San Juan Province (Argentina)
"San Juan Province" redirects here. For the province in the Dominican Republic, see San Juan (province).San Juan is a
province of
Argentina, located in the western part of the country. Neighbouring provinces are, moving clockwise from the north,
La Rioja,
San Luis and
Mendoza. It borders
Chile on the west.
Huarpes,
Diaguitas, Capazanes, Olongastas and Yacampis, with influences of the
Inca empire, inhabited the area before the arrival of the
Spanish conquistadores.
The city of
San Juan de la Frontera was founded by Juan Jufré y Montesa in
1562 and relocated 2 kilometres south in 1593 due to the frequent flooding of the
San Juan River.
In 1776, the year in which San Juan passed to the
Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata, an earthquake almost completely destroyed the city.
The town was a great supporter of
José de San Martín's expedition to cross the
Andes, supplying gold, men and mules.
In
1944 a moderate, yet highly destructive
earthquake near the capital destroyed most of the city and killed 10,000 people. A fundraiser to benefit the victims of the quake was instrumental in the meeting of Colonel
Juan Perón and his eventual wife and political companion
Eva Duarte.
The province is part of the continental semi-desert
Cuyo region. The arid plains on the east, with a few low sierras (hills), swiftly turn into 6,000-meter-high mountain peaks towards the west. Both areas are subject to the dry hot
Zonda (a kind of
Föhn wind). Most of the precipitations take place during the summer, often as storms.
The hot wind has modeled the clay-rich red soil into
Pampa del Leoncito (
Reserva Natural Estricta El Leoncito) and
Valle de la Luna (
Parque Provincial Ischigualasto) 200 million year old geological formations.
The
Jáchal and San Juan rivers, both part of
Desaguadero River system, are the source of fertile valleys and centre of the province's economy. The San Juan River finishes in the Huanacache lagoons (sometimes called
Guanacache), on the southeast.
Viticulture is the main crop of the province's economy traditionally linked to agriculture, with some 500
km² (56% of the productive area), and the later wine production from 90% of the crop. San Juan is the second
Argentine wine producer after the
Mendoza Province. Other plantations include
tomato,
maize,
potato,
fig,
peach and many others.
Also important is the mining industry of very different materials, from
gold and
lead to
graphite and
clay. Other industries include food industry and conserves, textiles and mineral processing.
Energy production is mainly
hydroelectrical, produced by a few
dams such as
Quebrada de Ullum,
La Roza,
San Emiliano and El Pinar Station, which also help regulate water the level for irrigation of the arid lands. Electricity is also produced, in a lesser proportion, by
thermal power stations.
The tourism is not very developed in the province and consist mainly of local visitors. Its main attractions are the city of San Juan (and birth house of
Sarmiento) the
Ischigualasto Provincial Park, the Ullum Dam, the Pismanta hot springs, and the
pagan Difunta Correa shrine.
The province is divided into 19
departments (
Spanish:
departamentos).
Department (Capital)
# Albardón (Albardón)# Angaco (Villa del Salvador)# Calingasta (Calingasta)# Capital (
San Juan)# Caucete (
Caucete)# Chimbas (Villa Paula A. de Sarmiento)# Iglesia (
Rodeo)# Jáchal (
San José de Jáchal)#
Nueve de Julio (
Nueve de Julio, San Juan)# Pocito (
Villa Alberastain)#
Rawson (
Villa Krause)# Rivadavia (Rivadavia)#
San Martín (Villa San Isidro)#
Santa Lucía (Santa Lucía)#
Sarmiento (Villa Media Agua)# Ullum (Ullum)# Valle Fértil (San Agustín del Valle Fértil)#
Veinticinco de Mayo (Villa Santa Rosa)# Zonda (
Zonda)
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Official page (Spanish)
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Tourist office (Spanish)
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Universidad Nacional de San Juan (Spanish)
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Diario de Cuyo (Newspaper - Spanish)
