Caucete is a department in the eastern part of the San Juan Province of Argentina, which is predominantly a landscape of mountains, and many plantations. It contains the popular Shrine of the Difunta Correa.

Etymology

The name is derived from the Tehuelche word "caucete", meaning "land or land where he dwells".

History

When the Spanish arrived, the area of

Caucete Caucete is a city in the province of 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 P ...

, was occupied by the

Huarpes The Huarpes or Warpes are an indigenous people of Argentina, living in the Cuyo region. Some scholars assume that in the Huarpe language, this word means "sandy ground," but according to ''Arte y Vocabulario de la lengua general del Reino de Chi ...

, in a settlement in the vicinity of Pie de Palo. Nearly three centuries later (in 1822), to establish a colony with American population,

Amman Rawson Amman (; ar, عَمَّان, ' ; Ammonite: 𐤓𐤁𐤕 𐤏𐤌𐤍 ''Rabat ʻAmān'') is the capital and largest city of Jordan, and the country's economic, political, and cultural center. With a population of 4,061,150 as of 2021, Amman is ...

asked the government for these lands, which were awarded in 1824. Rawson, the father of

William Rawson William Stepney Rawson (14 October 1854 – 4 November 1932) was an amateur footballer who played at full-back in the 1870s, and was also an FA Cup Final referee in 1876. Born in South Africa, he played for the England national team. Early li ...

, chaired the Founding Society of Caucete, which divided the land into 25 blocks and each of them into two parts, through a ditch central allowed to hold irrigation in the plot. The colony began to be populated, but with the people in the area, not American immigration. Subsequently, Benavides, through the Regulation Irrigation 1851,) divided the province into nine sections, one of which was Caucete. Through its Departmental Commission and with the support of the neighborhood, the new section proposed a project for the foundation of a villa. Thus was born Villa Independence, by the decree of November 15, 1851.

Geography

The department Caucete is located in the southeast of the San Juan Province, 28 kilometers east of

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), ...

. It is 7,502

km ² KM, Km, or km may stand for: Postnominal *Knight of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, a chivalric order Businesses *KM Group, a multimedia group based in Kent *Kennis Music, a record label * Kia Motors, an automobile manufacturer * Kmart (f ...

in area. The village head is

. Its boundaries are: * To the north, the department Jáchal * To the south, the 25 de Mayo and San Luis Province * To the east, the Valle Fértil and La Rioja province * To the west, the 9 de Julio, San Martin Department, San Juan San Martin and Angaco departments

Ecology

The department can be divided into four distinct sections: one that corresponds to

Valley Tulum A valley is an elongated low area often running between hills or mountains, which will typically contain a river or stream running from one end to the other. Most valleys are formed by erosion of the land surface by rivers or streams over ...

, the area of the Depression of the Crossing (

Crossing of Ampacama Crossing may refer to: * ''Crossing'' (2008 film), a South Korean film * ''Crossing'' (album), a 1985 album by world music/jazz group Oregon * Crossing (architecture), the junction of the four arms of a cruciform church * Crossing (knot theory) ...

), bed Bermejo River The mountainous area of the structure corresponding to the formation Sierras Pampeanas (Cerro Pie de Palo) and the area of

Under Great Eastern Under may refer to: * "Under" (Alex Hepburn song), 2013 * "Under" (Pleasure P song), 2009 *Bülent Ünder (born 1949), Turkish footballer *Cengiz Ünder (born 1997), Turkish footballer *Marie Under Marie Under ( – 25 September 1980) was one o ...

. The vegetation is a xerófila and low: retamo, chilca (an endemic tree that is native

, in Skirts Oriental Foot pole, also of La Rioja and San Luis), jarilla, cacti and a large number of carob.

Animals

The fauna is represented by

hare Hares and jackrabbits are mammals belonging to the genus ''Lepus''. They are herbivores, and live solitarily or in pairs. They nest in slight depressions called forms, and their young are able to fend for themselves shortly after birth. The ge ...

s, some

fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...

es,

rheas The rheas ( ), also known as ñandus ( ) or South American ostriches, are large ratites (flightless birds without a keel on their sternum bone) in the order Rheiformes, native to South America, distantly related to the ostrich and emu. Most taxo ...

armadillo Armadillos (meaning "little armored ones" in Spanish) are New World placental mammals in the order Cingulata. The Chlamyphoridae and Dasypodidae are the only surviving families in the order, which is part of the superorder Xenarthra, along wi ...

s and guanacos in the high peaks of Pie de Palo. There are also a large number of insects ( mosquitoes, flies, beetles, assassin bugs, cicadas, etc.), arachnids (scorpions and different species of spiders) and reptiles (lizards, iguanas and snakes), especially in the area of sand dunes. Daytime temperatures are high and the nights are cooler. In some cases, there is isolated snowfall in the area known as Vallecito, as happened in the winters of 1999 to 2000.

References

{{coord, 31, 40, S, 68, 08, W, type:landmark_source:USNO/HMNAO, display=title Departments of San Juan Province, Argentina Wine regions of Argentina Chonan languages