La Rioja Province

This article covers Argentine province. For the Spanish province, see La Rioja (Spanish region) . For the Peruvian province see Rioja (province) .

La Rioja

Basic data
( Details )	( Details )
Capital:	La Rioja
Surface:  - Total  share in Argentina	Rank 14 of 24 89,680 km² 3.24%
Population :  - Total 2010  - density	Rank 21 of 24 333,642 inhabitants 3.7 inhabitants / km²
ISO 3166-2 code:	AR-F
politics
Region :	Región Noroeste Argentino
Structure:	18 departments
Gobernador:	Sergio Casas
Internet presence of the province of La Rioja

La Rioja is a province in western Argentina . The capital of the province is the city of the same name, La Rioja . The name goes back to the Spanish province of La Rioja . The province is surrounded by the province of Catamarca in the north, the province of Cordoba in the east, the province of San Luis in the south and the province of San Juan in the west . In addition, La Rioja borders Chile in the west .

The former president of Argentina Carlos Menem comes from this province, he was provincial governor here from 1973 to 1976 and from 1983 to 1989 . Sergio Casas has been the governor of the province since 2015 .

geography

The entire west of the province belongs to the Andes . The central part is characterized by several mountain ranges of the Sierras Pampeanas , which run in a north-south direction. In the east one finds wide plains that belong to the dry pampas . The climate of the province is very dry, in the south there are some deserts and salt pans, otherwise it is characterized by the Monte . Particularly worth seeing is the Talampaya National Park , in which there are several bizarre rock formations.

population

With the exception of the area around the provincial capital, La Rioja is only sparsely populated, but it has one of the highest growth rates in Argentina. The province is known for the fact that many descendants of immigrants from Syria and Lebanon live here, the most famous Argentine of Syrian descent is certainly the aforementioned Carlos Menem . In addition to the provincial capital La Rioja (210,000 inhabitants), other important cities are Chilecito (33,000 inhabitants), Chamical (13,000 inhabitants), Aimogasta (12,000 inhabitants) and Chepes (11,000 inhabitants).

Administrative division

The province of La Rioja is divided into 18 departments. The provincial constitution was adopted in 1855 and modified in 1866. A new constitution was drawn up in 1986 and modified in 1998 and 2002.

In contrast to the majority of the Argentine provinces, departments and municipalities form a territorial and administrative unit.

Administrative division of the province of La Rioja

Department	Capital	Area in km²	Population (2010)
Arauco	Aimogasta	01,992	015,418
Capital	La Rioja	13,638	180.995
Castro Barros	Aminga	01,420	004,268
Chamical	Chamical	05,549	014,160
Chilecito	Chilecito	04,846	049,432
Coronel Felipe Varela	Villa Unión	09,184	009,648
Famatina	Famatina	04,587	005,863
General Ángel V. Peñaloza	Tama	03,106	003,073
General Belgrano	Olta	02,556	007,370
General Juan Facundo Quiroga	Malanzan	02,585	004,108
General Lamadrid	Villa Castelli	06,179	001,734
General Ocampo	Villa Santa Rita de Catuna	02.135	007.145
General San Martin	Ulapes	05,034	004,944
Independencia	Patquía	07.120	002,427
Rosario Vera Peñaloza	Chepes	06.114	014.054
San Blas de los Sauces	San Blas	01,590	003,927
Sanagasta	Villa Sanagasta	01,711	002,345
Vinchina	Villa San José de Vinchina	11,711	002,731

Web links

Commons : La Rioja  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Official website

Coordinates: 30 ° 0 ′  S , 67 ° 0 ′  W