Provinces of Argentina
to the United Kingdom.
In Argentina, each of the twenty-three federated states named in the Constitution of the Argentine Nation is called a province, which together with the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires constitute the jurisdictions-territorial divisions of first country order.
The provinces have full autonomy, are part of the Nation and are legally pre-existing to it, according to the principles of federalism established in the National Constitution. Legally, Argentina was established as a federation of provinces and maintains by constitutional mandate the historical names of the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata and the Argentine Confederation, in addition to the Argentine Republic (the only usual one).
Introduction
Argentine provinces are self-governing, write their own constitutions, and have their own executive, legislative, and judicial powers, including their own security forces. Fourteen of them are historically prior to the constitutional organization established in 1853/1860. All are legally pre-existing to the Nation and exclusively retain all powers not expressly delegated to the Nation in the National Constitution.
The provinces divide their territory into "departments" and these, in turn, are made up of municipalities and/or communes, with the exception of the province of Buenos Aires, which only includes municipalities called "partidos". The departments, In general, they do not have administrative functions, although in the provinces of Mendoza, San Juan and La Rioja each department is a municipality. In some provinces the departments are used as constituencies to determine representatives to provincial legislatures and serve as decentralization units for various provincial bodies such as the police and the judiciary (see autarky).
The 1994 National Constitution recognized municipal autonomy, but gave the provinces the power to regulate its scope and content, so there are autonomous municipalities with the power to sanction municipal organic charters and others that cannot. There are also provinces that have not updated their constitutions to recognize the autonomy of their municipalities. Until December 2019, 176 municipalities, making use of their institutional autonomy, had issued their own organic charter. The provinces have local governments and within each regime there are usually typifications of municipalities, there are cases of administrative units similar to municipalities -in general, localities with a sparse population- but that do not have autonomy and their rulers are usually delegates of the governor.
The Argentine provinces began to be configured before the May Revolution of 1810, and they were defining their borders through interprovincial pacts "pre-existing" to the Constitution of 1853. In 1853, thirteen provinces (Catamarca, Córdoba, Corrientes, Entre Ríos, Jujuy, La Rioja, Mendoza, Salta, San Juan, San Luis, Santa Fe, Santiago del Estero and Tucumán) met in a congress in the city of Santa Fe to establish the Argentine Republic. In 1860 the province of Buenos Aires was reintegrated. Subsequently, the National Congress created nine new provinces: Presidente Perón (Chaco) and Eva Perón (La Pampa) in 1951, renamed in 1955; Missions in 1953; Chubut, Formosa, Neuquén, Río Negro and Santa Cruz in 1955; and, finally, Tierra del Fuego, Antarctica and the South Atlantic Islands, in 1991. In 2023 there are 23 provinces.
The Autonomous City of Buenos Aires (CABA) is not a province nor does it belong to any of them. Until 1880 it belonged to the province of Buenos Aires, the year in which it was federalized (nationalized) to serve as the federal capital. It has a regime of "autonomous government" with its own legislative and jurisdictional powers, of constitutional rank. CABA is, together with the 23 provinces, one of the 24 jurisdictions of the first order or "self-governed states" that make up the country.
List
The following table shows the IATA (abbr. IATA) and ISO abbreviations, population (pop.), area (top), population density (pop. density) and other data.
