Punilla Department

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Location of the Punilla department in the province of Cordoba

Punilla is a department in the western center of the central Argentine province of Córdoba . It takes its name from the Valle de Punilla , which is located in the east of the area.

The department stretches along a few kilometers west of the provincial capital Córdoba in a north-south direction. Its area is 2,592 square kilometers. The capital is Cosquín , while the largest city is Villa Carlos Paz , both of which are among the most famous holiday resorts in Argentina.

geography

The Punilla department is located in the east of the Sierras de Córdoba and takes up the entire area of ​​the Punilla Valley with the exception of the extreme northwest. It also has a share in the plateaus of the Pampas Serranas in the west. The boundaries of the department coincide roughly with the highest peaks of the Sierra Grande (in the west) and the Sierra Chica in the east.

The highest point is the Cerro Los Gigantes (2,374 m) in the west, another well-known mountain is the Uritorco (1,979 m) in the northeast. The Punilla Valley lies at an altitude of between 550 and 1,100 m, the plateaus of the Pampas Serranas between 1,500 and 1,900 m.

There are several reservoirs in the Punilla department, the largest being Lago San Roque in the south between Villa Carlos Paz and Cosquín . This lake is the most important drinking water reservoir in the Gran Córdoba agglomeration .

population

The population of Punilla was 155,124 in 2001 ( INDEC census ), an increase of 28% over 1991. This makes it one of the fastest growing departments in the province. The population density is 59.8 inhabitants per square kilometer.

The population is very unevenly distributed. It is concentrated in the east in the Punilla Valley on Ruta Nacional 38 , the main north-south route connecting the region, to five urban centers: Villa Carlos Paz  -  Tanti , Cosquín , La Falda , La Cumbre and Capilla del Monte . In these areas, a little more than 5% of the total area, 149,834 people live, i.e. more than 95% of the department's population, with a population density that is well over 1,000 inhabitants per square kilometer, especially in the south of the valley. In contrast, the inhospitable plateaus in the west are almost uninhabited.

Cities and towns

All places over 1,000 inhabitants according to the 2001 census:

Locality Residents
Villa Carlos Paz 56,407
metropolitan area: 61,165
Cosquín 19,070
metropolitan area: 32,567
La Falda 15,112
metropolitan area: 31,380
Capilla del Monte 9,085
La Cumbre 7,235
metropolitan area: 8,927
Santa María de Punilla
(Cosquín Metropolitan Area) 		7,306
Huerta Grande
(La Falda metropolitan area) 		5,630
Valle Hermoso
(La Falda agglomeration) 		5,421
Villa Giardino
(La Falda agglomeration) 		4,679
Tanti 4,579
metropolitan area: 6,710
Bialet Massé
(Cosquín Metropolitan Area) 		4,543
San Antonio Arredondo
(Carlos Paz Metropolitan Area) 		2,325
Santa Cruz del Lago
(Tanti agglomeration) 		1,637
Villa Río Icho Cruz
(Carlos Paz Metropolitan Area) 		1,145
Los Cocos
(La Cumbre agglomeration) 		1,035

economy

As the region is one of the major tourist centers in Argentina , the service sector dominates the local economy. The second pillar is food production, especially sweets (and especially the so-called alfajores , filled biscuits) are mainly produced in small to medium-sized businesses. Extensive animal husbandry is practiced on the plateaus in the west.

Web links

Coordinates: 31 ° 12 ′  S , 64 ° 30 ′  W