San Juan Province, Argentina
( Details)
( Details)
- Total - Percentage of Argentina
89,651 km ² 3.24
- Total 2001 - Density
620 023 inhabitants 6.9 inhabitants / km ²
San Juan is a province in the west of Argentina. The province is surrounded by the provinces of La Rioja in the north, San Luis and Mendoza in the southeast in the south. Also, San Juan is bordered to the west by Chile.
Geography and climate
The province is crossed by two prominent mountain ranges: the Andes in the west and the Sierra de Valle Fertil, which belongs to the Sierras Pampeanas to the east. The highest elevation is 6,770 meters with the Mercedario, which is one of the highest mountains in America.
The vegetation corresponds to a large part of the Monte, a steppe liable bushveld, with some smaller desert areas. Major rivers include the Río Salado del Oeste in the east, which occupies the two names Río Bermejo and Rio Desaguadero in the province of Río Jáchal in the north and the San Juan River in the south.
The climate is temperate, with hot summers ( average 22 to 27 ° C depending on the altitude ) and cool winters (6 to 10 ° C). The rainfall is low and is concentrated in the summer months, it is between 100 mm and 200 mm in the west to the east. The temperature fluctuations between day and night are considerably because of the dry air and are usually above 20 ° C.
Population
Because of the dry steppe adhere character of most of the province, the majority of the population lives concentrated in a few oasis valleys. About 80 % live in the greater San Juan (about 450,000 inhabitants), located in the oasis of Tulum. Other major cities are Caucete in the east of the province ( 35,000 inhabitants) and San José de Jáchal ( 21,000 inhabitants) in the north.
The indigenous aborigines ( Huarpes ) is numerically represented only very low, their culture and language is considered to be almost extinct. According to the 2001 census, there are 13,838 Huarpes that are next to San Juan also be found in Mendoza, San Luis and Buenos Aires.
Policy
The governor of the province is José Luis Gioja (PJ). He was elected for the first time in 2003 and became in 2007 the post for another term.
Administrative divisions
The San Juan province is divided into 19 departments. Departments and municipalities ( municipios ) are territorially identical.
Tourism
The province is still very little touched by tourism. Particularly worth seeing is the Natural Park Ischigualasto, also known as the Valle de la Luna, a UNESCO World Heritage site and has several strange rock formations. Other tourist places are Barreal in the Andes, in its vicinity are also the northernmost ski resort in Argentina is located, as well as San Agustín de Valle Fertil in the Eastern Sierras. Besides Ichigualasto there are two other national parks in the province of El Leoncito in the south and San Guillermo in the north of the province.