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La Rioja Province (Argentina)

 
La Rioja Province (Argentina)

 
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La Rioja Province (Argentina)
 
 
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La Rioja is a one of the provinces of Argentina
Provinces of Argentina

Argentina is subdivided into twenty-three provinces and one federal district . The federal district and the provinces have their own constitutions, but exist under a federal system....
 and is located in the west of the country. Neighboring provinces are from the north clockwise Catamarca
Catamarca Province

Catamarca is a Provinces of Argentina of Argentina, located in the northwest of the country. The capital is San Fernando del Valle de Catamarca, usually shortened to Catamarca....
, Córdoba, San Luis
San Luis Province

San Luis is a Provinces of Argentina of Argentina located near the geographical center of the country . Neighboring provinces are, from the north clockwise, La Rioja Province , C?rdoba Province , La Pampa, Mendoza Province and San Juan Province ....
 and San Juan.

Among Argentines it is famous and infamous as the province where former president and controversial figure Carlos Menem
Carlos Menem

Carlos Sa?l Menem Akil , usually known simply as Carlos Menem, was President of Argentina from July 8, 1989 to December 10, 1999 for the Justicialist Party ....
 was governor and caudillo
Caudillo

Caudillo is a Spanish word usually used to designate "a political-military leader at the head of an authoritarian power." At the beginning this word was used to refer to military power: Ind?bil and Mandonio, Viriato, Al-Mansur Ibn Abi Aamir , and other fighters of the Reconquista, even Sim?n Bolivar, Francisco Franco, etc., but in H...
.

lass="link1" onMouseover='showByLink("m1925598",this)' onMouseout='hide("m1925598")'href="http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Petroglyph">Petroglyph
Petroglyph

Petroglyphs are s created by removing part of a Rock surface by incising, pecking, carving, and abrading. Outside North America, scholars often use terms such as "carving", "engraving", or other descriptions of the technique to refer to such images....
s at the Talampaya National Park
Talampaya National Park

Talampaya National Park is a National Parks of Argentina located in the east/centre of La Rioja Province , Argentina. It was designated a provincial reserve in 1975 and in 1997 was declared a national park....
 dated around 10,000 years BCE
Anno Domini

, abbreviated as 'AD' or 'A.D.', and 'Before Christ', abbreviated as 'BC' or 'B.C.', are designations used to number years in the Julian calendar and Gregorian calendars....
 set original inhabitants long before the arrival of the Spanish conquerors
Spanish colonization of the Americas

The Spanish colonization of the Americas was Spain's conquest, settlement, and rule over much of the western hemisphere. Beginning with the arrival of Christopher Columbus in 1492, over three centuries the Spanish Empire expanded from early small settlements in the Caribbean to include Central America, most of South America, Mexico, what toda...
.






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La Rioja is a one of the provinces of Argentina
Provinces of Argentina

Argentina is subdivided into twenty-three provinces and one federal district . The federal district and the provinces have their own constitutions, but exist under a federal system....
 and is located in the west of the country. Neighboring provinces are from the north clockwise Catamarca
Catamarca Province

Catamarca is a Provinces of Argentina of Argentina, located in the northwest of the country. The capital is San Fernando del Valle de Catamarca, usually shortened to Catamarca....
, Córdoba, San Luis
San Luis Province

San Luis is a Provinces of Argentina of Argentina located near the geographical center of the country . Neighboring provinces are, from the north clockwise, La Rioja Province , C?rdoba Province , La Pampa, Mendoza Province and San Juan Province ....
 and San Juan.

Among Argentines it is famous and infamous as the province where former president and controversial figure Carlos Menem
Carlos Menem

Carlos Sa?l Menem Akil , usually known simply as Carlos Menem, was President of Argentina from July 8, 1989 to December 10, 1999 for the Justicialist Party ....
 was governor and caudillo
Caudillo

Caudillo is a Spanish word usually used to designate "a political-military leader at the head of an authoritarian power." At the beginning this word was used to refer to military power: Ind?bil and Mandonio, Viriato, Al-Mansur Ibn Abi Aamir , and other fighters of the Reconquista, even Sim?n Bolivar, Francisco Franco, etc., but in H...
.

