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Provinces and an Autonomous City of Argentina
Provinces and an Autonomous City of Argentina
	Argentina's provinces. This map includes territorial claims on the Falkland Islands, South Georgia and a portion of Antarctica, outlined in red.
Category	Federated state
Location	Argentina
Number	23 Provinces; 1 Autonomous city
Populations	Smallest: Tierra del Fuego Province, 190,641; Largest: Buenos Aires Province, 17,569,053
Areas	Smallest: Tierra del Fuego Province, 21,263 km² (province), Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, 203 km²; Largest: Buenos Aires Province, 307,571 km²
Government	Provincial government;
Subdivisions	Buenos Aires City: Commune (15); Buenos Aires Province: Partido (135); Other provinces: Department (378);

Argentina is divided into twenty-three federated states called provinces (Spanish: provincias, singular provincia) and one called the autonomous city (ciudad autónoma) of Buenos Aires, which is the federal capital of the republic (Spanish: Capital Federal) as decided by the Argentine Congress.^[1] The provinces and the capital have their own constitutions and exist under a federal system.

History

During the War of Independence the main cities and their surrounding countryside became provinces though the intervention of their cabildos. The Anarchy of the Year XX completed this process, shaping the original thirteen provinces. Jujuy seceded from Salta in 1834, and the thirteen provinces became fourteen. After seceding for a decade, Buenos Aires Province accepted the 1853 Constitution of Argentina in 1861, and its capital city was made a federal territory in 1880.^[2]

A law from 1862 designated as national territories those territories under federal control but outside the frontiers of the provinces. In 1884 they served as bases for the establishment of the governorates of Misiones, Formosa, Chaco, La Pampa, Neuquén, Río Negro, Chubut, Santa Cruz and Tierra del Fuego.^[3] The agreement about a frontier dispute with Chile in 1900 created the National Territory of Los Andes; its lands were incorporated into Jujuy, Salta and Catamarca in 1943.^[2] La Pampa and Chaco became provinces in 1951. Misiones did so in 1953, and Formosa, Neuquén, Río Negro, Chubut and Santa Cruz, in 1955. The last national territory, Tierra del Fuego, became the Tierra del Fuego, Antártida e Islas del Atlántico Sur Province in 1990.^[2] This province nominally includes Argentina's claims to the Falkland Islands and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands and to a segment of Antarctica that overlaps with the British and Chilean claims on that continent.

Political organization

Argentina is a federation of twenty-three provinces and one autonomous city, Buenos Aires. Provinces are divided for administration purposes into departments and municipalities, except for Buenos Aires Province, which is divided into partidos and localidades. Buenos Aires City itself is divided into communes (comuna) and non-official neighbourhoods (barrios).

Provinces hold all the power that they chose not to delegate to the federal government;^[4] they must be representative commonwealths and must not contradict the Constitution.^[5] Beyond this, they are fully autonomous: they enact their own constitutions,^[6] freely organize their local governments,^[7] and own and manage their natural and financial resources.^[8] Thus, each province has its own set of provincial laws and justice system, a supreme court, a governor, an autonomous police force, and a congress; in eight provinces, the legislature is bicameral, comprising an upper chamber (the Senate) and a lower chamber (the House of Deputies), while in the remaining fifteen provinces and in Buenos Aires City, it is unicameral.^[9]^[A]

In case of sedition, insurrection, territorial invasion, or any other emerging threats against the laws of the nation on any province or the federal capital, the Congress has the authority to declare a federal intervention on the compromised district,^[11] even in the absence of a formal request by the affected part.^[12] When Congress is in recess and thus unable to intervene, the President is entitled to decree such intervention, but this executive order is subject to Congressional override upon the Houses' immediate reassembly.^[13] Once the intervention is declared the compromised district's government is immediately dissolved—in whole or in part depending on Congressional decision—and the President appoints a representative or intervenor, who will serve for a short time until the emergency is solved. Since 1983 four provinces were intervened, namely Catamarca, Corrientes (twice), Santiago del Estero (twice), and Tucumán.^[14]

During the 20th century, some provinces have had governments that were traditionally controlled by a single family (i.e. the Saadi family in Catamarca, or the Sapag family in Neuquén); in one case, it is still the same situation as of 2009: the province of San Luis was ruled almost without a break by the Rodríguez Saá family since December 1983.^[15]

Article 61 of the Constitution of the city of Buenos Aires states that "Suffrage is free, equal, secret, universal, compulsory and not accumulative. The foreign residents enjoy this right, with the correlative obligations, on equal terms with Argentine citizens registered in this district, in the terms established by the law."^[16]

