San Miguel de Tucumán (usually referred to as simply
Tucumán) is the largest
cityA city is a relatively large and permanent settlement, particularly a large urban settlement. Although there is no agreement on technical definitions distinguishing a city from a town within general English language meanings, many cities have a particular administrative, legal, or historical status...
in northern
ArgentinaArgentina, officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America, constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires. It is the eighth largest country in the world by land area and the largest among Spanish-speaking nations, though Mexico,...
, with a population of 527,607 per the . The
metropolitan areaA metropolitan area is a large population center consisting of a large metropolis and its adjacent zone of influence, or of more than one closely adjoining neighboring central cities and their zone of influence...
totals 830,000, making it the fifth-largest in the country. It is the capital of the
province of TucumánFor the city of Tucumán, capital of the province, see: San Miguel de TucumánTucumán is the most densely populated, and the smallest by land area, of the provinces of Argentina, located in the northwest of the country. The capital is San Miguel de Tucumán, often shortened to Tucumán. Neighboring...
. It was founded in 1565 by
SpanishSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain , is a country located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.
[The Spanish constitution does not establish any official denomination of the country, even though España , Estado español and Nación española are used interchangeably...]
ConquistadorConquistador is the term widely used to refer to the Spanish soldiers, explorers, and adventurers who brought much of the Americas under the control of Spain in the 15th through the 17th centuries following Europe's discovery of the New World by Christopher Columbus in 1492...
Diego de Villarroel, travelling south from
PeruPeru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean.Peruvian territory was home to the Norte Chico...
and was moved to the present site in 1685.
The city is bordered on the north by Las Talitas (Tafí Viejo), on the east by
Banda del Río SalíBanda del Río Salí is a city in the Tucumán Province, Argentina. It is the department seat and the largest and most populated city in the Cruz Alta Department. The 2001 Census counted a population of 64,591....
and Alderetes (Cruz Alta), on the west by the city of
Yerba BuenaYerba Buena is the capital of the Yerba Buena Department in the province of Tucumán, Argentina. It's located at coordinates , at an altitude of around 466 meters ....
, and on the south by Lules.
The city sits on the slopes of the Aconquija mountains, the easternmost mountain range before the large
ChacoThe Gran Chaco is a sparsely populated, hot and semi-arid lowland region of the Río de la Plata basin, divided between eastern Bolivia, Paraguay, northern Argentina and a portion of the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso. This land is sometimes called the Chaco Plain.-Geography: The Gran Chaco is...
-Pampean flats. It is the commercial center of an irrigated area that produces large quantities of
sugarcaneSugarcane, or sugar cane, is any of six to thirty-seven species of tall perennial grasses of the genus Saccharum . Native to warm temperate to tropical regions of Asia, they have stout, jointed, fibrous stalks that are rich in sugar, and measure two to six meters tall...
,
riceRice is the seed of a monocot plant Oryza sativa, of the grass family . As a cereal grain, it is the most important staple food for a large part of the world's human population, especially in East, South, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Latin America, and the West Indies...
,
tobaccoTobacco is an agricultural product processed from the leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana. It can be consumed, used as an organic pesticide, and in the form of nicotine tartrate it is used in some medicines. In consumption it most commonly appears in the forms of smoking, chewing, snuffing, or...
, and
fruitThe term fruit has different meanings dependent on context, and the term is not synonymous in food preparation and biology. Fruits are the means by which flowering plants disseminate seeds, and the presence of seeds indicates that a structure is most likely a fruit, though not all seeds come from...
, and provides the province with its nickname, the Garden of the Republic. The National University of Tucumán (1914) and the Saint Thomas Aquinas University of the North (1965) are in the city.
On July 9, 1816 a
congress gathered in TucumánThe Congress of Tucumán was the representative assembly of the United Provinces of the River Plate formed in 1816, initially meeting in Tucumán. The Congress declared the independence of Argentina on July 9 1816....
declared the independence from
SpainSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain , is a country located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.
[The Spanish constitution does not establish any official denomination of the country, even though España , Estado español and Nación española are used interchangeably...]
, which did not officially recognize it until 1862. The meeting place of the congress, the
House of TucumánThe House of Tucumán is a historical building and museum located in San Miguel de Tucumán, Argentina, where an assembly of delegates from several provinces of the country declared independence from Spain on 9 July, 1816.The house is a typical colonial-age...
, has been reconstructed as a national monument.
Its Telephone Code is 0381, and its Postal Code is T4000 (Center), T4001 (North), T4002 (South) and T4003 (East).
Tourist attractions
- Cathedral
- Federación Económica Building
- Independence House
- Independence Square
- La Merced Church
- Museum of Northern Folklore
- Museum of Sacred Art
- Ninth of July Park
Ninth of July Park is the largest public park in the city of San Miguel de Tucumán, Argentina.-History and overview:Economic growth in the Argentine Northwest city of Tucumán, as in cities nationwide, created the need for unprecendented urban improvements during the late nineteenth century...
