Santa Cruz Province (Argentina)
Santa Cruz is a
province of
Argentina, located in the south of the country, in the
Patagonia. It borders the province
Chubut to the north, and
Chile to the west and south. To the east is the
Atlantic Ocean.
The
Tehuelches inhabited these lands before the arrivals of the
Spanish colonisation. In
1520 Ferdinand Magellan arrived to what is currently known as
San Julián Bay.15 years later Martín de Alcazaba explored the area near the Chico River, which he named
Gallegos River. Because of the attacks of
British pirates, and specially after the visit of
Francis Drake in
1538, the
Spaniards sent
Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa to fortify the
Strait of Magellan and avoid the pirates to reach the
Pacific Spanish posts.
In the middle of the
18th century, the
Jesuits settled in the area, establishing a few
missions. When the
Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata was created in
1776, the region was set under the rule of
Buenos Aires. Antonio de Biedma founded the
Nueva Colonia in
1780 near present
Puerto Deseado, later shut down by Viceroy Vertíz.
Between
1825 and
1836 there were a series of explorations of the regions, including that of
Charles Darwin in
1834. In
1860 commander Luis Piedrabuena established a base at the Pavón Island on the estuary of Puerto Deseado.
In
1878 the Government of
Patagonia was created, with capital in
Viedma, but six zears later it was split into smaller entities, with the territory declared
National Government of Santa Cruz, whose capital was the city of Santa Cruz. In
1901 the capital was moved to its current location at the city of
Río Gallegos.
At the beginning of
20th century, a large
European immigration began to arrive to the almost uninhabited zone; Spanish,
Germans, British and
Slavs were the most numerous among them. They came mainly to escape the growing conflicts of
World War I, and were attracted by the wool industry of the area. The end of the war meant a sharp reduction in the amount of exports, bringing a serious economic crisis to Santa Cruz.
The idea of
anarchism, brought by the Spanish immigrants, grew among the workers who started a
strike. The strike was severely and harshly repressed by the government, culminating in the events of the
Patagonia Trágica ("Tragic Patagonia"), the execution of tens of strikers.
In
1944 the
Military zone of Comodoro Rivadavia was created, which encompassed the northern part of the
National Government of Santa Cruz and the southern part of
Chubut Province. This jurisdiction lasted until the abolition of the measures in
1955. The Government of Santa Cruz acquired province status in
1957.
To the west, the
Andes at these latitudes is lower than at the centre and north of Argentina, but still has yearly snow peaks. There is the immense
ice sheet that feeds the
numerous glaciers.
From the centre to the
Atlantic coast on the east, plateaus of descending height dominate the landscape. The beaches of the Atlantic coast are a mixture of long beaches with cliffs. In
Gran Bajo de San Julián, the
Laguna del Carbón is 105 meters below the sea level, and is the lowest point in the Western and Southern Hemispheres.
The average temperatures are 13°C during the summer, and 3° in winter with temperatures of down to -25°. Even though precipitations on the ice-sheet area at the west are common, rain is scarce in the entire province, with an average of 200 mm per year. Strong winds blow all year around.
The cold weather-arid
steppe is crossed by a few rivers that produce fertile valleys;
Deseado River,
Santa Cruz River,
Gallegos River,
Coyle River,
Chico River and
Pinturas River.
The lakes of
Buenos Aires Lake (2,240 km², 881 km² in Argentina), Cardiel Lake (460 km²),
Viedma Lake (1082 km²),
Argentino Lake (1560 km²), Pueyrredón Lake, Belgrano Lake and San Martín Lake (1.013 km²) are all on the west, product of thaw of the glaciers, but due to the low temperatures, their shores are not used for agriculture.
The main province's product is linked to the
hydrocarbons with an annual production of 4.5 million
m3 of
petroleum and 3 million m3 of
gas, mainly in the
Pico Truncado,
Cañadón seco and
Cerro Redondo extracting facilities.
The
coal production at
Río Turbio is of around one million m3 per year. Mining includes
gold (
Cerro Vanguardia),
clay,
gypsum,
salt and others.
The second most important activity is that associated with
sheep. With 7 million heads, Santa Cruz is the main producer of wool and meat, most of which is designated for exportation. Livestock includes
cattle, and in lesser numbers pigs and horses.
Sea fishing, and its later industrialisation at the fishing ports of Puerto Deseado, Puerto San Julián, Puerto Santa Cruz and Río Gallegos produces
prawn,
squid,
hake and dozens of other fishes. Most of the production is froze and exported.
There is little agriculture due to the arid nature of the soil, and a small timber industry both feed by forests and planted trees, of which the wood of the
lenga is the most exploited.
Santa Cruz's most visited destination is the
Los Glaciares National Park and a number of glaciers of which the
Perito Moreno Glacier is the most famous. Nearby
El Calafate has an airport that connects the area with
Buenos Aires and
Trelew.
Some 200 kilometres north of El Calafate is the
El Chaltén village, at the feet of the
Cerro Torre and
Mount Fitz Roy. Still not very developed, El Chaltén serves as hub for different trekking routes include excursions to walk on the
Viedma Glacier.
600 kilometres further north of El Chaltén, by the dirt
Route 40, the
Cueva de las Manos near the town of
Perito Moreno offers the few tourists that adventures to this point to see the prehistoric wall paintings of the caves near the
Pinturas River.
The
Perito Moreno National Park and its lakes, north Los Glaciares, is rarely visited. Besides trekking, other sports practiced on the west side of the province are sport fishing, rafting and climbing.
On east, the
National Route 3 follows the
Atlantic coastline, by which several buses connect the coastal cities, and take passengers both south to
Tierra del Fuego and north to
Chubut Province and
Buenos Aires. The most visited places are the cities of
Río Gallegos, the
Bosques Petrificados National Monument petrified forest, and the depresion of
Laguna del Carbón near San Julián.
The province is divided into the following 7
departments:
Department (Capital)
# Corpen Aike (Puerto Santa Cruz)# Deseado (
Puerto Deseado)# Güer Aike (
Río Gallegos)#
Lago Argentino (
El Calafate)# Lago Buenos Aires (Perito Moreno)# Magallanes (Puerto San Julián)# Río Chico (Gobernador Gregores)
*
Official site (Spanish)
*
El Calafate Official Site*
El Chaltén