| Province | Flag | Abrev. IATA | Pobl. (proy. 2020) | Sup. (km2) | Dens. de pobl. (hab/km2) | Capital | Declaration of autonomy | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Absolute | Percentage | ||||||||
| Absolute | Percentage | ||||||||
| Province of Buenos Aires |  | BA | 17 541 141 | 41% | 307 571 | 11% | 57 | The Silver | 11 February 1820 |
| Catamarca Province |  | CA | 415 438 | 1% | 102 602 | 4% | 4.0 | San Fernando del Valle de Catamarca | 25 August 1821 |
| Chaco Province |  | CH | 1 204 541 | 3% | 99 633 | 4% | 12 | Resistance | 8 August 1951 |
| Chubut Province |  | CT | 618 994 | 1% | 224 686 | 8% | 2.8 | Rawson | 15 June 1955 |
| Province of Córdoba |  | CB | 3 760 450 | 9% | 165 321 | 6% | 23 | Córdoba | 5 January 1820 |
| Province of Corrientes |  | CR | 1 120 801 | 3% | 88 199 | 3% | 13 | Current | 20 April 1814 |
| Entre Ríos Province |  | ER | 1 385 961 | 3% | 78 781 | 3% | 18 | Paraná | 23 April 1814 |
| Formosa Province |  | FO | 605 193 | 1% | 72 066 | 3% | 8.4 | Formosa | 15 June 1955 |
| Jujuy Province |  | JY | 770 881 | 2% | 53 219 | 2% | 14 | San Salvador de Jujuy | 17 December 1836 |
| Province of La Pampa |  | LP | 358 428 | 1% | 143 440 | 5% | 2.5 | Santa Rosa | 8 August 1951 |
| Province of La Rioja |  | LR | 393 531 | 1% | 89 680 | 3% | 4.4 | La Rioja | 1 March 1820 |
| Province of Mendoza |  | MZ | 1 990 338 | 5% | 148 827 | 5% | 13 | Mendoza | 1 March 1820 |
| Province of Misiones |  | MY | 1 261 294 | 3% | 29 801 | 1% | 42 | Posadas | 10 December 1953 |
| Province of Neuquén |  | NQN | 664 057 | 2% | 94 078 | 3% | 7.1 | Neuquén | 15 June 1955 |
| Río Negro Province |  | RN | 747 610 | 2% | 203 013 | 7% | 3.7 | Viedma | 15 June 1955 |
| Salta Province |  | SA | 1 424 397 | 3% | 155 488 | 6% | 9,2 | Balance | 17 December 1836 |
| San Juan Province |  | SJ | 781 217 | 2% | 89 651 | 3% | 8.7 | San Juan | 1 March 1820 |
| San Luis Province |  | SL | 508 328 | 1% | 76 748 | 3% | 6.6 | San Luis | 1 March 1820 |
| Province of Santa Cruz |  | SC | 365 698 | 1% | 243 943 | 9% | 1.5 | Río Gallegos | 22 November 1956 |
| Province of Santa Fe |  | SF | 3 536 418 | 8% | 133 007 | 5% | 27 | Santa Fe | 10 May 1816 |
| Province of Santiago del Estero |  | SEE | 978 313 | 2% | 136 351 | 5% | 7.2 | Santiago del Estero | 27 April 1820 |
| Tierra del Fuego Province, Antarctica and South Atlantic Islands |  | TF | 173 432 | 0% | 21 571 | 1% | 8,0 | Ushuaia | 26 April 1990 |
| Tucumán Province |  | TU | 1 694 656 | 4% | 22 524 | 1% | 64 | San Miguel de Tucumán | 25 November 1825 |
History
In the colonial era
The word "province" was used in Spanish colonial terminology to refer to the main territorial divisions, such as intendancies and audiencias. In the royal decree of October 27, 1777 that definitively constituted the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata, the King of Spain mentions Buenos Aires, Paraguay, Tucumán, Potosí, Santa Cruz de la Sierra as “provinces” that are members of the Viceroyalty. and Ponds:
(...) Don Juan José de Vertiz, Lieutenant General of my Royal Armys: By my 1st of August cédula last year, I had to name for Virey, Governor and Captain General of the Provinces of the Rio de la Plata, and district of the Audiencia de Charcas with the territories of the cities of Mendoza and San Juan de la Frontera or of the Pico de la Gobernacion de Chile, to the Capitan General of the And understanding how important it is to my Royal service and good of my vassals in that part of my domains the permanence of this dignity, because from Lima a distance of a thousand leagues it is not possible to attend to the government of the oppressed Provinces so remote, nor to care that the Virey of them will give the strength and conserve of them in time of war: I have come to resolve the continued occupation of Virey,
The Viceroyalty of Río de la Plata at the time of the so-called May Revolution (May 25, 1810), was made up of 8 municipalities and 4 subordinate political-military governments:
- Intendencia de Buenos Aires de la cual dependeían:
- Governorate of Montevideo
- Governance of the Guaraní Missions, reduced to an arms command covering the departments of Yapeyú, Candelaria and Concepción. The department of Santiago joined Paraguay in 1805 and that of San Miguel and part of those of Yapeyú and Concepción were annexed by Portugal.
