Santa Fe de la Vera Cruz (; usually called just Santa Fe) is the capital city 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 ...

of Santa Fe,

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 ...

. It is situated in north-eastern Argentina, near the junction of the Paraná and Salado rivers. It lies from the

Hernandarias Subfluvial Tunnel Hernandarias may refer to: * Hernando Arias de Saavedra, the first South American governor born in the Americas * Hernandarias District, Alto Paraná department, Paraguay * Hernandarias Subfluvial Tunnel Hernandarias may refer to: * Hernando Aria ...

that connects it to the city of Paraná. The city is also connected by

canal Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface flow un ...

with the

port A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Ham ...

of Colastiné on the Paraná River. Santa Fe de la Vera Cruz has about 391,164 inhabitants per the . The

metropolitan area A metropolitan area or metro is a region that consists of a densely populated urban agglomeration and its surrounding territories sharing industries, commercial areas, transport network, infrastructures and housing. A metro area usually com ...

has a population of 653,073, making it the eighth largest in Argentina. The third largest city in Argentina is Rosario, also located in

Santa Fe Province The Province of Santa Fe ( es, Provincia de Santa Fe, ) is a Provinces of Argentina, province of Argentina, located in the center-east of the country. Neighboring provinces are from the north clockwise Chaco Province, Chaco (divided by the 28th ...

. Santa Fe de la Vera Cruz is linked to

Rosario Rosario () is the largest city in the central provinces of Argentina, Argentine province of Santa Fe Province, Santa Fe. The city is located northwest of Buenos Aires, on the west bank of the Paraná River. Rosario is the third-most populous ci ...

( to the south), the largest city in the province, by the

Brigadier Estanislao López Highway The Brigadier Estanislao López Highway (AP 01) is a highway in the Argentine province of Santa Fe, linking the provincial capital Santa Fe and the city of Rosario. It runs north–south for 157 km (91 mi), roughly parallel to Nationa ...

and by National Route 11, which continues south towards

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

. Córdoba is about ( west of Santa Fe, through the National Route 19. Santa Fe is home to the

Sauce Viejo Airport Sauce Viejo Airport ( es, link=no, Aeropuerto de Santa Fe – Sauce Viejo) is an airport in Santa Fe Province, Argentina serving the city of Santa Fe. The airport is southwest of Santa Fe. The new airport was built in 2005. It has a termina ...

with daily direct flights to

and

Aeroparque Jorge Newbery Jorge Newbery Airfield ( es, link=no, Aeroparque "Jorge Newbery", ), commonly known as Aeroparque, is an international airport northeast of downtown Buenos Aires, Argentina. The airport covers an area of and is operated by ''Aeropuertos Argen ...

in Buenos Aires.

History

Santa Fe de la Vera Cruz was founded in the nearby site of Cayastá in 1573, by the Captain

Juan de Garay Juan de Garay (1528–1583) was a Spanish conquistador. Garay's birthplace is disputed. Some say it was in the city of Junta de Villalba de Losa in Castile, while others argue he was born in the area of Orduña (Basque Country). There's ...

, who came from

Asunción Asunción (, , , Guarani: Paraguay) is the capital and the largest city of Paraguay. The city stands on the eastern bank of the Paraguay River, almost at the confluence of this river with the Pilcomayo River. The Paraguay River and the Bay of ...

, at the time. The site is today a historical park containing the grave of Hernandarias, the first American-born governor in South America. The settlement was moved to the present site in 1653 due to the constant flooding of the Cayastá River. The city became the provincial capital in 1814, when the territory of the province of Santa Fe was separated from the province of

by the National Constituent Assembly, held in the city in 1853. Santa Fe de la Vera Cruz is the commercial and transportation center for a rich agricultural area that produces grain,

vegetable oil Vegetable oils, or vegetable fats, are oils extracted from seeds or from other parts of fruits. Like animal fats, vegetable fats are ''mixtures'' of triglycerides. Soybean oil, grape seed oil, and cocoa butter are examples of seed oils, or fat ...

s, and meats. The city is the site of the

National Technological University – Santa Fe Regional Faculty The National Technological University – Santa Fe Regional Faculty (Spanish: ''Universidad Tecnológica Nacional - Facultad Regional Santa Fe'' (UTN-FRSF)). History This college is one of the 29 regional faculties of Argentina's National Techn ...

, Catholic University of Santa Fe (inaugurated in 1959), and the

National University of the Littoral The National University of Litoral ( es, Universidad Nacional del Litoral, UNL) is a public university in Argentina. It is based in Santa Fe, the capital of Santa Fe Province. It has colleges and other academic facilities in Esperanza, Reconqu ...