History

Facundo Quiroga
Petroglyph
Petroglyph

Petroglyphs are s created by removing part of a Rock surface by incising, pecking, carving, and abrading. Outside North America, scholars often use terms such as "carving", "engraving", or other descriptions of the technique to refer to such images....
s at the Talampaya National Park
Talampaya National Park

Talampaya National Park is a National Parks of Argentina located in the east/centre of La Rioja Province , Argentina. It was designated a provincial reserve in 1975 and in 1997 was declared a national park....
 dated around 10,000 years BCE
Anno Domini

, abbreviated as 'AD' or 'A.D.', and 'Before Christ', abbreviated as 'BC' or 'B.C.', are designations used to number years in the Julian calendar and Gregorian calendars....
 set original inhabitants long before the arrival of the Spanish conquerors
Spanish colonization of the Americas

The Spanish colonization of the Americas was Spain's conquest, settlement, and rule over much of the western hemisphere. Beginning with the arrival of Christopher Columbus in 1492, over three centuries the Spanish Empire expanded from early small settlements in the Caribbean to include Central America, most of South America, Mexico, what toda...
. When they arrived to La Rioja in the 16th century they found the diaguita
Diaguita

The Diaguita, also called Diaguita-Calchaqu?, are a group of South American indigenous peoples of the Americas. The Diaguita culture developed between the 8th and 16th centuries in what are now the provinces of Salta Province, Catamarca Province, La Rioja Province and Tucum?n Province in Argentine Northwest Argentina, and in the At...
s, capayan
Capayán

The capayanes were an indigenous people nowadays deceased that lived in argentine territory today. ....
es and the olongastas.

Juan Ramírez de Velazco founded Todos los Santos de la Nueva Rioja in 1591 under the government of Tucumán
Tucumán Province

Tucum?n is a Provinces of Argentina of Argentina, located in the northwest of the country. The capital is San Miguel de Tucum?n, often shortened to Tucum?n....
 of the Viceroyalty of Peru
Viceroyalty of Peru

Created in 1542, the Viceroyalty of Peru was a Spanish colonial administrative district that originally contained most of Spanish Empire South America, governed from the capital of Lima....
. In 1630 there was an uprising of the Calchaquí
Calchaquí

The Calchaqu? were a tribe of South American Indigenous peoples of the Americas of the Diaguita group, now extinct, who formerly occupied northern Argentina....
es aborigins that was finished by governor Albornoz.

In 1783, after the creation of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata
Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata

The Viceroyalty of the R?o de la Plata was the last and most shortlived viceroyalty created by Spain in 1776. Its limits roughly contained the territories of present day Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay and Uruguay....
 the control of the province of 10,000 inhabitants passed to the Córdoba indendency. The province acquired independence from Córdoba in 1820. Following attempts by Argentina's first elected President, Bernardino Rivadavia
Bernardino Rivadavia

Bernardino de la Trinidad G?nzalez Rivadavia y Rivadavia was the first president of Argentina, from February 8 1826 to July 7 1827.Bernardino Rivadavia was of African descent and his political rivals used to call him Doctor Chocolate....
, to impose a centralist constitution, the figure of the caudillo
Caudillo

Caudillo is a Spanish word usually used to designate "a political-military leader at the head of an authoritarian power." At the beginning this word was used to refer to military power: Ind?bil and Mandonio, Viriato, Al-Mansur Ibn Abi Aamir , and other fighters of the Reconquista, even Sim?n Bolivar, Francisco Franco, etc., but in H...
 Juan Facundo Quiroga
Juan Facundo Quiroga

Juan Facundo Quiroga was an Argentina caudillo who supported federation at the time when the country was still in formation....
 emerged as a popular leader in touch with La Rioja locals' preference for more autonomy, something they preserved even following Quiroga's 1835 murder. After a period of internal instability in Argentina, the province finally joined the Argentine Confederation in 1853.
Enrique Angelelli 1
The wave of immigration Argentina experienced between 1880 and 1930 was less in evidence in La Rioja than in other Argentine provinces. Among the few to adventure to the province were Syria
Syria

Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is an Arab-majority country in Southwest Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Israel to the southwest, Jordan to the south, Iraq to the east, and Turkey to the north....
ns and Lebanese
Lebanon

Lebanon , officially the Republic of Lebanon or Lebanese Republic , is a country in Western Asia, on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea....
 immigrants. The most well-known of these are probably the Menem family, Syrian immigrants who settled in La Rioja in the 1920s. The newcomer, Saul Menem, prospered as a traveling salesman and his eldest son, Carlos Menem
Carlos Menem

Carlos Sa?l Menem Akil , usually known simply as Carlos Menem, was President of Argentina from July 8, 1989 to December 10, 1999 for the Justicialist Party ....
, became a stauch Peronist as a young man, becoming active in La Rioja politics. Elected governor in March, 1973, he implemented a number of reforms advocated by activists in touch with the province's poor, rural majority, particularly those of Bishop Enrique Angelelli
Enrique Angelelli

Enrique ?ngel Angelelli was a bishop of the Roman Catholic Church of Argentina, killed during the last Proceso de Reorganizaci?n Nacional for his involvement with social issues....
.

