Santiago del Estero
Santiago del Estero | ||
---|---|---|
Dialing code +54 385 | |
Santiago del Estero (Spanish pronunciation: [sanˈtjaɣo ðel esˈteɾo], Spanish for Saint-James-Upon-The-Lagoon) is the capital of Santiago del Estero Province in northern Argentina. It has a population of 252,192 inhabitants, (2010 census [INDEC]) making it the twelfth largest city in the country, with a surface area of 2,116 km2. It lies on the Dulce River and on National Route 9, at a distance of 1,042 km north-northwest from Buenos Aires. Estimated to be 455 years old, Santiago del Estero was the first city founded by Spanish settlers in the territory that is now Argentina. As such, it is nicknamed "Madre de Ciudades" (Mother of Cities). Similarly, it has been officially declared the "mother of cities and cradle of folklore."[1]
The city houses the National University of Santiago del Estero, founded in 1973, and the Universidad Católica, founded in 1960. Other points of interest include the city's Cathedral, the Santo Domingo Convent, and the Provincial Archeology Museum.
The
The climate is subtropical with cool dry winters and wet humid summers. It receives an average annual precipitation of 600 mm, and the climate is warm.
Santiago del Estero and its region are home to about 100,000 speakers of the local variety of
History
After a series of exploratory expeditions from
In 1576, the governor of a province in northern Argentina commissioned the military to search for a huge mass of iron, which he had heard that Natives used for their weapons. They called the area "Heavenly Fields," translated into Spanish as Campo del Cielo. (This term now refers to a protected area situated on the border between the provinces of Chaco and Santiago del Estero, where a group of iron meteorites were found, estimated as having fallen in a Holocene impact event some 4,000–5,000 years ago. In 2015, Police arrested four alleged smugglers trying to steal more than a ton of protected meteorites.[2])
The city was the capital of the Intendency of San Miguel de Tucumán during the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata, and first seat of its bishop; those were later moved to Salta and Córdoba respectively.
Santiago del Estero stands in the middle of an extensive but largely semi-arid agricultural region. Originally a
The province, in 1948, elected a young
The construction of the nearby Quiroga Dam (on the
The province, however, remained one of the poorest in Argentina, falling further behind. In 1993, the city made international headlines when rioting erupted around the governor's mansion. What began as a protest by government workers who had not been paid in three months, soon grew to 4,000 demonstrators who burned cars, destroyed government buildings and even invaded the homes of prominent politicians.[5]
Juárez, by the 1990s, was readily ordering his opponents' deaths, notably that of former Governor César Iturre in 1996 and of Bishop Gerardo Sueldo in 1998. The 2002 deaths of two local women, however, were traced to Juárez's assassin, Antonio Musa Azar, and in an attempt to retain power, Juárez resigned (appointing his wife, Nina Juárez, governor).[4]
The bid failed, however, as President Néstor Kirchner signed an executive order removing Mrs. Juárez from her post in March 2004. The Juárez couple, in their nineties, subsequently lived under house arrest in the city of Santiago del Estero; the former strongman died in 2010.
Transport
Public
The Vicecomodoro Ángel de la Paz Aragonés Airport was built in 1959 and currently has flights to and from Buenos Aires operated by Aerolíneas Argentinas. In recent years it has been refurbished and expanded given that it was operating at full capacity.[6]
The city's main road connection to other provinces is
Railway
The city has historically been connected through the
Name | Former company | Line | Status (passenger) | Current rail operator/s |
---|---|---|---|---|
Santiago del Estero | Central Northern | Belgrano |
Closed | Trenes Argentinos CyL
|
Santiago del Estero | Central Argentine | Mitre |
Closed 1 | Tren al Desarrollo 1 |
Notes: 1 Under construction, work in progress
Climate
Santiago del Estero lies in a transition zone between more temperate climates, typical of the Pampa, and the hotter climates of the Chaco region: while daytime highs are decidedly very hot, nights tend to cool down more than most locations in the Chaco. It has a hot semi-arid climate (BSh) bordering on a humid subtropical climate (Cwa) under the Köppen climate classification.
The city is notorious for its very hot summer weather: the average high is 34 °C (93.2 °F) and 40 °C (104.0 °F) are attained on a regular basis; the highest temperature on record is 46.5 °C (115.7 °F) on November 1, 2009.[9] Nighttime temperatures are 20 °C (68.0 °F) in midsummer. There is a very short, humid season between December and February, with up to 140 millimetres (6 in) monthly; however, this rain falls during a handful of very strong thunderstorms, and so the amount that falls on a given year is extremely variable.
