Buenos Aires Province

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**Buenos Aires**

Capital	La Plata
Area	307,571 km²
Population	13,827,203 (2001)
Density	44,95/km²
Governor	Felipe Solá
Demonym	Bonaerense
ISO 3166-2	AR-B

The Buenos Aires province (IPA: [ˈbwenos ˈaiɾes], Spanish: Provincia de Buenos Aires) is the wealthiest and most populated province of Argentina. Even though the Buenos Aires city is inside its territory, it is an autonomous city and not part of the province. The province has a population of 13,827,203 (2001) and its capital is La Plata (850,000 inhabitants), 50 kilometers south of the city of Buenos Aires.

1 History
2 Geography
3 Climate
4 Economy
5 Tourism
6 Political division
7 See also
8 External links

[edit] History

The aboriginals that inhabited the provinces before the arrival of the Spanish colonisation where the Pampas and other subgroups such as the Querandíes, but their culture has be lost for they have been almost exterminated, and the few survivals joined other tribes.

Pedro de Mendoza founded Santa María del Buen Ayre, and even though the first contact with the aboriginals was peaceful, soon became hostile. The city was evacuated in 1541. Juan de Garay re-founded it in 1580 as Santísima Trinidad y Puerto Santa María de los Buenos Aires.

Always among fights with the aboriginals, the cattle farms extended from Buenos Aires, whose port was always the centre of the economy of the territory. At the end of the 18th century, with the creation of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata, the exportation of meat, leather and derivatives thought the port of Buenos Aires was the base of the economical development of the region.

Jesuits unsuccessfully tried to peacefully assimilate the aboriginals into the European culture brought by the Spanish conquistadores. A certain balance was found at the end of the 18th century, when the Salado River became the limit between both civilizations, even though the frequent malones aboriginal attacks to border settlements. The end to such situation came as late as 1879 with the Conquest of the Desert (Conquista del Desierto) in which the aboriginals where almost completely exterminated.

After the independence from Spain in 1816, Buenos Aires Province and the Buenos Aires city were in constant confrontation with the other provinces because of the federal system that was managed at Buenos Aires. This period of internal instability lasted for decades.

La Plata was founded in 1882 with the purpose of becoming the province's capital. By that time, the province had around half a million inhabitants.

[edit] Geography

The Buenos Aires province has an area of 307,571 km² and its neighbouring provinces clockwise from the southwest are Rio Negro, La Pampa, Córdoba, Santa Fe and Entre Rios. To the east is the Atlantic Ocean.

The landscape is mainly flat, with two low mountain ranges; Sierra de la Ventana (near Bahía Blanca) and Sierra de Tandil (Tandil). The highest point is Cerro Tres Picos (1.239 m amsl) and the longest river is Río Salado (700 km).

As part of The Pampas the weather of the province is strongly influenced by the ocean, with hot summers and temperate winters. Humidity is high and precipitations are abundant and distributed over the year. The Western and Southwestern regions are dryer.

[edit] Climate

The weather of the Buenos Aires Provinces is temperate with average temperatures between 10 and 25 °C. At the coast, the wind from sea cools down the nights during the summer and keeps a high humidity during the winters.

Precipitations vary from 500 mm to 1,000 mm per year on the coast, and due to the flatness of the terrain can produce flooding.

The geography of the province is crossed by occasional west Pampero winds. The southern Sudestada produces storms and temperature drops, most notably the Santa Rosa storm[1], which takes place every year almost exactly on August 30.

[edit] Economy

Even though cattle is historically the main animal husbandry activity, Buenos Aires is also the top producer of sheep, pork, and chicken meat of the country. Equally important is the Dairy industry.

Another activity of the province that in the last decades has become even more important that cattle is agriculture. The most important crops include soybean, maize, wheat, sunflower. These are also grown as Oilseeds.

The industry of the province is diverse. Chemical, metallurgic, auto-mechanics, textile and food industry are the most notable, and signify the 50% of the country's industrial production.

[edit] Tourism

Tourist mainly from Buenos Aires visit the Atlantic coast. There are many cities and town along the coast line that starts some 250 kilometres from Buenos Aires after the Samborombón Bay. Among them, the biggest and most important is Mar del Plata, followed by Pinamar, Villa Gesell, Miramar and Necochea.

Other destinations include the Sierras of Tandil, Tigre and the many islands of the Río de la Plata delta, the Martín García Island, the Chascomús Lagoon, and the La Plata city.

Lately agritourism in estancias ranches has become somewhat popular for foreigners visiting the province.