Esperanza is a city in the center of the
province
A province is an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire, Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...
of
Santa Fe, Argentina. It has 46,753 inhabitants according to the and it is the head town of the
Las Colonias Department.
Esperanza is at the heart of the most important
dairy district of the country (milk production is based on the
Holando-Argentino breed). Cattle farming is also a major activity. Additionally it hosts many small and medium industries in a variety of sectors (wood, metal mechanics, food products, book printing, editorials, textile, leather, etc.).
History
Esperanza was the first formally organized
agricultural colony in Argentina, formed by 200 families of
immigrants from Switzerland, Germany, France, Italy, Belgium and
Luxembourg
Luxembourg, officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, is a landlocked country in Western Europe. It is bordered by Belgium to the west and north, Germany to the east, and France on the south. Its capital and most populous city, Luxembour ...
who arrived during January and February 1856. The town was officially founded on 8 September 1856. The lands for each family in the colony had been set aside on 15 June 1853 by an agreement (the Agricultural Colonization Contract) between the government of Santa Fe and the entrepreneur
Aarón Castellanos. The original name of the city was Colonia Esperanza, that is "Colony Hope".
The city was the third one in the province to have a Municipal Council, after
Rosario
Rosario () is the largest city in the central provinces of Argentina, Argentine province of Santa Fe Province, Santa Fe. The city, located northwest of Buenos Aires on the west bank of the Paraná River, is the third-most populous city in the ...
and
Santa Fe, on 4 May 1861. It was declared the head town of its department in 1884. In 1892, it hosted the first Agricultural Congress of the Republic.
In 1944, the national government decreed that September 8, the feast of the birth of the Virgin Mary (patron of Esperanza), was to be the National Day of the Agricultural Worker, and in 1979 Esperanza was declared permanent seat of the National Festival of Agriculture and National Agricultural Worker Day.
Notable people
*
Fernando Paillet, photographer
*
Gastón Gori, essayist, writer
*
Eduardo Gudiño Kieffer, writer and journalist
*
Álvaro Alsogaray, politician
*
José Pedroni, poet and writer
*
Aldo Tessio, politician
*
Hector Borla, visual artist
*
Sebastian Spreng, visual artist
*
Matías Donnet, football player
Sister Cities
Esperanza is
twinned with:
*
Champéry, Switzerland (2012)
*
Hérémence, Switzerland (2012)
*
Riddes, Switzerland (2012)
*
Saint-Martin, Switzerland (2012)
*
Trient, Switzerland (2012)
*
Vex, Switzerland (2012)
References
{{Authority control
Populated places in Santa Fe Province
Cities in Argentina