Santa Fe de la Vera Cruz (; usually called just Santa Fe, lit. "Holy Faith") is the capital city 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 Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

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

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 Hamburg, Manch ...

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 consisting of a densely populated urban area, urban agglomeration and its surrounding territories which share Industry (economics), industries, commercial areas, Transport infrastructure, transport network ...

has a population of 653,073, making it the eighth largest in Argentina. 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, located northwest of Buenos Aires on the west bank of the Paraná River, is the third-most populous city in the ...

( to the south), the largest city in the province, by the Brigadier Estanislao López Highway and by National Route 11, which continues south towards

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 ...

. Córdoba is about ( west of Santa Fe, through the National Route 19. Santa Fe is home to the Sauce Viejo Airport with daily direct flights to

and

Aeroparque Jorge Newbery Jorge Newbery Airfield , commonly known as Aeroparque, is an international airport northwest of Buenos Aires Central Business District, downtown Buenos Aires, Argentina. The airport covers an area of and is operated by ''Aeropuertos Argentina ...

in Buenos Aires.

History

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

conquistador Conquistadors (, ) or conquistadores (; ; ) were Spanish Empire, Spanish and Portuguese Empire, Portuguese colonizers who explored, traded with and colonized parts of the Americas, Africa, Oceania and Asia during the Age of Discovery. Sailing ...

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 ...

(1528-1583) during an expedition which he led from

Asunción Asunción (, ) 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 Asunción in the north ...

(in present-day

Paraguay Paraguay, officially the Republic of Paraguay, is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the Argentina–Paraguay border, south and southwest, Brazil to the Brazil–Paraguay border, east and northeast, and Boli ...

) to the

Paraná River The Paraná River ( ; ; ) is a river in south-central South America, running through Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina for some ."Parana River". Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2012. Web. ...

. (Cayastá today has a historical park containing the grave of Hernandarias (1561-1634), 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 of Santa Fe 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 became 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 edible plants. Like animal fats, vegetable fats are ''mixtures'' of triglycerides. Soybean oil, grape seed oil, and cocoa butter are examples of seed ...

s, and meats. The city is the site of the National Technological University – Santa Fe Regional Faculty, Catholic University of Santa Fe (inaugurated in 1959), and the

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

(first founded as the Provincial University in 1889, it adopted 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. 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, 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 2025 * January 2 – Luis ...

1957 Events January * January 1 – The Saarland joins West Germany. * January 3 – Hamilton Watch Company introduces the first electric watch. * January 5 – South African player Russell Endean becomes the first batsman to be Dismissal (cricke ...

, and

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

. 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 (''Cfa'', according to the

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...

, 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 "Heat Waves" is a song by British indie rock band Glass Animals released as a single from their third studio album ''Dreamland (Glass Animals album), Dreamland'' on 29 June 2020. A sleeper hit, it is the band's signature song and biggest hit sing ...

, 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 som ...

can be intense with frequent

lightning Lightning is a natural phenomenon consisting of electrostatic discharges occurring through the atmosphere between two electrically charged regions. One or both regions are within the atmosphere, with the second region sometimes occurring on ...

, powerful downdraughts and intense

precipitation In meteorology, precipitation is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls from clouds due to gravitational pull. The main forms of precipitation include drizzle, rain, rain and snow mixed ("sleet" in Commonwe ...

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

The city

There is infrastructure for tourism that has been developed: river side bars and nightclubs, chic restaurants, the improvement of the major highways and a subfluvial tunnel.

Transport

Railway

Despite having had four

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

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 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 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 and British English spelling differences, American English; or conference centre in British English) is a large building that is designed to hold a Convention (meeting), convention, where individuals and groups ...

. The fourth station (also the oldest of all) had been built by French company Province of Santa Fe Railway in 1885. It was demolished in 1962 and replaced by a

bus station A bus station, bus depot, or bus interchange is a structure where city buses or intercity buses stop to pick up and drop off passengers. A bus station is larger than a bus stop, which is usually simply a place on the roadside, where buses can st ...

. Railway stations in the city of Santa Fe are: Notes: * ¹ ''No longer active since TBA 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 national teams. It was hosted by Argentina from 8 to 19 August 1990. The final phase of the competition was held at t ...

.1990 World Championship for Men
Archive.FIBA.com, Retrieved 18 March 2016. The games were played in the Estadio de la Facultad Regional Santa Fe. The Estadio Ángel Malvicino was one of the venues of the 2002 FIVB Men's Volleyball World Championship. Santa Fe also hosted the first ever Five-pin billiards World Championship in 1965. The city is also home to two first division

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

teams: Club Atlético Colón and Club Atlético Unión, who contest the Santa Fe derby. Santa Fe was also the place where the world known Amílcar Brusa was born and raised, and the home of boxers Carlos Baldomir and Julio César Vásquez.

Notable natives

* Sebastián Caballero, football player * Estanislao López, past Governor * Carlos Thompson, actor * Diego Bustos, journalist * Norman Briski, actor and director * Marcos Mundstock, actor and humorist * Ariel Ramírez, musician and composer * Ricardo Supisiche, artist * Reine Flachot, cellist * Liliana Bodoc, writer * Osvaldo Bayer, writer * Sergio Rubin, journalist * Francisco Urondo, 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 * Carlos Baldomir, boxer * Julio César Vásquez, boxer * Carlos Delfino, basketball player * Tayavek Gallizzi, basketball player * Carlos Guastavino, pianist, composer * Luciano De Cecco, volleyball player * Victoria Mayer, volleyball player * Germán Chiaraviglio, pole vaulter * Arturo Kenny, polo player * Rubén Rézola, sprint canoeist * Santiago Grassi, swimmer * Amelia Fournel, sport shooter * Mario Schujovitzky, football player * Enrique García, football player * René Pontoni, football player * Leopoldo Luque, football player * Pedro Pablo Pasculli, football player * Sebastián Battaglia, football player * Juan Antonio Pizzi, football player, manager * Carlos Reutemann, formula one driver and governor * Alberto Armando, businessman and football manager * Jorge Faurie, Diplomat, Minister of Foreign Affairs * Rogelio Pfirter, Diplomat * Dominga Lucía Molina, activist

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 19,219 at the 2020 census, up from 16,22 ...

, United States (1960) * Ypacaraí, Paraguay (1978) *

Cuneo Cuneo (; ; ; ) is a city and in Piedmont, 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 the south-west of Piedmont, at the confluence of the ri ...

, Italy *

Montevideo Montevideo (, ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Uruguay, largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2023 census, the city proper has a population of 1,302,954 (about 37.2% of the country's total population) in an area of . M ...

, Uruguay *

Afula Afula () is a city in the Northern District of Israel, often known as the "Capital of the Valley" due to its strategic location in the Jezreel Valley. As of , the city had a population of . Afula's ancient tell (settlement mound) suggests habit ...

, Israel

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

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