- Padilla House
- President Avellaneda's House
- San Francisco Basilica
- Timoteo Navarro Museum of Art
- Tucumán Government Palace
The Tucumán Government Palace is the executive office building of the Government of the Province of Tucumán.-Overview:Tucumán Province, the most populous and economically important in the Argentine Northwest, lacked architecturally significant government offices, early in the 20th Century...
Cultural Life and Education
For decades, San Miguel de Tucumán has been one of the most outstanding cultural spots in the country, in part, due to the influence of the prestigious National University of Tucumán. It has been the birthplace and/or the home of well-known personalities such as folk singer
Mercedes SosaHaydée Mercedes Sosa, known as La Negra, was an Argentine singer who was popular throughout Latin America and internationally. With her roots in Argentine folk music, Sosa became one of the preeminent exponents of nueva canción. She gave voice to songs written by both Brazilians and Cubans...
, Rutgers University literature professor and noted author
Tomas Eloy MartínezTomás Eloy Martínez is an Argentine journalist and writer. He obtained a degree in Spanish and Latin American literature from the Universidad Nacional de Tucumán, and an MA at the University of Paris....
, musician Miguel Ángel Estrella, botanist Miguel Lillo, painter Luis Lobo de la Vega, and many others.
Two large theaters (San Martín and Alberdi) and several smaller and independent theaters offer a wide array of events, including plays, concerts, operas, and ballet, all year round. The
Septiembre Musical is by far the most important cultural event during the year. This music festival, generally held at Independence Square, brings together several local and national artists who perform different musical styles ranging from folk music to rock.
There are two public universities in the city, the National University of Tucumán and the
National Technological UniversityThe National Technological University is a national university of Argentina, which specializes in the teaching of engineering and hard sciences...
, and two private ones, the Saint Thomas Aquinas University of the North and the Saint Paul T University.
The city, since August 2008, has witnessed trials against high-ranking war criminals from the 1976-83
dictatorshipThe National Reorganization Process was the name used by its leaders for the military government that ruled Argentina from 1976 to 1983 The National Reorganization Process (in Spanish, Proceso de Reorganización Nacional, often simply El Proceso) was the name used by its leaders for the military...
.
Luciano MenéndezLuciano Benjamín Menéndez is a former Argentine general.Menéndez was born in the largely working-class Buenos Aires suburb of San Martín, in 1927. He enrolled in the National War College and was later transferred to Córdoba, where he was attached to the III Army Corps...
, a former colonel, was convicted for crimes against humanity including the kidnapping and disappearance of a senator (Guillermo Vargas Aignasse) on the night of the
golpe (coup). Many Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo have been seen in and around the Tucumán trials. The Menéndez and Ricardo Bussi trials were the first convictions against any military leaders of the dictatorship of Jorge Rafael Videla. The two condemnations were seen as symbolic victories (no conviction can ever replace their losses) for the mothers and grandmothers whose sons and husbands were disappeared by the military during that dark period of Argentine history.
Transportation
The city is served by several bus lines that have routes within the city limits, and some others that connect it to the neighbouring cities of Yerba Buena, El Manantial,
Tafí VejoTafí Viejo is an Argentine town in the Province of Tucumán. The municipality's population, as of the , was 48,459 inhabitants. Tafí Viejo is located 15 km north of the city of San Miguel de Tucumán, just west of National Route 9; today, it is an important suburb in the larger city's metro...
, Las Talitas,
Banda del Río SalíBanda del Río Salí is a city in the Tucumán Province, Argentina. It is the department seat and the largest and most populated city in the Cruz Alta Department. The 2001 Census counted a population of 64,591....
and
AlderetesAlderetes is a city in the Cruz Alta Department, Tucumán Province, Argentina. It is bordered in the north by the Burruyacu Department, in the east by the "comunas rurales" of La Florida-Luisiana, Delfín Gallo and Colombres; in the south by the city of Banda del Río Salí , and in the west by the...
.
The Teniente General Benjamín Matienzo International Airport (TUC/SANT) is the city's airport (though located east of the city, in the neighboring department of Cruz Alta) serving over 290,000 passengers a year. There are daily flights to
Buenos AiresBuenos Aires is the capital, and largest city, of Argentina, currently the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the eastern shore of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
, Jujuy,
Santiago del EsteroSantiago del Estero is the capital of Santiago del Estero Province in northern Argentina. It has a population of 244,733 inhabitants and a surface of 2,116 km². It lies on the Dulce River and on National Route 9, at a distance of 1,042 km north-northwest from Buenos Aires...
, Campo Arenal, the
Minera AlumbreraCampo Arenal Aerodrome is an airport in Campo Arenal in the Catamarca Province of Argentina.The airport was built in 1995, by Minera La Alumbrera. It has many regular flights by a company called American Jet, flying small aircraft bringing workers from larger cities...
