Santa Cruz Province (Argentina)

Santa Cruz

Basic data
( Details )	( Details )
Capital:	Río Gallegos
Surface:  - Total  share in Argentina	Rank 2 of 24 243,943 km² 8.81%
Population :  - Total 2010  - density	Rank 23 of 24 273,964 inhabitants 1.1 inhabitants / km²
ISO 3166-2 code:	AR-Z
politics
Region :	Patagonica region
Structure:	7 departments
Gobernador:	Alicia Kirchner de Mercado
Website of the province of Santa Cruz

Santa Cruz ( Spanish for "Holy Cross") is one of the four provinces in the Argentine part of Patagonia . It takes its name from the Santa Cruz River, which forms the drain of Lake Argentino and flows into the Atlantic . In the north runs the dead straight border with the province of Chubut . In the east Santa Cruz borders on the Atlantic Ocean , in the west and south on Chile . After Buenos Aires , Santa Cruz is the country's second largest province.

Geography and climate

The valley of the Río Pinturas near Perito Moreno

The landscape is typical of Patagonia . The Andes limit the province to the west. A chain of glacier fields and lakes follows to the east in the immediate Voranden region, the largest of which is Lake Argentino . The largest part, however, is taken up by the dry plain land of the Patagonian Mesetas, which extends to the Atlantic .

The climate is cool and temperate, with moderately warm summers (11 ° C in the south to 18 ° C in the northeast) and cold winters with little snowfall (0 ° C in the southwest, 6 ° C in the northeast). The amount of precipitation is between 150 mm in the east and 450 mm in the west, whereby the winter, especially in the Andes region, is slightly more humid than the summer.

population

Santa Cruz is the most sparsely populated province in Argentina. The population is concentrated in a few urban settlements, large parts are almost uninhabited. In the west there are isolated reserves that are inhabited by indigenous people of the Tehuelche peoples. However, their number is now low.

Important cities

There are only a few cities or places worth mentioning in Santa Cruz:

• Río Gallegos (95.796 Ew.), The provincial capital, airport ( IATA code RGL)
• Caleta Olivia (51.733 Ew.), Center of the oil production
• El Calafate (16.655 Ew.), Airport (IATA code FTE), especially tourism, starting point for tours to the Los Glaciares National Park
• Pico Truncado (20.889 Ew.), Center of natural gas production
• Las Heras (17.821 Ew.)
• Puerto Deseado (14,183 Ew.)
• Puerto San Julián (7,894 Ew.)
• Río Turbio (8,814 Ew.), Center of coal mining in the southern Andes, with winter sports center
• Comandante Luis Piedra Buena (6,405 Ew.)
• Perito Moreno (4,617 Ew.), Local center of cattle breeding

The population figures come from the 2010 Census

Administrative division

The province of Santa Cruz is divided into seven departments :

Department Capital Area in km² Population (2010) Corpen Aike Puerto Santa Cruz 26,350 011.093 Deseado Puerto Deseado 63,784 107,630 Güer Aike Río Gallegos 33,841 113.267 Lake Argentino El Calafate 37,292 018,864 Lake Buenos Aires Perito Moreno 28,609 008,750 Magallanes Puerto San Julián 19,805 009,202 Río Chico Gobernador Gregores 34,262 005,158

Santa Cruz Province - Administrative Division

Economy and Infrastructure

The province lives mainly from agriculture (especially cattle breeding) and from the oil and gas production in the north of the province, but also from fishing , mining and tourism . In the southwest, near the city of Río Turbio , are the most important coal deposits in Argentina. However, dismantling has lost importance in recent decades due to a lack of investment by the operators.

A road connection (via ferry) from the province of Santa Cruz to the southernmost Argentine province of Tierra del Fuego only exists via Punta Delgada in Chile .

Web links

• Official website of the provincial administration

Coordinates: 48 ° 49 ′  S , 69 ° 49 ′  W