SANTIAGO DEL ESTERO

city, capital of Santiago del Estero province, northwestern Argentina, and the oldest continuous settlement in the country. It was founded in 1553 by Spaniards coming from Peru, led by Francisco de Aguirre, and moved slightly south in 1556 to its present location on the Ro Dulce. Although the climate is extremely hot and dry, the surrounding irrigated plains produce considerable crops of wheat, cotton, flax, corn (maize), and alfalfa. Food processing is the main industrial activity. The city is linked by road and rail with the Argentine northwest and with the ports of Santa Fe and Rosario. Notable buildings include the Gothic-style San Francisco Solano Church (1590) and the Wagner Museum, which displays archaeological findings. Pop. (1980 prelim.) 148,357. province, north central Argentina, located mostly at the southwestern margins of the vast Gran Chaco lowland plains, but extending onto the Andean piedmont in the far west. The province has a dry, subtropical climate with seasonal (summer) rains and covers an expanse of 52,222 sq mi (135,254 sq km). Thorn scrubs and clusters of low quebracho trees typify the Gran Chaco area, while saline marshes and lakes dominate the south and southwest. The (year-round) Dulce and (seasonal) Salado rivers discharge from outliers of the Andes onto the plains of Santiago del Estero, diagonally draining the province from the northwest to the southeast. The first Spanish settlement in Argentina was made in Santiago del Estero in 1553 by Francisco de Aguirre, a conquistador from Chile who founded encomiendas (royal land grants worked by Indians). The province was created in 1820 after separation from Tucumn province. Its name derives from the former large seasonal bodies of water (esteros) bordering the Ro Dulce in the vicinity of the provincial capital, Santiago del Estero. The seasonal rainfall and poor drainage makes consistently profitable agriculture possible only through irrigation from the Dulce and Salado rivers. The main irrigated crops are cotton, alfalfa, grapes, squash, sweet potatoes, and assorted melons. Cattle, mules, and goats are raised in both irrigated and nonirrigated areas; and the species of quebracho tree of this part of the Gran Chaco is felled mostly for firewood, not tannin. The province is crossed by several railways, which connect it with many parts of Argentina and with Bolivia and Chile. The completion of a major irrigation project on the upper Dulce (in about 1950) has led to a steady population decline in most of southeastern Santiago del Estero, which now receives less seasonal runoff. Pop. (1983 est.) 630,000.