(first founded as the Provincial University in 1889, and which changed to its current name in 1919). A

suspension bridge A suspension bridge is a type of bridge in which the deck (bridge), deck is hung below suspension wire rope, cables on vertical suspenders. The first modern examples of this type of bridge were built in the early 1800s. Simple suspension bridg ...

was completed in 1924, though severe flooding partially destroyed it in 1983 (a second bridge, the Oroño, was opened in 1971). The city's location is still not immune to flooding, however. On April 29, 2003, the Salado, which empties into the Paraná near Santa Fe, rose almost 2 m (6.5 ft) in a few hours following heavy rainfall, and caused a catastrophic flood. No fewer than 100,000 people had to be evacuated, and large sections of the city remained under water more than a week later. That year, the suspension bridge was reopened, and in 2008, the city's historic grain silos were converted into the

Los Silos Hotel and Casino LOS, or Los, or LoS may refer to: Science and technology * Length of stay, the duration of a single episode of hospitalisation * Level of service, a measure used by traffic engineers * Level of significance, a measure of statistical significanc ...

, and San Martín Street was converted to pedestrian use. The city's historical role in the Argentine Constitution led national lawmakers to choose it as the site of Constitutional Conventions in

1949 Events January * January 1 – A United Nations-sponsored ceasefire brings an end to the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947. The war results in a stalemate and the division of Kashmir, which still continues as of 2022. * January 2 – Luis ...

1957 1957 ( MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1957th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 957th year of the 2nd millennium, the 57th year of the 20th century, and the 8th y ...

, and

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...

. File:Ex estacion de omnibus belgrano.jpg, Santa Fe rail station (1905), today the long-distance bus station File:Teatro municipal santa fe.JPG, Municipal Theater File:Calle San Martín, Santa Fe, Argentina.jpg, Pedestrian San Martín Street

Climate

The city has a climate considered as

humid subtropical A humid subtropical climate is a zone of climate characterized by hot and humid summers, and cool to mild winters. These climates normally lie on the southeast side of all continents (except Antarctica), generally between latitudes 25° and 40° ...

(''Cfa'', according to the

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...

, with a ''Cwa'' tendency). Winters are generally mild, though minimum temperatures can fall below on cold nights during the winter. Summers are generally hot and humid. During the most extreme

heat waves A heat wave, or heatwave, is a period of excessively hot weather, which may be accompanied by high humidity, especially in oceanic climate countries. While definitions vary, a heat wave is usually measured relative to the usual climate in the ...

, temperatures have exceeded . Temperatures have exceeded in every season. Rainfall can be expected throughout the year though summer is usually the wettest season.

Thunderstorms A thunderstorm, also known as an electrical storm or a lightning storm, is a storm characterized by the presence of lightning and its acoustic effect on the Earth's atmosphere, known as thunder. Relatively weak thunderstorms are someti ...

can be intense with frequent

lightning Lightning is a naturally occurring electrostatic discharge during which two electric charge, electrically charged regions, both in the atmosphere or with one on the land, ground, temporarily neutralize themselves, causing the instantaneous ...

, powerful downdraughts and intense

precipitation In meteorology, precipitation is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls under gravitational pull from clouds. The main forms of precipitation include drizzle, rain, sleet, snow, ice pellets, graupel and hail. ...

. The lowest record temperature was on June 13, 1967, while the highest recorded temperature was on January 25, 1986.

The city

Santa Fe has a lot of important commercial centres, busy cultural life, interesting options in sports and tourism, numerous artistic and musical events, and an exciting nightlife. There is important infrastructure for tourism that has been developed: river side bars and nightclubs, chic restaurants, the improvement of the major highways and a subfluvial tunnel and, combine that with the beauty of the landscape and the various attractions that tourists enjoy make this a popular region to spend holidays. Hunting, fishing, excursions, walks by the river, practising water sports on the River Paraná (18 km away via Nº168 National Road), visiting the Space Observation Centre or the Zoo- Experimental Station of "La Esmeralda" Farm, make the tourist feel amazed and eager to know more about the region. In a nutshell, Santa Fe offers a complete and varied shade of attractions that make one dive into history when visiting monuments, museums or find oneself in the beautiful parks, rivers and streams surrounded by wild flora and fauna.

