to the installation of a considerable number of hotels and other accommodation. Heavily developed areas are the northwest, in the town of Rodeo, where posts have been installed and countryside hotels of all kinds, to develop a rural tourism, adventure and relaxation. The west in the towns of Calingasta Barreal and Tamberías, to develop a tourism venture with the practice of climbing the hill to climb Mercedario, as also for leisure and rest princiapalmente chosen by tourists from the big cities. The northern zone, Jáchal, is known for cultural tourism related to the gaucho tradition. Par excellence is the area east and northeast with the Fertile Valley, the strongest from the point of view of tourism infrastructure and because it is obligated to address Ischigualasto, but also highlights in the locality of Vallecito, department Caucete, a shrine that honors a
the popular Difunta Correa, much visited by tourists from around the country. And of course also receives a significant amount of tourists the San Juan, known for its modern architecture that differentiates it from others in the rest of the country, with wide tree-lined streets as well as hardwood parks, plazas and walkways, making excel in the desert from San Juan, is the cause for which has the nickname of 'city oasis'. It has attractions such as Sarmiento's birthplace and modern Cathedral, among others.
Are also various civic celebrations that pay homage to the economic activities and natural events that highlights the Fiesta Nacional del Sol, which takes the form of annual parades carousel and various artistic performances.
Are also implementing projects related to the construction of a ski, which is located in the high mountain area Calingasta in the Department, west of the province, has the largest ski in South America and the particularity of being the ski resort located further north of Argentina, and it is known under the nameManantiales'
[edit] Transportation
San Juan has a good road infrastructure, as most of the routes that connect with the rest of the country are in very good condition. Domestic routes such as the RN40, which crosses from north to south and joins the provinces of Mendoza and La Rioja, RN20, linking the city with Buenos Aires and Cordoba, RN150, which allows a connection to the country of Chile and a future with the province of La Rioja and the entire north-connecting provincial Fertile Valley, Jáchal and Church, to the border with Chile, which is a vital part of the strategic corridor bioceanic.
This project in this province for the construction of a communication path connecting ports interocean Pacific (Coquimbo, Chile) and Atlantic (Porto Alegre, Brazil) by Paso de Agua Negra, it raised a need for more than a decade. This route is a "physical-territorial" to expedite the trade of the countries of the Southern Cone Latinoamericano (Mercosur and Chile). Its importance lies in the Southern Cone need to put their export production in the global market, with the main objective of the market Asia - Pacific. This would cause an increase in trade by encouraging the export production in the catchment areas of the Corridor. La Chilena Region IV (Coquimbo) requires the loading of the Argentine producers for its port operations more dynamic than it is today. While San Juan is waiting for the reactivation of the northern (Jachal Ischigualasto and Iglesia) of it, from the point both economic and tourism
The collective transport of long distance traveling on almost all the national and provincial roads in the province for all other provinces and cities of the country. It is served in the modern bus terminal with which the province has one in the city of San Juan in the other San Jose de Jáchal and the city of Caucete, which is currently in construction. By bus it takes around 18 hours to the city of Buenos Aires.
In air transport, leaving the province with domestic flights to the city of Buenos Aires, has an airport, the Domingo Faustino Sarmiento Airport. Aircraft cabotage takes 90 min to reach Buenos Aires.
The system of public transportation in the City of San Juan and surrounding areas (Big John), include bus identified with numbers and letters with routes that connect downtown with other cities such as Villa Krause Rivadavia, Santa Lucia Villa Paula Sarmiento Albarracín and Aberastain remise and taxis, but uncontrolled growth in population has led the study for the instslación new means of transport, is why this project in the installation of bus and streetcar.
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[edit] See also
[edit] References
[edit] External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: San Juan |
- Official page (Spanish)
- Tourist office (Spanish)
- Universidad Nacional de San Juan (Spanish)
- Diario de Cuyo (Newspaper - Spanish)
- San Juan Tourist Guide (English - Spanish - German)
- San Juan Events Guide (Spanish)
- CuyoNoticias (digital newspaper - Spanish-English)
