SALTA

provincia, northwestern Argentina, with an area of 59,759 square miles (154,775 square km). It is bounded on the southwest by Chile, on the north by Bolivia, and on the northeast by Paraguay. In the southwestern part of the province, high Andean cordilleras, separated by broad 11,500-foot- (3,500-metre-) high salt flats (the Atacama Plateau), descend from the Andean Cordillera Oriental through quebradas (deep and broad ravines that were historically important as routes of penetration into the highest Andes) into valleys and the lowland plain of the Gran Chaco. Several small rivers, of which the chief is the Bermejo, drain the region into the Gran Chaco. The plateau is the home of a small number of Colla Indians. In the north and centre are Barit and El Rey national parks, respectively. Both are mostly inaccessible areas covered in subtropical mountain rain forests at merger points of the Gran Chaco and the Andes. Salta was the gateway in the 16th century for settlers coming into Argentina from Peru and Bolivia. With the breakup in 1943 of Los Andes national territory in the Atacama Plateau, Salta province absorbed the former departments of San Antonio de los Cobres and Pastos Grandes. The province has nationwide rail, land, and air connections and has rail links with Bolivia and the Chilean port of Antofagasta. The provincial capital is Salta (q.v.) city. The upper Bermejo River valley near the Bolivian border contains an oil refinery and exploited oil deposits. Important deposits of borax and salt are mined in the western region of Salta along with lesser deposits of gold, silver, and iron ore. Agricultural pursuits vary according to altitude, with tobacco, grapes, and corn (maize) being the chief crops grown in the Lerma valley south of the city of Salta. The province has a large hydroelectric complex on the Juramento River in the Lerma valley. Pop. (1989 est.) 822,000. city, capital of Salta provincia, northwestern Argentina. It lies in the irrigated Andean valley of Lerma, on a headstream of the Salado River. It was founded in 1582 as San Felipe de Lerma by Hernando de Lerma, governor of Tucumn. The Spanish royal forces were defeated at Salta (1813) during the Argentine War of Independence and capitulated to General Manuel Belgrano there. Despite damage caused by earthquakes, many of the city's colonial buildings have been preserved, including the cathedral, and colonial-style architecture is used in many modern buildings as well. Salta's Fiesta del Milagro (Miracle Fiesta), which is held each September, commemorates the end of a particularly severe earthquake in 1692 when religious icons were paraded through the streets. A celebration on June 17 honours General Martn Gemes, a gaucho leader who opposed the Spanish in 181421. The city's commercial prominence dates from colonial times, when it was the scene of large pastoral fairs. Salta's modern economy is based on diversified farming, lumbering, stock raising, and mining. It is a tourist centre with thermal springs nearby and has grown in importance as a centre of archaeological investigations of Inca and other pre-Columbian Indian cultures. The Catholic University at Salta was opened in 1967. Pop. (1980) 260,323.