Provinces of Argentina

Provinces of Argentina
A clickable map of the 23 provinces of Argentina
Category	Federated state
Location	Argentine Republic
Number	23 Provinces 1 Autonomous city (as of 2014)
Populations	(Provinces only): 126,190 (Tierra del Fuego, Antártida e Islas del Atlántico Sur) – 15,594,428 (Buenos Aires[1]
Areas	(Provinces only): 21,263 km^2 (8,210 sq mi) (Tierra del Fuego, Antártida e Islas del Atlántico Sur) – 307,571 km^2 (118,754 sq mi) (Buenos Aires)
Government	Provincial government
Subdivisions
Buenos Aires City: Commune 15 Buenos Aires Province: Partido 135 Other provinces: Department 378

Argentina is subdivided into twenty-three provinces (Spanish: provincias, singular provincia) and one autonomous city (ciudad autónoma), Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, which is the federal capital of the nation (Spanish: Capital Federal) as decided by Congress.^[2] The provinces and the capital have their own constitutions, but exist under a federal system.

History

During the War of Independence the main cities and their surrounding countrysides became provinces though the intervention of their cabildos. The Anarchy of the Year XX completed this process, shaping the original thirteen provinces. Jujuy seceded from Salta in 1834, and the thirteen provinces became fourteen. After seceding for a decade, Buenos Aires Province accepted the 1853 Constitution of Argentina in 1861, and its capital city was made a federal territory in 1880.^[3]

A law from 1862 designated as national territories those under federal control but outside the frontiers of the provinces. In 1884 they served as bases for the establishment of the governorates of Misiones, Formosa, Chaco, La Pampa, Neuquén, Río Negro, Chubut, Santa Cruz and Tierra del Fuego.^[4] The agreement about a frontier dispute with Chile in 1900 created the National Territory of Los Andes; its lands were incorporated into Jujuy, Salta and Catamarca in 1943.^[3] La Pampa and Chaco became provinces in 1951. Misiones did so in 1953, and Formosa, Neuquén, Río Negro, Chubut and Santa Cruz, in 1955. The last national territory, Tierra del Fuego, became the Tierra del Fuego, Antártida e Islas del Atlántico Sur Province in 1990.^[3]

Political organization

Argentina is a federation of twenty-three provinces and one autonomous city, Buenos Aires. Provinces are divided for administration purposes into departments and municipalities, except for Buenos Aires Province, which is divided into partidos. Buenos Aires City itself is divided into communes (comuna).

Provinces hold all the power that they chose not to delegate to the federal government;^[5] they must be representative republics and must not contradict the Constitution.^[6] Beyond this they are fully autonomous: they enact their own constitutions,^[7] freely organize their local governments,^[8] and own and manage their natural and financial resources.^[9] Thus, each province has its own set of provincial laws and justice system, a supreme court, a governor, an autonomous police force, and a congress; in eight provinces this legislature is bicameral, comprising an upper chamber (the Senate) and a lower chamber (the House of Deputies), while in the remaining fifteen provinces and in the Buenos Aires City it is unicameral.^{[10][upper-alpha 1]}

In case of sedition, insurrection, territorial invasion or any other emergent against the laws of the Republic on any province or the federal capital, the Congress has the authority to declare a federal intervention on the compromised district,^[12] even in the absence of a formal request by the affected part.^[13] When Congress is in recess and thus unable to decide, the President is entitled to decree such intervention, but this executive order is subject to Congressional override upon the Houses' immediate reassembly.^[14] Once intervention is declared the compromised district's government is immediately dissolved—in whole or in part depending on Congressional decision—and the President appoints a representative or intervenor, who will serve for a short time until the emergency is solved. Since 1983 four provinces were intervened, namely Catamarca, Corrientes (twice), Santiago del Estero (twice) and Tucumán.^[15]

During the 20th century, some provinces have had governments traditionally controlled by a single family (i.e. the Saadi family in Catamarca, or the Sapag family in Neuquén); in one case, it is still the situation as of 2009: the Province of San Luis was ruled almost without a break by the Rodríguez Saá family since December 1983.^[16]

Article 61 of the Constitution of the city of Buenos Aires states that "Suffrage is free, equal, secret, universal, compulsory and not accumulative. The foreign residents enjoy this right, with the correlative obligations, on equal terms with Argentine citizens registered in this district, in the terms established by the law."^[17]

Geographical regions

Argentina is divided into seven main geographical regions, many provinces having their territories across more than one.

Region	Provinces included
Northwest	Jujuy, Salta, Tucumán, Catamarca, La Rioja
Mesopotamia	Misiones, Entre Ríos, Corrientes
Gran Chaco	Formosa, Chaco, Santiago del Estero, Tucumán
Sierras Pampeanas	Córdoba, San Luis
Cuyo	La Rioja, San Juan, Mendoza, San Luis
Pampas	Córdoba, Santa Fe, La Pampa, Buenos Aires
Patagonia	Rio Negro, Neuquén, Chubut, Santa Cruz, Tierra del Fuego

List of Provinces

Source:^[18]

