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La Rioja () is a
province of Argentina Argentina is subdivided into twenty-three federated states called provinces ( es, provincias, singular ''provincia'') and one called the autonomous city (''ciudad autónoma'') of Buenos Aires, which is the federal capital of the republic ( ...
located in the west of the country. The landscape of the province consist of a series of arid to semi-arid mountain ranges and agricultural valleys in between. It is in one of these valleys that the capital of the province, the city of la
La Rioja La Rioja () is an autonomous community and province in Spain, in the north of the Iberian Peninsula. Its capital is Logroño. Other cities and towns in the province include Calahorra, Arnedo, Alfaro, Haro, Santo Domingo de la Calzada, an ...
, lies. Neighboring provinces are from the north clockwise Catamarca, Córdoba, San Luis and
San Juan San Juan, Spanish for Saint John, may refer to: Places Argentina * San Juan Province, Argentina * San Juan, Argentina, the capital of that province * San Juan, Salta, a village in Iruya, Salta Province * San Juan (Buenos Aires Underground), ...
. The dinosaur ''
Riojasaurus ''Riojasaurus'' (meaning "Rioja lizard") was a herbivorous sauropodomorph dinosaur named after La Rioja Province in Argentina where it was found in the Los Colorados Formation in the Ischigualasto-Villa Unión Basin by José Bonaparte. It li ...
'' is named after the province.


History

Petroglyph A petroglyph is an image created by removing part of a rock surface by incising, picking, carving, or abrading, as a form of rock art. Outside North America, scholars often use terms such as "carving", "engraving", or other descriptions ...
s created by early indigenous peoples at the
Talampaya National Park Talampaya National Park ( es, Parque Nacional Talampaya) is a national park located in the east/centre of La Rioja Province, Argentina. It was designated a provincial reserve in 1975, a national park in 1997, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2 ...
are dated around 10,000 years BC. Succeeding cultures of indigenous peoples developed here. 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. E ...
, Capayan and the Olongasta peoples inhabited the territory of present-day La Rioja Province at the time of encounter with the
Spanish colonists Spaniards, or Spanish people, are a Romance ethnic group native to Spain. Within Spain, there are a number of national and regional ethnic identities that reflect the country's complex history, including a number of different languages, both ind ...
in the 16th century. Juan Ramírez de Velazco founded ''Todos Los Santos de la Nueva Rioja'' in 1591 under the government of Tucumán of the
Viceroyalty of Peru The Viceroyalty of Peru ( es, Virreinato del Perú, links=no) was a Spanish imperial provincial administrative district, created in 1542, that originally contained modern-day Peru and most of the Spanish Empire in South America, governed fro ...
. In 1630 the Calchaquí people revolted against the Spanish, but the governor Albornoz suppressed them. In 1783, after the creation of the
Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata The Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata ( es, Virreinato del Río de la Plata or es, Virreinato de las Provincias del Río de la Plata) meaning "River of the Silver", also called " Viceroyalty of the River Plate" in some scholarly writings, i ...
, the control of the province of 10,000 inhabitants passed to the Córdoba independency. The province acquired independence from Córdoba in 1820. Following attempts by
Bernardino Rivadavia Bernardino de la Trinidad González Rivadavia (May 20, 1780 – September 2, 1845) was the first President of Argentina, then called the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata, from February 8, 1826 to June 27, 1827. He was educated at ...
, the first elected President of Argentina, to impose a centralist constitution, the '' caudillo'' Juan Facundo Quiroga emerged as a popular leader. He represented their preference for more autonomy, for which they continued to press following Quiroga's 1835 assassination. After a period of internal instability in Argentina, the province finally joined the ''Argentine Confederation'' in 1853. La Rioja attracted fewer immigrants from Europe than did other Argentine provinces from 1890 to the 1930s. Some
Syrian Syrians ( ar, سُورِيُّون, ''Sūriyyīn'') are an Eastern Mediterranean ethnic group indigenous to the Levant. They share common Levantine Semitic roots. The cultural and linguistic heritage of the Syrian people is a blend of both indi ...
and Lebanese immigrants did settle in the province, among whom the most well-known is probably the Menem family. Coming from what had been the
Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University ...
, Saul Menem and his wife were of Armenian and Alawi ancestry. He prospered as a traveling salesman and sent his eldest son,
Carlos Menem Carlos Saúl Menem (2 July 1930 – 14 February 2021) was an Argentine lawyer and politician who served as the President of Argentina from 1989 to 1999. Ideologically, he identified as a Peronist and supported economically liberal policies. He ...
, to Spain for college. After the younger Menem was elected governor of La Rioja Province in March 1973, he implemented a number of reforms advocated by activists for the poor, rural majority, particularly those recommended by Bishop Enrique Angelelli. Removed and imprisoned following the military ouster of President
Isabel Perón Isabel Martínez de Perón (, born María Estela Martínez Cartas, 4 February 1931), also known as Isabelita, is an Argentine politician who served as President of Argentina from 1974 to 1976. She was one of the first female republican heads ...
in March 1976, Menem was kept in illegal confinement until the end of 1980. He was reportedly tortured during this time. The
dictatorship A dictatorship is a form of government which is characterized by a leader, or a group of leaders, which holds governmental powers with few to no limitations on them. The leader of a dictatorship is called a dictator. Politics in a dictatorship a ...
repressed people in the province and was responsible for the brutal murder in August 1976 of Bishop Angelelli. After democracy was restored in 1983, Menem was overwhelmingly re-elected to office. He pursued conservative policies, leveraging La Rioja's dry, agreeable climate, its modest wage scale, and skilled work-force, to attract La Rioja's first significant light industries, particularly bottling and food-processing. Having presided over a growing La Rioja economy even as the nation's languished during the 1980s, Menem secured the Peronist
Justicialist The Justicialist Party ( es, Partido Justicialista, ; abbr. PJ) is a major political party in Argentina, and the largest branch within Peronism. Current president Alberto Fernández belongs to the Justicialist Party (and has, since 2021, served ...
Party nomination for president in May 1988; in an upset, he defeated the popular Governor
Antonio Cafiero Antonio Francisco Cafiero (12 September 1922 – 13 October 2014) was an Argentine Justicialist Party politician. Cafiero held a number of important posts throughout his career, including, most notably, the governorship of Buenos Aires Province f ...
of
Buenos Aires Province Buenos Aires (), officially the Buenos Aires Province (''Provincia de Buenos Aires'' ), is the largest and most populous Argentine province. It takes its name from the city of Buenos Aires, the capital of the country, which used to be part of th ...
. Elected president of Argentina in 1988, Menem served until 1999. During those years, he steered billions in federal public works spending into La Rioja. Although the province remains less developed than the average in the nation, its economy today compares favorably with those of its neighbors.


Geography

Located in the Argentine Northwest area, its landscape is arid to semi-arid, and the dry climate receives annually 200 mm of precipitation, has short winters, and very hot summers. From the
Andes The Andes, Andes Mountains or Andean Mountains (; ) are the longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range is long, wide (widest between 18°S – 20°S ...
at the west, with peaks of up to 6,795 meters ('' Monte Pissis''), the relief's height descends towards the sierras of the neighbouring dry
Pampa The Pampas (from the qu, pampa, meaning "plain") are fertile South American low grasslands that cover more than and include the Argentine provinces of Buenos Aires, La Pampa, Santa Fe, Entre Ríos, and Córdoba; all of Uruguay; and Brazi ...
s zone. Most ranges in La Rioja are oriented north-south. The province's two largest cities,
La Rioja La Rioja () is an autonomous community and province in Spain, in the north of the Iberian Peninsula. Its capital is Logroño. Other cities and towns in the province include Calahorra, Arnedo, Alfaro, Haro, Santo Domingo de la Calzada, an ...
and Chilecito are separated by Sierra de Velasco and west of Chilecito and Famatina rises the
Sierra de Famatina 200px, Coat of arms of La Rioja featuring ''Cerro General Belgrano'' Sierra de Famatina is mountain range and massif in the Andes of the Argentine province of La Rioja La Rioja () is an autonomous community and province in Spain, in the north ...
with heights of up to 6,250 m.a.sl. (≈20500 feet). The
Talampaya National Park Talampaya National Park ( es, Parque Nacional Talampaya) is a national park located in the east/centre of La Rioja Province, Argentina. It was designated a provincial reserve in 1975, a national park in 1997, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2 ...
is a dry red-soil canyon of the dry Talampaya river, which contains many cliff walls and rock formations that make it an interesting tourist destination.