Transport

Railway

Despite having had four

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

s, nowadays the city Santa Fe is not served by rail transport. The Mitre Railway station is no longer used since 2007, when defunct company

Trenes de Buenos Aires Trenes de Buenos Aires (TBA) (In English: Trains of Buenos Aires) was a private company that operated commuter rail services over the broad gauge Sarmiento and Mitre lines of Buenos Aires. The company, owned by Claudio and Mario Cirigliano, also ...

cancelled its services to Santa Fe. Likewise, the Santa Fe Belgrano (built in 1891 and named Cultural Heritage) and Guadalupe stations had been entered into disuse in 1993 when the

railway privatisation in Argentina Railway privatisation in Argentina was a process which began in 1993 under the presidency of Carlos Menem, following a series of neoliberal economic reforms. This primarily consisted of breaking up the state-owned railway company Ferrocarriles Ar ...

ceased all the long-distance services in the country. In the 2010s, the local municipality remodelled both stations as Guadalupe would be terminus for a new urban train. Nevertheless, the original project was not carried out. On the other hand, the Santa Fe Belgrano station was re-opened as a

convention center A convention center (American English; or conference centre in British English) is a large building that is designed to hold a convention, where individuals and groups gather to promote and share common interests. Convention centers typica ...

. The fourth station (also the oldest of all) had been built by

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

company Province of Santa Fe Railway in 1885. It was demolished in 1962 and replaced by a

bus station A bus station or a bus interchange is a structure where city or intercity buses stop to pick up and drop off passengers. While the term bus depot can also be used to refer to a bus station, it generally refers to a bus garage. A bus station is l ...

. Railway stations in the city of Santa Fe are: Notes: * ¹ ''No longer active since

TBA To be announced (TBA), to be confirmed (TBC), to be determined or decided or declared (TBD), and other variations, are placeholder terms used very broadly in event planning to indicate that although something is scheduled or expected to happen, a ...

cancelled its services.'' * ² ''Granted in concession to the Municipality of Santa Fe that remodelled it completely. The station re-opened as a

. * ³ ''Refurbished in 2011 by the Municipality to be terminus of an urban train."Puesta en valor de la Estación Guadalupe"
El Santafesino, 18 Mar 2011 Nevertheless, the project was not carried out.'' * ⁴ ''Also known as "La Francesa", it was demolished in 1962 to build a

.''

Sports

Santa Fe put itself on the international sports map as one of the host cities of the

1990 FIBA World Championship The 1990 FIBA World Championship was the 11th FIBA World Championship, the international basketball world championship for men's teams. It was hosted by Argentina from 8 to 19 August 1990. The final phase of the competition was held at the Luna Pa ...

. The games were played in the Estadio de la Facultad Regional Santa Fe. The city is also home to two first division

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

teams:

Club Atlético Colón Club Atlético Colón de Santa Fe (), commonly referred to as Colón de Santa Fe , is a sports club from Santa Fe, Argentina. The football team plays in the First Division of the Argentine football league system, the Argentine Primera Divisi� ...

and Club Atlético Unión, who contest the

Santa Fe derby The Santa Fe derby (''Clásico Santafesino'' in Spanish) is one of the most fiercely contested derbies in Argentine football. It is played between local clubs Colón and Unión. Colón play their home games at the Estadio Brigadier General Est ...

. Santa Fe was also the place where the world known Amílcar Brusa was born and raised, and the home of boxers

Carlos Baldomir Carlos Manuel Baldomir (born April 30, 1971) is an Argentine former professional boxer who competed from 1993 to 2014. He held the WBC, The ''Ring'', and lineal welterweight titles in 2006, and challenged once for the WBC super welterweight t ...

and

Julio César Vásquez Julio César Vásquez (born July 13, 1965) is an Argentine retired professional boxing, boxer best known to have held a World Boxing Association, WBA junior middleweight title. Amateur record Vasquez had an amateur record of 33-2. Professional ...

Notable natives

Mercedes Sosa, Félix Luna y Ariel Ramírez

Estanislao López Estanislao López (26 November 1786 – 15 June 1838) was a ''caudillo'' and governor of the , between 1818 and 1838, one of the foremost proponents of provincial federalism, and an associate of Juan Manuel de Rosas during the Argentine Civ ...

, past Governor *

Carlos Thompson Juan Carlos Mundin-Schaffter, known as Carlos Thompson, (7 June 1923 – 10 October 1990) was an Argentine actor. Career Of German and Swiss descent, he played leading roles on stage and in films in Argentina. He went to Hollywood in the 1950s ...

, actor * Diego Bustos, journalist *

Norman Briski Norman Briski (born January 2, 1938) is an Argentine theatre actor, director and playwright, as well as a cinema and television actor. Life and work Naum Normando Briski was born in Santa Fe, Argentina, in 1938. His Jewish Argentine family relo ...

