The Iguazú National Park ( es, Parque Nacional Iguazú) is a

national park A national park is a nature park, natural park in use for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state dec ...

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

, located in the Iguazú Department, in the north of the

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''Roman province, provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire ...

Misiones Misiones (, ''Missions'') is one of the 23 provinces of Argentina, located in the northeastern corner of the country in the Mesopotamia region. It is surrounded by Paraguay to the northwest, Brazil to the north, east and south, and Corrientes P ...

, Argentine Mesopotamia. It has an area of .
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History

The area of the park was inhabited 10,000 years ago by the hunter-gatherers of the ''Eldoradense'' culture. They were displaced around 1,000 Common Era, CE by the

Guaraní Guarani, Guaraní or Guarany may refer to Ethnography * Guaraní people, an indigenous people from South America's interior (Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Bolivia) * Guaraní language, or Paraguayan Guarani, an official language of Paraguay * ...

, who brought new

agricultural Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating Plant, plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of Sedentism, sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of Domestication, domesticated species created food ...

technologies, and were displaced in turn by the Spanish and Portuguese

conquistador Conquistadors (, ) or conquistadores (, ; meaning 'conquerors') were the explorer-soldiers of the Spanish and Portuguese Empires of the 15th and 16th centuries. During the Age of Discovery, conquistadors sailed beyond Europe to the Americas, O ...

es in the 16th century, though their legacy is still alive in this area (the name of the park and the river is Guaraní ''y guasu'', "large water"). The first European to visit the zone was

Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca (; 1488/90/92"Cabeza de Vaca, Alvar Núñez (1492?-1559?)." American Eras. Vol. 1: Early American Civilizations and Exploration to 1600. Detroit: Gale, 1997. 50-51. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 10 Decembe ...

, in 1542;

Jesuit , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...

missions followed in 1609. The park was created in 1934 to protect one of the greatest natural beauties of Argentina, the

Iguazu Falls Iguazú Falls or Iguaçu Falls ( gn, Chororõ Yguasu , es, Cataratas del Iguazú, links=no ; pt, Cataratas do Iguaçu ) are waterfalls of the Iguazu River on the border of the Argentine province of Misiones and the Brazilian state of Paraná. ...

, surrounded by the subtropical jungle. The

Iguazú National Reserve The Iguazú National Reserve ( es, Reserva Nacional Iguazú) is a national reserve in the Misiones Province of northeastern Argentina. Location The Iguazú National Reserve is in the municipality of Puerto Iguazú. It has an area of . The reserv ...

was defined by law 18.801 of 7 October 1970 as constituting the western part of the Iguazú National Park. While the national park preserves nature with the least possible alteration, the reserve admits human activities and infrastructure. Creation of the reserve allowed construction of an international airport and alienation of land for three tourist hotels. Across the

Iguazu River __NOTOC__ The Iguazu River ( pt, Rio Iguaçu, br , es, Río Iguazú} ), also called Rio Iguassu, is a river in Brazil and Argentina. It is an important tributary of the Paraná River. The Iguazu River is long, with a drainage basin of . Cou ...

lies its

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

ian counterpart (

Iguaçu National Park Iguaçu National Park () is a national park in Paraná State, Brazil. It comprises a total area of and a length of about , of which are natural borders by bodies of water and the Argentine and Brazilian sides together comprise around . Iguaçu ...

). Both sites were declared

World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...

s by

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

, in 1984. The park would be part of the proposed

Trinational Biodiversity Corridor The Trinational Biodiversity Corridor ( pt, Corredor Trinacional de Biodiversidade) is a proposed ecological corridor that would link protected areas in the Alto Paraná Atlantic forests ecoregion in Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina. History The p ...

, which aims to provide forest connections between conservation units in Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina in the Upper Paraná ecoregion. The southeast of the park adjoins the

Urugua-í Provincial Park The Urugua-í Provincial Park ( es, Parque Provincial Urugua-í) is a Provincial park in the Misiones Province in the northeast of Argentina. It protects an area of Alto Paraná Atlantic forests in the upper basin of the Urugua-í River. Locati ...

, created in 1990.

Flora and fauna

The park lies within the

Alto Paraná Atlantic forests The Alto Paraná Atlantic forests, also known as the Paraná-Paraíba interior forests, is an ecoregion of the tropical moist forests biome, and the South American Atlantic Forest biome. It is located in southern Brazil, northeastern Argentina, ...

ecoregion An ecoregion (ecological region) or ecozone (ecological zone) is an ecologically and geographically defined area that is smaller than a bioregion, which in turn is smaller than a biogeographic realm. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of l ...

. The

fauna Fauna is all of the animal life present in a particular region or time. The corresponding term for plants is ''flora'', and for fungi, it is '' funga''. Flora, fauna, funga and other forms of life are collectively referred to as '' biota''. Zoo ...

of the park includes several rare and

threatened species Threatened species are any species (including animals, plants and fungi) which are vulnerable to endangerment in the near future. Species that are threatened are sometimes characterised by the population dynamics measure of ''critical depensa ...

jaguar The jaguar (''Panthera onca'') is a large cat species and the only living member of the genus '' Panthera'' native to the Americas. With a body length of up to and a weight of up to , it is the largest cat species in the Americas and the th ...

jaguarundi The jaguarundi (''Herpailurus yagouaroundi'') is a wild cat native to the Americas. Its range extends from central Argentina in the south to northern Mexico, through Central and South America east of the Andes. The jaguarundi is a medium-sized ...