Economy

La Rioja's economy, estimated at US$1.822 billion in 2006, is the second-smallest among Argentina's provinces. Its per capita output of US$6,283, 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 or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people ...
(as well as cities) lies on the banks of the few permanent rivers and oases that allow
irrigation Irrigation (also referred to as watering) is the practice of applying controlled amounts of water to land to help grow crops, landscape plants, and lawns. Irrigation has been a key aspect of agriculture for over 5,000 years and has been devel ...
, with only 190 square kilometres of cultivated land.
Vineyard A vineyard (; also ) 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. Vineyard ...
s, nuts and
olive The olive, botanical name ''Olea europaea'', meaning 'European olive' in Latin, is a species of small tree or shrub in the family Oleaceae, found traditionally in the Mediterranean Basin. When in shrub form, it is known as ''Olea europaea'' ' ...
plantations are the most common, followed by
cotton Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus '' Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure cellulose, and can contain minor pe ...
. The province's main crop is the
grape A grape is a fruit, botanically a berry, of the deciduous woody vines of the flowering plant genus '' Vitis''. Grapes are a non- climacteric type of fruit, generally occurring in clusters. The cultivation of grapes began perhaps 8,000 years a ...
, and its associated
wine Wine is an alcoholic drink typically made from Fermentation in winemaking, fermented grapes. Yeast in winemaking, Yeast consumes the sugar in the grapes and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Different ...
production, especially around the Chilecito area, with a production of 8 million litres per year.
Cattle Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, cloven-hooved, herbivores. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus '' Bos''. Adult females are referred to as cows and adult ...
(250,000 heads) and
goat The goat or domestic goat (''Capra hircus'') is a domesticated species of goat-antelope typically kept as livestock. It was domesticated from the wild goat (''C. aegagrus'') of Southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the a ...
s (150,000 heads) are secondary activities, particularly for skin and leather.
Clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4). Clays develop plasticity when wet, due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay pa ...
represents the main mining activity, and
uranium Uranium is a chemical element with the symbol U and atomic number 92. It is a silvery-grey metal in the actinide series of the periodic table. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons. Uranium is weak ...
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 ( es, Parque Nacional Talampaya) is a national park located in the east/centre of La Rioja Province, Argentina. It was designated a provincial reserve in 1975, a national park in 1997, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2 ...
, 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 to encourage further economic growth in the province. Recently, the province experienced a wave of immigration from Eastern Europe, East or South Asian and Middle Eastern countries.


Government

The provincial government is divided into the usual three branches: the executive, headed by a popularly elected governor, who appoint the cabinet; the legislative; and the judiciary, headed by the Supreme Court. The Constitution of La Rioja Province, Argentina forms the formal law of the province. In Argentina, the most important law enforcement organization is the
Argentine Federal Police The Argentine Federal Police ( es, Policía Federal Argentina or PFA) is the national civil police force of the Argentine federal government. The PFA has detachments throughout the country. Until January 1, 2017, it also acted as the local la ...
but the additional work is carried out by the La Rioja Provincial Police.


Political division

The province is divided in 18
departments Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military *Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...
(Spanish ''departamentos''). They are formally considered to be a single
municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the ...
, and usually contain one or more population centers (i.e. towns and cities). # Arauco (
Aimogasta Aimogasta is a municipality and village in La Rioja Province in northwestern Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina co ...
) # Capital (
La Rioja La Rioja () is an autonomous community and province in Spain, in the north of the Iberian Peninsula. Its capital is Logroño. Other cities and towns in the province include Calahorra, Arnedo, Alfaro, Haro, Santo Domingo de la Calzada, an ...
) # Castro Barros (
Aminga Aminga is a municipality and village in La Rioja Province in northwestern Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina cover ...
) # Chamical ( Chamical) # Chilecito ( Chilecito) # Coronel Felipe Varela (
Villa Unión Villa Unión is a city in northwestern Argentina and the main settlement of Coronel Felipe Varela Department with a population of 12,263. Overview The city is strategically located in the heart of the Bermejo Valley, 1,153 meters above sea level ...
) #
Famatina Famatina is a town in the province of La Rioja, Argentina. It has 6,371 inhabitants as per the , and is the only municipality in the Famatina Department. Located in fertile valley between Sierra de Famatina and Sierra de Velasco Famatina's econ ...
(
Famatina Famatina is a town in the province of La Rioja, Argentina. It has 6,371 inhabitants as per the , and is the only municipality in the Famatina Department. Located in fertile valley between Sierra de Famatina and Sierra de Velasco Famatina's econ ...
) # General Ángel Vicente Peñaloza ( Tama) # General Belgrano ( Olta) # General Juan Facundo Quiroga (Malazán) # General Lamadrid ( Villa Castelli) # General Ocampo ( Milagro) # General San Martín (
Ulapes Ulapes is a municipality and village in La Rioja Province in northwestern Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina cover ...
) # Independencia (
Patquía Patquía is a municipality and village in La Rioja Province in northwestern Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina cov ...
) # Rosario Vera Peñaloza (
Chepes Chepes is a municipality and village in La Rioja Province in northwestern Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina cove ...
) # San Blas de los Sauces ( San Blas de los Sauces) #
Sanagasta Villa Sanagasta is a municipality and village in La Rioja Province in northwestern Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argent ...
(
Sanagasta Villa Sanagasta is a municipality and village in La Rioja Province in northwestern Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argent ...
) # Vinchina (Vinchina)


See also


References


External links


Gobierno de La Rioja
Official website {{coord, 29, 26, S, 66, 51, W, source:kolossus-eswiki, display=title Wine regions of Argentina Provinces of Argentina States and territories established in 1853