- Intendence of Paraguay
- Intendence of Córdoba del Tucumán
- Intendence of Salta del Tucumán
- Potosí Intendence
- Intendence of Charcas
- Intendence of La Paz
- Cochabamba Intendence
Under the supervision of the president of the Royal Audience of Charcas:
- Moxos governorate
- Chiquitos governorate
Each intendancy or government, in turn, was divided into parties, and there were also several military commands directly subordinate to the viceroy within the jurisdiction of Buenos Aires, such as: the Command of Patagones, the Command of the Malvinas Islands, the Maldonado Command, the Colonia Command, the Santa Teresa Command and the Martín García prison.
Since the May Revolution
The Big Board created on February 10, 1811 the provincial boards, made up of a governor-intendant and four members. The First Triumvirate suppressed them on February 7, 1812 establishing a unitary regime.
The Assembly of the Year XIII dictated a constitutional project in which in its article 4 it established: "The Territory of the State includes(sic) the Provinces of Buenos Aires, Paraguay, Córdoba, Salta, Potosí, Charcas, Cochabamba, La Paz, Cuyo and Banda Oriental."
The provinces that today do not make up the Argentine Republic
The United Provinces of the Río de la Plata, as successors to the viceroyalty of the same name, adopted the name of "province" to refer to the territorial units capable of generating a political will, in a sense equivalent to the state.
In the first years after the May Revolution of 1810, the process of establishing the United Provinces included, with different degrees of political ties, eight "provinces" that finally did not integrate the Argentine Republic. Those eight provinces were the Banda Oriental, Misiones Orientales, Paraguay, Tarija, Potosí, Charcas, Cochabamba and La Paz. These last four were part of a larger area known by the name of "Alto Peru".
Paraguayan
By a note dated August 28, 1811, the Junta Grande of Buenos Aires accepted the self-government of the province of Paraguay in the following terms: If it is the decided will of that province to be governed by yes and regardless of the provisional government, we will not oppose it. On October 12, 1811, a Treaty of Friendship, Assistance and Commerce was signed, through which the province of Paraguay agreed to form part of a confederation with the rest of the Río de la Plata and maintained its self-government pending a general congress of all provinces. The Second Paraguayan Congress on October 12, 1813 adopted the name of the Republic of Paraguay, however, independence was not formally proclaimed until November 25, 1842. The Argentine Confederation continued to consider it a province until the signing of Act of recognition of the sovereignty and independence of the Republic of Paraguay by the Argentine Confederation in Asunción on July 17, 1852, which was rejected by the Confederation Congress (based in Paraná) in September 1855. A new treaty recognizing independence was signed on July 29, 1856, ratified by the Confederation Congress on September 26 and by the Paraguayan Government on October 15.
Provinces of Alto Peru and Tarija
The provinces of Upper Peru were only temporarily under the control of the Buenos Aires-based government during incursions by the Peruvian auxiliary army.
The General Constituent Congress of Buenos Aires, by decree of May 9, 1825, declared that although the four provinces of Upper Peru have always belonged to this State, it is the will of the general constituent congress that they they are left in full freedom to dispose of their fate, as they believe to suit their interests and happiness, clearing the way for the independence of Upper Peru proclaimed by the Deliberative Assembly in Chuquisaca on August 6, 1825. The independent provinces were: La Paz, Charcas, Cochabamba and Potosí. Santa Cruz de la Sierra (which included the governments of Moxos and Chiquitos), which also participated in the assembly, had been separated from Cochabamba in 1811 by the royalists and constituted a new province, not recognized by Buenos Aires.