Gold Mine, as well as international flghts to
Santa Cruz de la SierraSanta Cruz de la Sierra, commonly known as Santa Cruz, is the capital city of the Santa Cruz department in eastern Bolivia. The municipality's population was 1,528,683 inhabitants in 2006 and the urban population is 1,545,161 in 2008 which makes it the largest city in Bolivia.- History :Santa...
,
BoliviaBolivia, officially Plurinational State of Bolivia , is a landlocked country in central South America. It is bordered by Brazil to the north and east, Paraguay and Argentina to the south, and Chile and Peru to the west....
. The
Mauricio Gilli AerodromeMauricio Gilli Aerodrome is an airport situated 16 km west of Yerba Buena, a city in the Province of Tucumán in the North Western Argentina. It's commonly known as Aeroclub Tucumán....
is a Private Airport, located west from the city, for Private Aviation. It is locally known as Aeroclub.
There are two weekly railway service to the Retiro station in Buenos Aires, departing from the Bartolomé Mitre station located near downtown (in Plaza Alberdi).
San Miguel de Tucumán enjoys one of the largest bus stations in Argentina. The 30,000 m²
"Terminal del Tucumán" (opened in 1994) is the point from where hundreds of bus services arrive from and depart to almost all of the largest and mid-size cities throughout the country.
Media
San Miguel de Tucumán is home to two free-to-air television stations (
Channel 8Canal 8 de Tucumán is a television station transmitting from the capital of the Argentine province of Tucumán.-Local programming:...
and
Channel 10LW 83 TV Channel 10 Tucumán is one of the two free-to-air channels in the province of Tucumán, Argentina. It is owned and run by the National University of Tucumán. Its headquarters and studios are located in Yerba Buena, and its antenna in Villa Nougues...
), five newspapers (
La GacetaLa Gaceta newspaper was founded in Tucumán, Argentina on August 4, 1912 by Alberto Garcia Hamilton. It is currently the largest and most influential newspaper in the Tucumán Province, and is considered to be one of the main dailies in the country. In 1995, the daily's design was renewed and color...
,
El SigloEl Siglo is a newspaper edited in the city of San Miguel de Tucumán, Tucumán Province, Argentina. It was founded on December 4, 1990, as Siglo XXI, but the name was changed later....
,
El Periódico,
El Tribuno and
La Ciudad), three cable television companies (
CCC, ATS, and
TCC) and several radio stations.
Natives of Tucumán
- Julio A. Roca, former president
- César Pelli
César Pelli is an Argentine architect known for designing some of the world's tallest buildings and other major urban landmarks. His designs are known for their curved facades and metallic elements....
, architect
- Juan Bautista Alberdi
Juan Bautista Alberdi was an Argentine political theorist and diplomat. Although he lived most of his life in exile in Montevideo and Chile, he was one of the most influential Argentine liberals of his age....
, lawyer, writer, political theorist and diplomat
- Mercedes María Paz
Mercedes María Paz is a former professional tennis player from Argentina, who won three singles titles during her career on the WTA Tour. The right-hander reached her highest career ranking on April 29 1991, when she became the number 28 of the world...
(born June 27, 1966), professional tennis player
- Omar Hasan
Omar Hasan Jalil is a retired Argentine rugby union footballer. He last played for Stade Toulousain in the domestic French club competition, the Top 14. He has also played for Argentina, usually as a prop. He has played in over 50 Tests for the Pumas and has an international career with Argentina...
, professional rugby player
- Mercedes Sosa
Haydée Mercedes Sosa, known as La Negra, was an Argentine singer who was popular throughout Latin America and internationally. With her roots in Argentine folk music, Sosa became one of the preeminent exponents of nueva canción. She gave voice to songs written by both Brazilians and Cubans...
, folk music singer
- Tomás Eloy Martínez
Tomás Eloy Martínez is an Argentine journalist and writer. He obtained a degree in Spanish and Latin American literature from the Universidad Nacional de Tucumán, and an MA at the University of Paris....
, journalist and writer, author of Santa Evita
- Lorena Bernal
Lorena Bernal is an actress and model with Argentine and Spanish nationality. When she was one year old her family moved to San Sebastián, Spain. In 1999, at the age of 21, she became Miss Spain...
, model and actress
- Claudia Gargiulo, singer
- Ramón Ortega
Ramón Bautista Ortega is a famous Argentine singer and actor who is much better known as Palito Ortega...
, (known as Palito Ortega), former pop singer and politician
- Juan Ángel Krupoviesa, football (soccer) player
- Alejandro Romay, TV and Theatre producer, former owner of TV channel 9
- Pablo Rodríguez
Pablo Rodriguez is a Canadian Member of Parliament.Born in San Miguel de Tucumán, Argentina, he was a communication and management consultant before being elected as a Liberal to the Canadian House of Commons for the Quebec riding of Honoré-Mercier in 2004, 2006 and 2008.He was Chair of the...
, Canadian Member of Parliament, Honoré-Mercier Riding
External links