Fall is still warm, with average highs of 27 °C (80.6 °F) in April, and lows of 14 °C (57.2 °F). Temperatures can still soar to 40 °C (104.0 °F) in this season. Rainfall is scarce, and becomes practically 0 for 5 months: in July, only 3.7 millimetres (0 in) are expected. Winters bring very pleasant days (20 °C (68.0 °F)) with markedly colder nights (under 6 °C (42.8 °F)). Nonetheless, these averages are obtained through an alternance of heat waves and cold waves: short periods of 28 to 35 °C (82.4 to 95.0 °F) are followed by frosty days with highs around 12 °C (53.6 °F), and sometimes the thermometer fails to reach 8 °C (46.4 °F). The thermometer does descend below −5 °C (23.0 °F), and the record low is −9.0 °C (15.8 °F) on July 18, 1975.[9]
Late in the winter, heat waves become much more common, and in September, 40 °C (104.0 °F) are already possible. The pattern of intense heat waves followed by cool, windy weather is typical of spring, which is also very dry in Santiago. The high temperatures, extreme dryness and high winds create a very dusty environment. In October, the average high is already 31 °C (87.8 °F), and rainfall only arrives in late November. December is as hot as January, and the abundant rains make the landscape green for a few months. Total precipitation is low, 609 millimetres (24 in), and varies from one year to another.
Climate data for Santiago del Estero Airport (1991–2020, extremes 1873–present)
| |||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
Record high °C (°F) | 45.6 (114.1) |
45.7 (114.3) |
41.7 (107.1) |
39.4 (102.9) |
35.6 (96.1) |
32.6 (90.7) |
37.3 (99.1) |
40.5 (104.9) |
42.8 (109.0) |
45.2 (113.4) |
46.5 (115.7) |
45.3 (113.5) |
46.5 (115.7) |
Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 34.2 (93.6) |
32.7 (90.9) |
30.5 (86.9) |
26.7 (80.1) |
23.1 (73.6) |
20.4 (68.7) |
20.9 (69.6) |
24.8 (76.6) |
27.6 (81.7) |
30.6 (87.1) |
32.5 (90.5) |
34.1 (93.4) |
28.2 (82.8) |
Daily mean °C (°F) | 27.0 (80.6) |
25.8 (78.4) |
23.8 (74.8) |
20.1 (68.2) |
16.2 (61.2) |
12.9 (55.2) |
12.1 (53.8) |
15.4 (59.7) |
19.1 (66.4) |
22.8 (73.0) |
25.0 (77.0) |
26.7 (80.1) |
20.6 (69.1) |
Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 20.7 (69.3) |
20.0 (68.0) |
18.5 (65.3) |
14.9 (58.8) |
10.7 (51.3) |
7.1 (44.8) |
4.9 (40.8) |
7.2 (45.0) |
10.8 (51.4) |
15.6 (60.1) |
18.1 (64.6) |
20.2 (68.4) |
14.1 (57.4) |
Record low °C (°F) | 5.0 (41.0) |
6.6 (43.9) |
2.7 (36.9) |
−1.4 (29.5) |
−6.8 (19.8) |
−6.9 (19.6) |
−9.0 (15.8) |
−7.1 (19.2) |
−4.5 (23.9) |
0.4 (32.7) |
1.3 (34.3) |
6.2 (43.2) |
−9.0 (15.8) |
Average precipitation mm (inches) | 139.3 (5.48) |
106.5 (4.19) |
94.3 (3.71) |
39.9 (1.57) |
16.0 (0.63) |
9.3 (0.37) |
1.6 (0.06) |
3.5 (0.14) |
10.0 (0.39) |
55.2 (2.17) |
71.8 (2.83) |
105.0 (4.13) |
652.4 (25.69) |
Average precipitation days (≥ 0.1 mm) | 9.3 | 8.2 | 8.9 | 6.8 | 4.6 | 3.7 | 1.7 | 0.9 | 2.0 | 5.9 | 6.8 | 8.8 | 67.7 |
Average relative humidity (%)
|
65.2 | 68.9 | 72.8 | 75.3 | 74.9 | 72.7 | 62.9 | 52.2 | 49.2 | 54.7 | 57.3 | 61.3 | 64.0 |
Mean monthly sunshine hours | 241.8 | 223.2 | 192.2 | 174.0 | 145.7 | 135.0 | 158.1 | 207.7 | 189.0 | 210.8 | 234.0 | 226.3 | 2,337.8 |
Percent possible sunshine | 57 | 60 | 51 | 51 | 43 | 43 | 48 | 60 | 53 | 53 | 57 | 53 | 52 |
Source 1: Servicio Meteorológico Nacional[10][11][12] | |||||||||||||
Source 2: Meteo Climat (record highs and lows),[13] UNLP (sun only 1971–1980)[14][15] |
Culture
Some important figures related to the history of Santiago del Estero are Colonel
The city is home to numerous important Argentine artists, such as
Santiago's musical heritage is one of the most important cultural aspects of the city, with typical folklore
Sports
The city is home to the
In 2021, the Estadio Único Madre de Ciudades was inaugurated in Santiago del Estero.[16] The stadium is expected to host ten matches of the 2023 FIFA U-20 World Cup.