Province of Tarija: in 1810 the council of Tarija adhered to the May Revolution, for which reason it formed part of the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata until August 26, 1826. the troops subordinated to Antonio José de Sucre belonging to the United Liberation Army of Peru, an open council dismissed the lieutenant-governor of Tarija (dependent on Salta). That open council (dominated by the separatists) requested its incorporation into the recently created Republic of Bolívar (later Bolivia). On October 3, 1826, Sucre promulgated the Bolivian law that authorized the incorporation of the deputies of Tarija to the Constituent Congress of Bolivia, separating this territory from the rest of Argentina. Although Simón Bolívar recognized the integrity of Tarija as part of the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata, Tarija maintained its union with Bolivia. At a time when the Argentine-Brazilian War was taking place, the Argentine Congress by law of November 30, 1826 created the Province of Tarija, including Chichas and the current Bolivian provinces of Nor Lípez and Sud Lípez. Between 1836 and 1837 the war between the Argentine and Peruvian-Bolivian confederations took place, which failed to change the situation regarding Tarija, and Argentina kept Tarija nominally as one of its provinces until, by the treaty of May 10, 1889 he renounced his claim on Tarija and Chichas. In compensation, Bolivia ceded a territory that it had lost militarily: the Puna de Atacama, which was in the hands of Chile after the Pacific War and which was the base of the De Los Andes Governorate...
Oriental Band
The Oriental Province was created in 1813 by José Gervasio Artigas on the basis of the territory known as Banda Oriental, and was annexed to the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarve on July 18, 1821 with the province name Cisplatina. Since February 1824 it was part of the Empire of Brazil.
In the instructions of Artigas to the deputies to the Assembly of the Year XIII, are the limits that he claimed for the Oriental province: from the eastern coast of Uruguay to the fortress of Santa Teresa, including the territories occupied by the Portuguese, the towns of Misiones, those of Batoví, the fort of Santa Tecla, the fort of San Rafael and Tacuarembó.
On August 25, 1825, the Florida Congress proclaimed the reincorporation of the Oriental province to the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata, which was recognized by the General Constituent Congress in Buenos Aires on October 24, 1825.
Through the Preliminary Peace Convention that put an end to the war in Brazil, the independence of the Oriental province was agreed, which became effective on August 28, 1828, creating the Oriental State of Uruguay, which shortly after changed its name to the Oriental Republic of Uruguay.
The last offer was made between 1835 and 1838, during the presidency of Manuel Oribe. Juan Manuel de Rosas wrote a letter to President Oribe, with the suggestion of reincorporating the Eastern State, to the Argentine Confederation. The proposal was officially rejected without justification, perhaps the reason was to avoid another war with the Empire of Brazil.
Eastern Missions
The Misiones Orientales were part of the Government of the Guarani Missions until their annexation by Portugal in 1801 (Portuguese Conquest of the Oriental Missions). Between 1810 and 1820 the Guarani commander Andrés Guazurary came to regain control of much of the occupied territory.
During the course of the war in Brazil (1825-1828) the Argentine and Eastern troops under the command of Fructuoso Rivera occupied them for a brief period, but at the end of the war they remained for Brazil.
The dispute over the Eastern Missions continues with Brazil supporting the civil war in Uruguay, under Uruguay's waiver clause. In 1851 the self-styled Government of the Defense of Montevideo (colorado, pro-Brazilian and pro-unitary) formally renounced the Uruguayan claims to the Eastern Missions, which was not accepted by the Cerrito Government, made up of whites, until it was defeated in 1865 during The triple alliance war.
Shortly before, the Government of the Argentine Confederation maintained its claims over the area of El Tapé (west of Río Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina) to Brazil until the end of 1851. In that same year a coalition of unitarios, Anti-Rosist federals, and Uruguayan Colorados and also Brazilians, made a treaty by which the territory was recognized to Brazil.
Despite this, the Argentine claim to the Eastern Mesopotamian Missions in the territory to the east of the current province of Misiones was maintained.
The territorial dispute was resolved in the Award of Cleveland on Misiones in 1890, through US arbitration, the territory being recognized to Brazil, constituting from that moment part of the current states of Santa Catarina and Paraná.
Formation of the 14 confederate provinces
On November 29, 1813, the Second Triumvirate created the Intendant Governorate of Cuyo with the sub-delegations of Mendoza, San Juan and San Luis, separating it from the Intendant Governorate of Córdoba del Tucumán.
In 1814 the commander of the Bajada del Paraná, Eusebio Hereñú, recognized Artigas as Protector of the League of Free Peoples, ignoring the dependency of the Government Tenure of Santa Fe and establishing in fact the autonomy of the province of Entre Ríos, which was proclaimed on April 23, 1814 after the victory of Hereñú and Otorgués over the forces of the directory in the battle of El Espinillo.