Removed and imprisoned following President Isabel Peron's March 1976, ouster, he was kept in illegal confinement until the end of 1980, reportedly tortured in the process. La Rioja, for its part, some of the subsequent dictatorship
National Reorganization Process

The National Reorganization Process was the name used by its leaders for the right-wing politics military dictatorship that ruled Argentina from 1976 to 1983 ....
's worst repression, including the brutal, August 1976, murder of Bishop Angelelli. Overwhelmingly returned to office when democracy was restored in 1983, Gov. Menem pursued more conservative policies, leveraging La Rioja's dry, agreeable climate, its modest wage scale and skilled work-force to successfully attract La Rioja's first significant presence of light industry, particularly bottling and food-processing.

Presiding over a growing La Rioja economy even as the nation's languished during the 1980s, Menem secured the Peronist Justicialist Party nomination in May 1988, defeating popular Buenos Aires Province
Buenos Aires Province

Buenos Aires Province is the most populated Provinces of Argentina of Argentina. The city of Buenos Aires, located next to provincial territory, is an autonomous city and not part of the province....
 Governor Antonio Cafiero
Antonio Cafiero

Antonio Francisco Cafiero is an Argentina Justicialist Party politician. Cafiero studied at the University of Buenos Aires and became an accountant in 1944, and a Doctor in Economic Sciences in 1948....
 in an upset.

President of Argentina between 1989 and 1999, Menem steered billions in federal public works spending into La Rioja and though the province remains less developed than average in Argentina, it's economy today compares favorably with those of its neighbors.

Geography and climate

Located in the Argentine Northwest
Argentine Northwest

The Argentine Northwest is a region of Argentina composed by the provinces of Catamarca Province, Jujuy Province, La Rioja Province , Salta Province, Santiago del Estero Province and Tucum?n Province....
 area, its landscape is arid to semi-arid, and the dry climate receives annually 200 mm of precipitations, has short winters and very hot summers.

From the Andes
Andes

The Andes form the world's longest exposed mountain range. They lie as a continuous chain of highland along the western coast of South America. The range is over 7,000 km long, 200-700 km wide , and of an average height of about 4,000 m ....
 at the west, with peaks of up to 6,795 meters (Monte Pissis
Monte Pissis

Monte Pissis is an extinct volcano in La Rioja Province , Argentina. The mountain is the third highest in the Western Hemisphere, and is located about 550 km north of Aconcagua....
), the relief's height descents towards the sierras of the neighbouring dry Pampa
Pampa

The Pampas are the fertile South American lowlands that include the Argentina provinces of Buenos Aires Province, La Pampa Province, Santa Fe Province, Argentina, and C?rdoba Province, Argentina, most of Uruguay, and the southernmost end of Brazil, Rio Grande do Sul, covering more than ....
s zone.

The Talampaya National Park
Talampaya National Park

Talampaya National Park is a National Parks of Argentina located in the east/centre of La Rioja Province , Argentina. It was designated a provincial reserve in 1975 and in 1997 was declared a national park....
 is a dry red-soil canyon of the ancient extinguished Talampaya river, which contains many walls and rock formations that make it an interesting tourist destination.

Economy

La Rioja's economy, estimated at US$1.8 billion in 2006, is the second-smallest among Argentina's provinces. Its per capita output of US$6,280, though about 30% below the national average, makes it the most well-developed in northern Argentina.

Its economy is, likewise, very well-diversified. Agriculture (long limited by La Rioja's dry, mountainous terrain) adds less than 5% to its output. La Rioja's agriculture
Agriculture

Agriculture refers to the production of food and goods through farming and forestry. Agriculture was the key development that led to the rise of civilization, with the animal husbandry of domestication animals and plants creating food surpluses that enabled the development of more Population density and Social stratification societies....
 (as well as cities) lays on the shore of the few permanents rivers and oasis that allow irrigation
Irrigation

Irrigation is an artificial application of water to the soil usually for assisting in growing crops. In crop production it is mainly used in dry areas and in periods of rainfall shortfalls, but also to protect plants against frost....
, with only 190 square kilometres of cultivated land. Vineyard
Vineyard

A vineyard is a plantation of grape-bearing vines, grown mainly for winemaking, but also raisins, table grapes and non-alcoholic grape juice. The science, practice and study of vineyard production is known as viticulture....
s, nut
Nut (fruit)

Nut is a general term for the large, dry, oily seed or fruit of some plant. While a wide variety of dried seeds and fruits are called nuts, only a certain number of them are considered by biologists to be true nuts....
s and olive
Olive

The Olive is a species of small tree in the family Oleaceae, native to the coastal areas of the eastern Mediterranean region, from Lebanon, Syria and the maritime parts of Turkey and northern Iran at the south end of the Caspian Sea....
 plantations are the most common, followed by cotton
Cotton

Cotton is a soft, staple fiber that grows in a form known as a boll around the seeds of the cotton plant a shrub native to tropical and subtropical regions around the world, including the Americas, India and Africa....
.