Notable people
- Nicolás Aguirre (born 1988), basketball player
- Amancio Jacinto Alcorta (1805–1862), composer and politician
- Casimiro Alcorta (1840–1913), tango musician
- Ramón Carrillo (1906–1956), neurosurgeon and public health advocate, first health minister of Argentina
- Mariela Coronel (born 1981), footballer
- Agustina Palacio de Libarona (1825–1880), writer, storyteller; also known as "La Heroína del Bracho"
- Omar Sebastián Pérez(born 1981), footballer
- Alberto Soriano (1905–1981), composer
- Federico Villegas (born 1966), diplomat
Villages
Gallery
-
Government house
-
Santiago del Estero convention centre
-
Central bus station
-
Plaza Libertad
-
Entrance to the bicentennial cultural centre
See also
Notes
- ^ Boletín Oficial "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-05-31. Retrieved 2009-04-03.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ Four arrested in Argentina smuggling more than ton of meteorites
- ^ a b Historical Dictionary of Argentina. London: Scarecrow Press, 1978.
- ^ a b Unofficial biography of Carlos Juárez.
- ^ "Santiago del Estero Journal; With Fire and Fury, Argentine Poor Make a Point" New York Times. December 22, 1993.
- ^ Ya están habilitadas las obras realizadas en las instalaciones del aeropuerto de Mal Paso - El Liberal, 13 February 2012.
- ^ Inauguran terminal de ómnibus en Santiago del Estero - Presidencia de la Nacion, 26 November 2008.
- ^ Obra pronta a ser inaugurada, el Tren al Desarrollo - Gobierno de la Provincia de Santiago del Estero, 14 April 2015.
- ^ a b "Santiago del Estero, Santiago del Estero". Estadísticas meteorológicas decadiales (in Spanish). Oficina de Riesgo Agropecuario. Retrieved June 11, 2015.
- ^ "Estadísticas Climatológicas Normales - período 1991-2020" (in Spanish). Servicio Meteorológico Nacional. Retrieved 5 April 2023.
- ^ "Estadísticas Climatológicas Normales – período 1991–2020" (PDF) (in Spanish). Servicio Meteorológico Nacional. 2023. Archived from the original on 8 July 2023. Retrieved 1 August 2023.
- ^ "Clima en la Argentina: Guia Climática por Santiago del Estero Aero". Caracterización: Estadísticas de largo plazo (in Spanish). Servicio Meteorológico Nacional. Retrieved 5 April 2023.
- ^ "STATION Santiago del Estero" (in French). Météoclimat. Retrieved June 11, 2015.
- ^ "Datos bioclimáticos de 173 localidades argentinas". Atlas Bioclimáticos (in Spanish). Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Retrieved April 8, 2014.
- ^ "87129: Santiago Del Estero Aero. (Argentina)". ogimet.com. OGIMET. 3 February 2024. Retrieved 4 February 2024.
- ^ "Fernández inauguró el Estadio "Madre de Ciudades", donde jugará la Selección". Télam (in Spanish). 4 March 2021. Retrieved 15 January 2023.
External links
- Santiago del Estero Culture, art, myths: in Spanish.
- Municipality of Santiago del Estero
- Municipal info
- Municipal information: Municipal Affairs Federal Institute (IFAM), Municipal Affairs Secretariat, Ministry of Interior, Argentina. (in Spanish)
- Historia de Santiago del Estero
- Universidad Nacional de Santiago del Estero