Arequito is a town (''comuna'') in the south 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, southwest from the

provincial capital A capital city, or just capital, is the municipality holding primary status in a country, state, province, department, or other subnational division, usually as its seat of the government. A capital is typically a city that physically encomp ...

and west of

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 ...

. It has a population of about 7,000 inhabitants as per the . The town was founded initially as a waystop (''posta'') by Braulio Areco in 1778. He ended up using a

diminutive A diminutive is a word obtained by modifying a root word to convey a slighter degree of its root meaning, either to convey the smallness of the object or quality named, or to convey a sense of intimacy or endearment, and sometimes to belittle s ...

of his surname because there were already two ''postas de Areco'' in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

( Carmen de Areco and

San Antonio de Areco San Antonio de Areco is a city in northern Buenos Aires Province, Argentina, and administrative seat of the Partidos of Buenos Aires, partido of San Antonio de Areco Partido, San Antonio de Areco. It is located on the Areco River away from Bueno ...

). It became a colonist settlement, and in time it was recognized officially as a town, on 1 June 1891. The area received an important influx of

immigration Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not usual residents or where they do not possess nationality in order to settle as Permanent residency, permanent residents. Commuting, Commuter ...

(mostly from Europe, and also Syrian-Lebanese) during the second half of the 19th century, and became a highly productive agricultural area. Since 1970 it produces

soybean The soybean, soy bean, or soya bean (''Glycine max'') is a species of legume native to East Asia, widely grown for its edible bean. Soy is a staple crop, the world's most grown legume, and an important animal feed. Soy is a key source o ...

(the town is the seat of the National Festival dedicated to this crop, held every October). Arequito became nationally known in the 1990s, as the hometown of the young folk singer and composer

Soledad Pastorutti Soledad "La Sole" Pastorutti (born October 12, 1980) is an Argentine folk singer, who brought the genre to the younger generations at the end of the 20th century, and the beginning of the 21st. She is also a film and TV actress. Soledad is the ...

References

* * * {{Authority control Populated places in Santa Fe Province