South American tapir The South American tapir (''Tapirus terrestris''), also commonly called the Brazilian tapir (from the Tupi ''tapi'ira''), the Amazonian tapir, the maned tapir, the lowland tapir, the ''anta'' (Portuguese), and ''la sachavaca'' (literally "bushcow ...

ocelot The ocelot (''Leopardus pardalis'') is a medium-sized spotted wild cat that reaches at the shoulders and weighs between on average. It was first described by Carl Linnaeus in 1758. Two subspecies are recognized. It is native to the southwes ...

, tirica,

anteater Anteater is a common name for the four extant mammal species of the suborder Vermilingua (meaning "worm tongue") commonly known for eating ants and termites. The individual species have other names in English and other languages. Together with ...

, the

black-fronted piping guan The black-fronted piping guan or jacutinga in Brazilian Portuguese (''Pipile jacutinga'') is a bird in the chachalaca, guan, and curassow family Cracidae. It is found in Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay.del Hoyo, J., G. M. Kirwan, and C. J. Sha ...

, the

harpy eagle The harpy eagle (''Harpia harpyja'') is a neotropical species of eagle. It is also called the American harpy eagle to distinguish it from the Papuan eagle, which is sometimes known as the New Guinea harpy eagle or Papuan harpy eagle. It is the ...

, and the

yacare caiman The yacare caiman (''Caiman yacare''), also known commonly as the jacare caiman, Spanish yacaré, Paraguayan caiman, piranha caiman, red caiman, southern spectacled caiman, ''jacaré'' in Portuguese, and îakaré in Old Tupi, is a species of cai ...

. One can also find birds like the great dusky swift and large

toucan Toucans (, ) are members of the Neotropical near passerine bird family Ramphastidae. The Ramphastidae are most closely related to the American barbets. They are brightly marked and have large, often colorful bills. The family includes five ge ...

mammal Mammals () are a group of vertebrate animals constituting the class Mammalia (), characterized by the presence of mammary glands which in females produce milk for feeding (nursing) their young, a neocortex (a region of the brain), fur or ...

s like the coatí, and a diversity of

butterflies Butterflies are insects in the macrolepidopteran clade Rhopalocera from the Order (biology), order Lepidoptera, which also includes moths. Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. The ...

. The vinaceous amazon, named for its wine-colored

plumage Plumage ( "feather") is a layer of feathers that covers a bird and the pattern, colour, and arrangement of those feathers. The pattern and colours of plumage differ between species and subspecies and may vary with age classes. Within species, ...

, is occasionally found in this park. The Iguazú River ends in the

Paraná River The Paraná River ( es, Río Paraná, links=no , pt, Rio Paraná, gn, Ysyry Parana) is a river in south-central South America, running through Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina for some ."Parana River". Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Br ...

23 km beyond the falls, after a 1320 km course. Inside the park it becomes up to 1,500 m wide and turns first south, then north, forming a large U-shape. Its banks are densely populated by trees, including the '' ceibo'' ( Cockspur coral tree), whose flower is Argentina's national flower. The

flora Flora is all the plant life present in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring (indigenous) native plants. Sometimes bacteria and fungi are also referred to as flora, as in the terms '' gut flora'' or '' skin flora''. E ...

of the park also features '' lapacho negro'' and '' lapacho amarillo'' (family

Bignoniaceae Bignoniaceae is a family of flowering plants in the order Lamiales commonly known as the bignonias or trumpetvines.Vernon H. Heywood, Richard K. Brummitt, Ole Seberg, and Alastair Culham. ''Flowering Plant Families of the World''. Firefly Books: ...

), as well as ''

palmito Heart of palm is a vegetable harvested from the inner core and growing bud of certain palm trees, most notably the coconut (''Cocos nucifera''), juçara ('' Euterpe edulis''), açaí palm (''Euterpe oleracea''), palmetto (''Sabal'' spp.), and p ...

'' trees and the 40-metre-high '' palo rosa'' (family

Apocynaceae Apocynaceae (from ''Apocynum'', Greek for "dog-away") is a family of flowering plants that includes trees, shrubs, herbs, stem succulents, and vines, commonly known as the dogbane family, because some taxa were used as dog poison Members of the ...

Gallery

File:Iguazu National Park-109972.jpg, Plush-crested jay (''Cyanocorax chrysops'') File:Iguazu National Park-109974.jpg, View of waterfall File:Iguazu National Park-109976.jpg, View of waterfall File:Iguazu National Park-109978.jpg, View of waterfall File:Iguazu National Park-109980.jpg, Distant view of waterfall File:Coatí del Parque Nacional Iguazú.JPG File:Nasenbären im Parque nacional Iguazú 7 (22089877936).jpg File:Nasenbären im Parque nacional Iguazú 9 (22103508692).jpg File:Cataratas del Iguazú, Misiones, Argentina - panoramio.jpg File:Cartel Puerto Iguazú - Acceso al Área Cataratas del Iguazú - Parque Nacional Iguazú (Misiones, Argentina).jpg File:Tucán en el Parque Nacional Iguazú.JPG File:Tren ecológico de la Selva Parque Nacional Iguazú.JPG, Ecological Train File:Perspektiven des Parque nacional Iguazú 70 (21494738873).jpg File:Perspektiven des Parque nacional Iguazú 24 (22103322112).jpg

References

Sources

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External links