Flag	Province	Capital	IATA code	Population[1]	Area	Population density[1]
	Ciudad de Buenos Aires (Distrito Federal)	Buenos Aires	CF	2,891,082	203 km^2 (78 sq mi)	14,241.8/km^2 (36,886/sq mi)
	Buenos Aires	La Plata	BA	15,594,428	307,571 km^2 (118,754 sq mi)	50.7/km^2 (131/sq mi)
	Catamarca	(San Fernando del Valle de) Catamarca	CT	367,820	102,602 km^2 (39,615 sq mi)	3.6/km^2 (9.3/sq mi)
	Chaco	Resistencia	CC	1,053,466	99,633 km^2 (38,469 sq mi)	10.6/km^2 (27/sq mi)
	Chubut	Rawson	CH	506,668	224,686 km^2 (86,752 sq mi)	2.3/km^2 (6.0/sq mi)
	Córdoba	Córdoba	CD	3,304,825	165,321 km^2 (63,831 sq mi)	20.0/km^2 (52/sq mi)
	Corrientes	Corrientes	CR	993,338	88,199 km^2 (34,054 sq mi)	11.3/km^2 (29/sq mi)
	Entre Ríos	Paraná	ER	1,236,300	78,781 km^2 (30,418 sq mi)	15.7/km^2 (41/sq mi)
	Formosa	Formosa	FO	527,895	72,066 km^2 (27,825 sq mi)	7.3/km^2 (19/sq mi)
	Jujuy	(San Salvador de) Jujuy	JY	672,260	53,219 km^2 (20,548 sq mi)	12.6/km^2 (33/sq mi)
	La Pampa	Santa Rosa	LP	316,940	143,440 km^2 (55,380 sq mi)	2.2/km^2 (5.7/sq mi)
	La Rioja	La Rioja	LR	331,847	89,680 km^2 (34,630 sq mi)	3.7/km^2 (9.6/sq mi)
	Mendoza	Mendoza	MZ	1,741,610	148,827 km^2 (57,462 sq mi)	11.7/km^2 (30/sq mi)
	Misiones	Posadas	MN	1,097,829	29,801 km^2 (11,506 sq mi)	36.8/km^2 (95/sq mi)
	Neuquén	Neuquén	NQ	550,334	94,078 km^2 (36,324 sq mi)	5.8/km^2 (15/sq mi)
	Río Negro	Viedma	RN	633,374	203,013 km^2 (78,384 sq mi)	3.1/km^2 (8.0/sq mi)
	Salta	Salta	SA	1,215,207	155,488 km^2 (60,034 sq mi)	7.8/km^2 (20/sq mi)
	San Juan	San Juan	SJ	680,427	89,651 km^2 (34,614 sq mi)	7.6/km^2 (20/sq mi)
	San Luis	San Luis	SL	431,588	76,748 km^2 (29,633 sq mi)	5.6/km^2 (15/sq mi)
	Santa Cruz	Río Gallegos	SC	272,524	243,943 km^2 (94,187 sq mi)	1.1/km^2 (2.8/sq mi)
	Santa Fe	Santa Fe	SF	3,200,736	133,007 km^2 (51,354 sq mi)	24.1/km^2 (62/sq mi)
	Santiago del Estero	Santiago del Estero	SE	896,461	136,351 km^2 (52,645 sq mi)	6.6/km^2 (17/sq mi)
	Tierra del Fuego	Ushuaia	TF	126,190^a	21,263 km^2 (8,210 sq mi)^a	5.8/km^2 (15/sq mi)^a
	Tucumán	(San Miguel de) Tucumán	TM	1,448,200	22,524 km^2 (8,697 sq mi)	64.3/km^2 (167/sq mi)

See also

• Demographics of Argentina
• ISO 3166-2:AR, the ISO codes for the provinces of Argentina.
• List of Argentine Provinces by Human Development Index
• List of Argentine provinces by gross domestic product
• Comparison between Argentine provinces and countries by GDP (PPP) per capita

Notes

1. The City of Buenos Aires is a federal district, but its local organization has similarities with the provinces: it has its own constitution, an elected mayor and representatives to the Senate and Deputy chambers.^[11]

References

1. 2010 Census provisional results
2. Constitution of Argentina, art. 3.
3. Rey Balmaceda 1995, p. 19.
4. Rock 1987, p. 155.
5. Constitution of Argentina, art. 121.
6. Constitution of Argentina, arts. 5, 6.
7. Constitution of Argentina, art. 123.
8. Constitution of Argentina, art. 122.
9. Constitution of Argentina, arts. 124, 125.
10. "Legislaturas de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires y provinciales – República Argentina" (in Spanish). Universidad del Salvador. Archived from the original on 15 May 2013.
11. Constitution of Argentina, art. 129.
12. Constitution of Argentina, art. 6.
13. Constitution of Argentina, art. 75 inc. 31.
14. Constitution of Argentina, art. 99 inc. 20.
15. "Intervenciones en la historia". La Nación (in Spanish). 11 April 2004. Archived from the original on 11 October 2012.
16. "Archivo Histórico – Gobernadores provinciales de la República Argentina 1983–2007" (in Spanish). Ministerio del Interior – Presidencia de la Nación. Archived from the original on 8 June 2009.
17. "Constitución de la Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires" (in Spanish). Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires. October 1, 1996. Archived from the original on 2007-11-22. Retrieved 2007-12-13.
18. Gwillim Law (30 May 2015). "Provinces of Argentina". Statoids. Retrieved 28 September 2015.

Bibliography

Legal documents

• National Constituent Convention (22 August 1994), Constitution of the Argentine Nation, Santa Fe

Books

• Rey Balmaceda, Raúl (1995). Mi país, la Argentina (in Spanish). Buenos Aires: Arte Gráfico Editorial Argentino. ISBN 84-599-3442-X.
• Rock, David (1987). Argentina, 1516-1987: From Spanish Colonization to the Falklands War. University of California Press. ISBN 978-0520061781.

External links

• Provinces of Argentina at statoids.com
• Argentine Provinces since 1973 at World Statesmen