List of provinces

Provinces of Argentina^[17]
Province	Capital	Secondary capital^[18]^[B]	HASC subdivision code	Population (2022)^[19]	Area	Density per km²
Autonomous City of Buenos Aires	N/A	N/A	DF	3,120,612	203 km² (78 sq mi)	15372.47
Buenos Aires	La Plata	La Matanza and General Pueyrredón	BA	17,569,053	307,571 km² (118,754 sq mi)	57.12
Catamarca	San Fernando del Valle de Catamarca	Tinogasta	CT	429,556	102,602 km² (39,615 sq mi)	4.18
Chaco	Resistencia	Presidencia Roque Sáenz Peña	CC	1,142,963	99,633 km² (38,469 sq mi)	11.47
Chubut	Rawson	Comodoro Rivadavia	CH	603,120	224,686 km² (86,752 sq mi)	2.68
Córdoba	Córdoba	Río Cuarto	CB	3,978,984	165,321 km² (63,831 sq mi)	24.06
Corrientes	Corrientes	Goya	CN	1,197,553	88,199 km² (34,054 sq mi)	13.57
Entre Ríos	Paraná	Concordia	ER	1,426,426	78,781 km² (30,418 sq mi)	18.10
Formosa	Formosa	Formosa	FM	606,941	72,066 km² (27,825 sq mi)	8.42
Jujuy	San Salvador de Jujuy	San Pedro de Jujuy	JY	797,955	53,219 km² (20,548 sq mi)	14.99
La Pampa	Santa Rosa	General Pico	LP	366,022	143,440 km² (55,380 sq mi)	2.55
La Rioja	La Rioja	Chilecito	LR	384,607	89,680 km² (34,630 sq mi)	4.28
Mendoza	Mendoza	Guaymallén	MZ	2,014,533	148,827 km² (57,462 sq mi)	13.53
Misiones	Posadas	Oberá	MN	1,280,960	29,801 km² (11,506 sq mi)	42.98
Neuquén	Neuquén	Cutral Có	NQ	726,590	94,078 km² (36,324 sq mi)	7.72
Río Negro	Viedma	San Carlos de Bariloche	RN	762,067	203,013 km² (78,384 sq mi)	3.75
Salta	Salta	San Ramón de la Nueva Orán	SA	1,440,672	155,488 km² (60,034 sq mi)	9.26
San Juan	San Juan	Caucete	SJ	818,234	89,651 km² (34,614 sq mi)	9.12
San Luis	San Luis	San Luis	SL	540,905	76,748 km² (29,633 sq mi)	7.04
Santa Cruz	Río Gallegos	Caleta Olivia	SC	333,473	243,943 km² (94,187 sq mi)	1.36
Santa Fe	Santa Fe	Rosario	SF	3,556,522	133,007 km² (51,354 sq mi)	26.73
Santiago del Estero	Santiago del Estero	La Banda	SE	1,054,028	136,351 km² (52,645 sq mi)	7.73
Tierra del Fuego	Ushuaia	Río Grande	TF	190,641	21,263 km² (8,210 sq mi)	8.96
Tucumán	San Miguel de Tucumán	Monteros	TM	1,703,186	22,524 km² (8,697 sq mi)	75.61

Notes

^ The City of Buenos Aires is an autonomous city, but its local organization has similarities with the provinces: it has its own constitution, an elected mayor, a congress, and representatives to the Senate and Deputy chambers.^[10]
^ Defined by law 27,589

References

^ Constitution of Argentina, art. 3.
^ ^a ^b ^c Rey Balmaceda 1995, p. 19.
^ Rock 1987, p. 155.
^ Constitution of Argentina, art. 121.
^ Constitution of Argentina, arts. 5, 6.
^ Constitution of Argentina, art. 123.
^ Constitution of Argentina, art. 122.
^ Constitution of Argentina, arts. 124, 125.
^ "Legislaturas de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires y provinciales – República Argentina" (in Spanish). Universidad del Salvador. Archived from the original on 2013-05-15. Retrieved 2009-09-19.
^ Constitution of Argentina, art. 129.
^ Constitution of Argentina, art. 6.
^ Constitution of Argentina, art. 75 inc. 31.
^ Constitution of Argentina, art. 99 inc. 20.
^ "Intervenciones en la historia". La Nación (in Spanish). 11 April 2004. Archived from the original on 11 October 2012.
^ "Archivo Histórico – Gobernadores provinciales de la República Argentina 1983–2007" (in Spanish). Ministerio del Interior – Presidencia de la Nación. Archived from the original on 8 June 2009. Retrieved 8 June 2009.
^ "Constitución de la Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires" (in Spanish). Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires. October 1, 1996. Archived from the original on 2007-11-22. Retrieved 2007-12-13.
^ Gwillim Law (30 May 2015). "Provinces of Argentina". Statoids. Retrieved 28 September 2015.
^ INDEC and IGN. "División política, superficie y población" [Political division, area and population] (in Spanish). Instituto Geográfico Nacional. Retrieved March 21, 2024.
^ "Nuevos datos provisorios del Censo 2022: Argentina tiene 46.044.703 habitantes". Infobae. 31 January 2023. Retrieved 2023-02-04.

Bibliography

Legal documents

National Constituent Convention (22 August 1994), Constitution of the Argentine Nation, Santa Fe: Honorable Senado de la Nación Argentina, archived from the original on 4 June 2011

Books

Rey Balmaceda, Raúl (1995). Mi país, la Argentina (in Spanish). Buenos Aires: Arte Gráfico Editorial Argentino. ISBN 84-599-3442-X.
Rock, David (1987). Argentina, 1516-1987: From Spanish Colonization to the Falklands War. University of California Press. ISBN 978-0520061781.