Territorio Nacional de los Andes
The Territorio Nacional de los Andes , also known as the Gobernación Nacional de los Andes , was an administrative region in Argentina that existed between 1899 and 1943. It covered almost the entire area of the Argentine Puna , a high desert in the extreme northwest of Argentina.
history
In 1814, in the midst of the Wars of Independence, the Atacama Department was founded, which first belonged to Salta and included the areas mentioned. After a unilateral annexation in 1821, the territory belonged to Bolivia until it was finally assigned to Argentina in 1890, after there was no longer any communication link between the Bolivian heartland and the area due to the cession of the coastal area in the Saltpeter War to Chile . However, part was occupied by Chile, which despite Argentine complaints retained about a quarter of the area. After this determination, the new territory covered 62,642 km².
In 1899 the Territorio Nacional de los Andes was established by law and in 1900 the government designated for this, the Gobernación Nacional de los Andes , was established. The first capital was in a small settlement called Navarro . Shortly afterwards it was divided into three departments, Susques (north), Pastos Grandes (center) and Antofagasta de la Sierra (south).
In 1902 the province of Salta ceded the La Poma department to the national territory. Because of the better accessibility Navarro was abandoned and the capital was established in San Antonio de los Cobres . The territory now had the following departments:
- San Antonio de los Cobres, also known as the Capital . It comprised the east of what is now the Los Andes Department and the La Poma Department (both today the Province of Salta).
- Pastos Grandes, with the capital Santa Rosa de los Pastos Grandes . It covered the west of the Los Andes department (now Salta Province)
- Antofagasta de la Sierra , with the capital Antofagasta de la Sierra (today the province of Catamarca)
- Susques , with the capital Susques (today Jujuy Province)
Despite the wealth of natural resources in the region, the territory has been neglected by the Argentine central government in favor of the Pampas region. The construction of the C-14 train route , now known as tren a las nubes , did not stop the decline. This led to a decrease in the already small population from 2,508 inhabitants in 1905 to 2,348 in 1912. The region could not catch up in the years to come.
In 1943 the territory was finally dissolved and redistributed: the Susques department came to the province of Jujuy , San Antonio de los Cobres and Pastos Grandes to Salta and Antofagasta de la Sierra to Catamarca .
literature
- Alejandro Benedetti: Un territorio andino para un país pampeano. Geografía histórica del Territorio de Los Andes , CONICET.