, actor and director *

Marcos Mundstock Marcos Mundstock (May 25, 1942 – April 22, 2020) was an Argentine musician, writer, comedian, actor, broadcaster and copywriter. He had dual nationality of Argentina and Spain, having obtained the latter in 2012. Born in Santa Fe, Argentina, ...

, actor and humorist *

Ariel Ramírez Ariel Ramírez (4 September 1921 – 18 February 2010) was an Argentine composer, pianist and music director. He was considered "a chief exponent of Argentine folk music" and noted for his "iconic" musical compositions. Ramírez is known primari ...

, musician and composer *

Ricardo Supisiche Ricardo Argentino Supisiche (November 6, 1912 – November 6, 1992) was an Argentine painter and engraver. Supisiche was born in Santa Fe, Argentina, Santa Fe, the capital of Santa Fe Province, in 1912. He studied drawing at the José Marí ...

, artist *

Reine Flachot Reine Flachot (10 October 1922 in Santa Fe, Argentina – 29 October 1998) was a French female cellist. Biography Reine Flachot arrived in France at the age of twelve when her French parents returned home. There, she began her studies with Jean D ...

, cellist *

Liliana Bodoc Liliana Bodoc (21 July 1958 – 6 February 2018) was an Argentinian writer of fantasy. Life Liliana Bodoc was born in Santa Fe in 1958. When she was five years old, her family moved to Mendoza for work. There, she studied at the Universidad Nac ...

, writer *

Osvaldo Bayer Osvaldo Bayer (18 February 1927 – 24 December 2018) was an Argentine writer and journalist. He lived in Buenos Aires. In 1974, during the presidency of Isabel Perón, he went into exile, residing in Linz am Rhein, Germany, throughout the Natio ...

, writer *

Sergio Rubin Sergio Rubin is an Argentine journalist and writer. He is the authorized biographer of Pope Francis, and wrote his only biography available at the time of his election, in March 2013. He currently works at Argentine newspaper '' Clarín'' as a c ...

, journalist *

Francisco Urondo Francisco "Paco" Urondo (January 10, 1930 in Santa Fe – June 17, 1976 in Mendoza) was an Argentine writer and member of the Montoneros guerrilla organization. Urondo published multiple collections of poetry, short stories, theatrical w ...

, poet, writer and playwright *

Fernando Birri Fernando Birri (March 13, 1925 – December 27, 2017) was an Argentine film maker and theorist. He was considered by many to be the father of the new Latin American cinema. Biography Birri was born in Santa Fe, Argentina. After being involved in ...

, film maker *

, boxer *

Carlos Delfino Carlos Francisco Delfino (born August 29, 1982) is an Argentine-Italian professional basketball player for Victoria Libertas Pesaro of the Italian Lega Basket Serie A (LBA). He holds dual citizenship in both Italy and Argentina. Standing at , he ...

, basketball player *

Tayavek Gallizzi Tayavek Gallizzi (born February 8, 1993) is an Argentine professional basketball player who currently plays for Regatas Corrientes of the Argentine Liga Nacional de Básquet (LNB). He defends Argentina national basketball team, Argentina. Profess ...

, basketball player *

Carlos Guastavino Carlos Guastavino (5 April 1912 – 29 October 2000) was an Argentine composer, considered one of the foremost composers of his country. His production amounted to over 500 works, most of them songs for piano and voice, many still unpublished. ...

, pianist, composer * Luciano De Cecco, volleyball player *

Victoria Mayer María Victoria Mayer (born ) is an Argentine volleyball player. She is part of the Argentina women's national volleyball team. She competed at the 2020 Summer Olympics. Career She participated in the 2017 FIVB Volleyball Girls' U18 World Cha ...

, volleyball player * Germán Chiaraviglio, pole vaulter *

Arturo Kenny Arturo J. Kenny (born 12 December 1888, date of death unknown) was an Argentine polo player who competed in the 1924 Summer Olympics. He was born in Santa Fe, Argentina, Santa Fe. Kenny was part of the Argentine polo team, which won the gol ...

, polo player *

Rubén Rézola Rubén Oscar Voisard Rézola (born 21 April 1991 in Santa Fe, Argentina, Santa Fe, Argentina) is an Argentine sprint canoeist. He won the gold medal in the Canoeing at the 2015 Pan American Games – Men's K-2 200 metres, men's kayak doubles (20 ...

, sprint canoeist *

Santiago Grassi Santiago Grassi (born 25 September 1996) is an Argentine swimmer. He competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics in the men's 100 metre butterfly; his time of 52.56 seconds in the heats did not qualify him for the semifinals. He represented Argentina ag ...

