Opentopia Directory Encyclopedia Tools

Santa Fe, Argentina

Encyclopedia : S : SA : SAN : Santa Fe, Argentina



 

|} Santa Fe is the capital city of province of Santa Fe, Argentina. It sits in northeastern Argentina, near the junction of the Paraná and Salado rivers. It lies opposite the city of Paraná, to which it is linked by the Hernandarias Subfluvial Tunnel. The city is also connected by canal with the port of Colastiné on the Paraná River. Santa Fe has about 369,000 inhabitants as per the 2001 census [INDEC]. The metropolitan area has a population of 454,238, making it the ninth largest in Argentina.

Santa Fe is the commercial and transportation center for a rich agricultural area that produces grain, vegetable oils, and meats. The city is the seat of the Catholic University of Santa Fe (inaugurated in 1959), the Littoral National University (first founded as the Provincial University in 1889, and which changed to its current name in 1919), several museums, and a number of buildings erected during colonial times.

Santa Fe was originally founded in the nearby site of Cayastá (where there is an historical park containing the burial place of Hernandarias, the first American-born governor in South America) in 1573. It was moved to the present site in 1653 due to the constant floodings of the Cayastá River. The city became provincial capital in 1814, when the territory of the province of Santa Fe was separated from the province of Buenos Aires by the National Constituent Assembly.

The city in its current location is still not immune to flooding. On 29 April 2003 the Salado River, which empties into the Paraná near Santa Fe, rose almost 2 m in a few hours following heavy rainfall, and caused a catastrophic flood. No less than 100,000 people had to be evacuated, and large sections of the city remained under water more than a week later.

Notable natives

Puente Colgante in Santa Fe.
Enlarge
Puente Colgante in Santa Fe.

References

 


From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.


Search Titles
0123456789
ABCDEFGHIJ
KLMNOPQRST
UVWXYZ?

E-mail this article to:

Personal Message: