San Antonio de los Cobres

San Antonio de los Cobres is the capital of the department of Los Andes in the province of Salta in northwestern Argentina.

Landscape

The city is located at about 3775 meters on the eponymous river that flows about 50 kilometers north into the Salinas Grandes. About the located approximately 25 kilometers south pass Abra el Acay it has access to the Calchaquíes. The Río Rosario provides access to the Valle de Lerma. The Nevado de Acay ( 5716 m) towering above the city in the southeast, north-west are the peaks of the Sierra del Cobre, on the Abra de los Chorrillos ( 4855 m) crosses the Ruta Nacional 51 (Argentina ) this mountain range.

The vegetation restricted to outside the river oasis - typical of the Puna - grasses and low scrub. In the city, there are also some trees. The fauna is species-poor and extremely adapted to the altitude of the Altiplano.

Population

In the extended urban area about 3,700 people live. These are mostly descendants of the people of the Quechua - speaking Coya ( people who live among the hills ), the Inca ritual of Pachamama is still practiced. Every year in August a festival held in her honor. It is also a harvest festival and religious ceremony, are involved in numerous indigenous customs.

Economy and Transport

In addition to the declining copper mines surrounding the inhabitants are mainly in the public sector and in the emerging tourism to earn a living. Of importance is still the manufacture, processing and sale of llama and alpaca wool.

San Antonio de los Cobres today is the end point of the tren a las nubes, which provides a passenger service between Salta and just a few kilometers west located Viaducto Polvorilla ( 4280 m). The Ramal C-14 leads -called railway line - without passenger traffic - continues to Antofagasta and Iquique in Chile.

Near the village take the Ruta Nacional 40 (Argentina) and the Ruta Nacional 51 (Argentina ) with one another. Both are in town paved in parts.

Tourism

The place itself is as unadorned mining settlement without colonial building dar. However, he offers a unique for the wide area tourist infrastructure with guesthouses and restaurants. In the area there are numerous high-traffic destinations:

• The mountains Nevado de Acay ( 5716 m) and the Nevado de Chani ( 5896 m) are year-round snow.
• The Fuentes Termales de Pompeya offer 10 kilometers north of the city the possibility of a bath. The National Road 51 provides access.
• The salt lake Salinas Grandes can be reached via the National Road 40. From there, the drive over the Ruta Nacional 52 (Argentina ) can be continued to Jujuy.
• Built of adobe ( mud brick ) village of Santa Rosa de los Pastos Grandes and the Termas de Incachuli can be reached via the Ruta Provincial 129. The mountain Nevado de Cueva ( 6130 m ) dominates both.

History

Already in pre-Columbian times lived in the territory of the Argentine Altiplano nomadic indigenous people who were at the beginning of the 16th century under the suzerainty of the Incas. The destruction of this empire did not lead to immediate colonization by the Spaniards.

The largely by nomadic llama breeders inhabited highlands was crossed only by from Salta to Chile, Bolivia and Peru leading trade routes. It was only in the eighteenth century sprang up along the river oases of the San Antonio first mining settlements that promoted the mineral-rich rocks of the Sierra del Cobre. San Antonio grew due to its location at the intersection of roads between San Pedro de Atacama and Salta and between Bolivia and San Juan and Mendoza slowly becoming a center of regional importance zoom.

The loose binding to the central governments of their countries is reflected in the fact that it was the inhabitants of the region allowed until well into the 19th century, to choose their citizenship freely between Bolivia, Chile and Argentina, according to own preference.

Short term was San Antonio de los Cobres 1899 to 1943 the capital of the Argentine territory ( Territorio Nacional de los Andes ), which consisted of the departments located in the Puna of Jujuy provinces, Salta and Catamarca.