, swimmer * Amelia Fournel, sport shooter * Mario Schujovitzky, football player * Enrique García, football player *

René Pontoni René Alejandro Pontoni (born May 18, 1920, in Santa Fe, Argentina, died May 14, 1983) was a footballer. He played club football in Argentina, Colombia and Brazil as well as representing the Argentina national football team on 19 occasions. Bio ...

, football player *

Leopoldo Luque Leopoldo Jacinto Luque (; (3 May 1949 – 15 February 2021) was an Argentine footballer who played as a striker. Club career In a career spanning from 1972 to 1984 he played for Unión de Santa Fe, Rosario Central, River Plate, Racing Club de ...

, football player * Pedro Pablo Pasculli, football player *

Sebastián Battaglia Sebastián Alejandro Battaglia (born 8 November 1980) is an Argentine former footballer who played as a midfielder and manager. He spent most of his career with Argentine club Boca Juniors, but also had a brief spell with Spanish side Villar ...

, football player *

Juan Antonio Pizzi Juan Antonio Pizzi Torroja (, ; born 7 June 1968) is a retired professional footballer who played as a striker, currently manager of UAE Pro League club Al-Wasl. He spent the bulk of his club career in Spain, mainly at Tenerife, helping to th ...

, football player, manager *

Carlos Reutemann Carlos Alberto "Lole" Reutemann (12 April 1942 – 7 July 2021) was an Argentine racing driver who raced in Formula One from to , and later became a politician in his native province of Santa Fe, for the Justicialist Party, and governor of ...

, formula one driver and governor * Alberto Armando, businessman and football manager *

Jorge Faurie Jorge Marcelo Faurie (born 24 December 1951) is an Argentine diplomat, and Minister of Foreigns Affairs and Worship of Argentina, serving in President Mauricio Macri's cabinet from 12 June 2017 to 10 December 2019. He was born in Santa Fe, Sant ...

, Diplomat, Minister of Foreign Affairs *

Rogelio Pfirter Rogelio Pfirter (born 25 August 1948) is an Argentine diplomat who served as Argentina's ambassador to the United Kingdom and to the Holy See. He was the Director General of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) from 20 ...

, Diplomat

Gallery

File:Santa Fe Montage.jpg, (From top to bottom; from left to right) Panoramic view of the city; Municipal Theatre; Plaza Las Tres Culturas; Puente Colgante at night and the National University of the Littoral. File:Santa Fe, Argentina 2019 (letras).jpg, Santa Fe,

File:Santa Fe Postal Panorámica.jpg, Santa Fe, Argentina File:02_Facultad_de_Ciencias_Jurídicas_y_Sociales_de_la_UNL.jpg, Santa Fe at night File:Puente carretero Santa Fe.JPG, Santa Fe File:02_Laguna_Setúbal_de_Santa_Fe_y_la_bajante_histórica_del_Paraná_2021.jpg, Santa Fe from afar File:Catedral_de_Santa_Fe.JPG, Santa Fe Cathedral File:Parquedelsurmonteagudo.JPG, Santa Fe, Argentina File:Trenurbano1.jpeg,

Santa Fe Urban Train The Santa Fe Urban Train (in Spanish: "Tren Urbano de Santa Fe") was a commuter rail serving the metropolitan area of Santa Fe city in Argentina. It had 8 stops, extending from El Molino to Don Bosco stations, running on the Belgrano Railway '' ...

Sister cities

Santa Fe is twinned with: *

Santa Fe Springs Santa Fe Springs (''Santa Fe'', Spanish for "Holy Faith") is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is one of the Gateway Cities of southeast Los Angeles County. The population was 16,223 at the 2010 census, down from 17,43 ...

, United States (1960) *

Ypacaraí Ypacaraí is a town in the Central Department of Paraguay on the Lake Ypacarai. On the Paraguayan highway system, it is located between Asunción and Caacupé, near Areguá and San Bernardino. Known as the "City of Folklore" after the Ypacara ...

, Paraguay (1978) *

Cuneo Cuneo (; pms, Coni ; oc, Coni/Couni ; french: Coni ) is a city and ''comune'' in Piedmont, Northern Italy, the capital of the province of Cuneo, the fourth largest of Italy’s provinces by area. It is located at 550 metres (1,804 ft) in ...

, Italy *

Montevideo Montevideo () is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Uruguay, largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2011 census, the city proper has a population of 1,319,108 (about one-third of the country's total population) in an area of . M ...

, Uruguay

References

External links

* * * {{Authority control Populated places in Santa Fe Province Capitals of Argentine provinces Paraná River Port settlements in Argentina Populated places established in 1573 Cities in Argentina 1573 establishments in the Spanish Empire