Antofagasta de la Sierra is a village in

Catamarca Province Catamarca () is a province of Argentina, located in the northwest of the country. The province had a population of 334,568 as per the , and covers an area of 102,602 km2. Its literacy rate is 95.5%. Neighbouring provinces are (clockwise, fr ...

, Argentina. It is the head town of the

Antofagasta de la Sierra Department Antofagasta de la Sierra is the northernmost Departments of Argentina, department of Catamarca Province in Argentina. The provincial subdivision has a population of about 1,300 inhabitants in an area of , and its capital city is Antofagasta de ...

. Antofagasta de la Sierra is a high altitude settlement, the majority of its inhabitants are descended from the

Diaguita The Diaguita people are a group of South American indigenous people native to the Chilean Norte Chico and the Argentine Northwest. Western or Chilean Diaguitas lived mainly in the Transverse Valleys which incised in a semi-arid environment. Ea ...

s and

Atacameño The Atacama people, also called Atacameño, are indigenous people from the Atacama Desert and altiplano region in the north of Chile and Argentina and southern Bolivia, mainly Antofagasta Region. According to the Argentinean Census in 2010, 13,93 ...

Economy

The local economy is based on agriculture and farming; the residents keep sheep and llama and grow vegetables. Tourism plays an important part in the local economy as many tourists come to see the nearby mountains, volcanoes and

caldera A caldera ( ) is a large cauldron-like hollow that forms shortly after the emptying of a magma chamber in a volcano eruption. When large volumes of magma are erupted over a short time, structural support for the rock above the magma chamber is ...

s, including Galán caldera and the Antofagasta de la Sierra volcanic field. The village holds an annual Festival of the dead.

External links

Catamarca Guide
Populated places in Catamarca Province Puna de Atacama {{Catamarca-geo-stub