The province's main crop is the grape
Grape

File:Table grapes on white.jpgA grape is the non-Climacteric #In_botany fruit that grows on the Perennial plant and deciduous woody vines of the genus Vitis....
, and its associated wine
Wine

Wine is an alcoholic beverage often made of fermentation grape juice. The natural chemical balance of grapes is such that they can ferment without the addition of sugars, acids, enzymes or other nutrients....
 production, specially around the Chilecito
Chilecito

Chilecito is the second most important city in the Argentina provinces of Argentina of La Rioja Province , and head of the departments of Argentina of Chilecito Department....
 area, with a production of 8 million litres per year.

Cattle
Cattle

Cattle, colloquially referred to as cows, are domestication ungulates, a member of the subfamily Bovinae of the family Bovidae. They are raised as livestock for meat , dairy products , leather and as draft animals ....
 (250,000 heads) and goat
Goat

The domestic goat is a subspecies of goat domesticated from the wild goat of southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the Bovidae family and is closely related to the sheep: both are in the goat-antelope subfamily Caprinae....
s (150,000 heads) are secondary activities, particularly for skin and leather. Clay
Clay

Clay is a naturally occurring material composed primarily of fine-grained minerals, which show plasticity through a variable range of water content, and which can be hardened when dried and/or fired....
 represents the main mining activity, and uranium
Uranium

Uranium is a silvery-gray metallic chemical element in the actinide series of the periodic table that has the chemical symbol U and atomic number 92....
 is also extracted near El Colorado.

Manufacturing in La Rioja has expanded considerably since Gov. Menem began attracting investment into the province, after 1983. Limited mostly to light industry like bottling and food processing, it, nevertheless, adds about 20% to La Rioja's output. Tourism is, likewise, an expanding activity. Besides the Talampaya National Park
Talampaya National Park

Talampaya National Park is a National Parks of Argentina located in the east/centre of La Rioja Province , Argentina. It was designated a provincial reserve in 1975 and in 1997 was declared a national park....
, tourists visiting La Rioja usually go also to the Chilecito town, Cerro de La Cruz, Termas de Santa Teresita hot springs and the village of Villa Sanagasta.

La Rioja's development plan is being designed by Proyectos Innovadores

Political division

The province is divided in 18 departments
Departments of Argentina

Departments form the second level of administrative division in the provinces of Argentina. There are no departments in the city of Buenos Aires, which has so far been divided into neighbourhoods as its administrative divisions, but is to be divided now into communes by a recently passed local act....
 (Spanish departamentos).

  1. Arauco
    Arauco Department

    Arauco is a department of La Rioja Province, Argentina....
     (Aimogasta)
  2. Capital (La Rioja
    La Rioja, Argentina

    La Rioja is the capital city of the Argentina Provinces of Argentina of La Rioja Province , located on the east of the province....
    )
  3. Castro Barros (Aminga)
  4. Chamical (Chamical)
  5. Chilecito (Chilecito
    Chilecito

    Chilecito is the second most important city in the Argentina provinces of Argentina of La Rioja Province , and head of the departments of Argentina of Chilecito Department....
    )
  6. Coronel Felipe Varela (Villa Unión)
  7. Famatina (Famatina
    Famatina

    Famatina is a town in the provinces of Argentina of La Rioja Province , Argentina. It has 6,371 inhabitants as per the , and is the only municipality in the Famatina Department....
    )
  8. General ángel Vicente Peñaloza (Tama)
  9. General Belgrano (Olta)# General Juan Facundo Quiroga (Malazán)
  10. General Lamadrid (Villa Castelli)
  11. General Ocampo (Milagro)
  12. General San Martín (Ulapes)
  13. Independencia (Patquía)
  14. Rosario Vera Peñaloza (Chepes)
  15. San Blas (San Blas)
  16. Sanagasta (Sanagasta)
  17. Vinchina (Vinchina)


See also

  • 1894 San Juan earthquake
    1894 San Juan earthquake

    The 1894 San Juan earthquake was a major earthquake that took place in the provinces of Argentina of San Juan Province , Argentina, on 27 October 1894, at about 07:30 PM....


External links

  • Official website