An open council meeting in Corrientes on March 11, 1814 elected Juan Bautista Méndez as governor of the province. On April 20 of that year, the council declared the independence of the province of Corrientes under the federative system, recognizing General José Gervasio de Artigas as Protector of the Free Peoples.
On September 10, 1814, the Supreme Director Gervasio Antonio de Posadas ordered by decree to separate the province of Entre Ríos and the province of Corrientes from the Buenos Aires Intendency Governorate, establishing them as intendant governments, although they were already so in fact. The towns of Misiones to the north of the Miriñay River were included in the province of Corrientes and to the south of that river in the province of Entre Ríos.
On October 8, 1814, the Supreme Director Posadas by means of a decree divided the Governorate of Salta del Tucumán into two provinces: the Governorate of Salta and the Government of Tucumán. The first included, in addition to the capital city of Salta, Jujuy, Orán, Tarija, San Carlos, the Calchaquíes valleys, the Lerma valley, Santa María and La Puna. The second, with its capital in San Miguel de Tucumán, also had jurisdiction over Catamarca and Santiago del Estero.
On April 26, 1815, while the central government of Carlos María de Alvear fell due to the rebellion of Ignacio Álvarez Thomas and Francisco Candioti, he proclaimed himself governor of Santa Fe, ceasing to be a government tenure of Buenos Aires, when he died that same In the Candioti year, on September 2, 1815, the Santa Fe town hall reestablished dependence on the government of Buenos Aires. In 1816 Mariano Vera and Estanislao López proclaimed the sovereignty of the province and its entry into the League of Free Peoples of Artigas. On May 10, 1816, Vera was elected governor of the province of Santa Fe.
After the Arequito Mutiny on January 5, 1820, the Cabildo de Córdoba deposed the governor, Mayor Manuel Antonio de Castro, and declared the federal independence of the province of Córdoba, naming General Bustos as chief of the uprising of Arequito, governor of the autonomous province of Córdoba. In March the province of La Rioja was separated.
After the Cazadores de los Andes regiment rose up in San Juan on January 9, 1820, on March 1, 1820, San Luis and San Juan separated from the jurisdiction of Mendoza, dissolving the Intendencia Governorate of Whose. From that day on, the provinces of: Mendoza, San Juan and San Luis were born.
After the dissolution of the Directory and Congress, the mayor governor of Tucumán, Colonel Bernabé Aráoz, erected on March 22, 1820 the Federal Republic of Tucumán, made up of the territories that formed the governorate administration (Santiago del Estero, Catamarca and Tucumán). Sanctioning a constitution on September 6, 1820. Felipe Ibarra proclaimed the autonomy of the province of Santiago del Estero April 27, 1820 and on August 25, 1821, Nicolás Avellaneda y Tula proclaimed the province of Catamarca, leaving the province of Tucumán reduced to its current limits, but subsisting until 1825 as the Federal Republic of Tucumán, the year in which the unitarian Gregorio Aráoz de Lamadrid overthrew the supreme president Xavier Lopez.
After the battle of Cepeda on February 1, 1820, Estanislao López and Francisco Ramírez overthrew the government of José Rondeau in Buenos Aires, dissolving the national government. On February 16, 1820, the province of Buenos Aires became an autonomous political entity, appointing Manuel de Sarratea as governor, who on February 23 signed the Treaty of Pilar, which mainly proclaimed unity national and the federal system, each province assuming its sovereignty.
On September 29, 1820, Francisco Ramírez created the Republic of Entre Ríos subdivided into the departments of Uruguay, Paraná, Corrientes and Misiones. After the death of Ramírez, Ricardo López Jordán (father) assumed the government, but on September 23, 1821 Lucio Norberto Mansilla proclaimed himself governor, disappearing the Republic of Entre Ríos on November 26, while Ramón de Atienza reestablished the province of Corrientes on October 12.
The Treaty of the Quadrilateral signed on January 25, 1822 recognized the autonomy of the Misiones province, setting its limits with Corrientes on the Miriñay river and the Tranquera de Loreto. A congress held in San Miguel in April 1824, proclaimed Félix de Aguirre as governor of Misiones with the territories south of the Aguapey river. On January 14, 1827, he was dismissed and his territory occupied by Corrientes, which annexed it on September 1, 1832.
On November 18, 1834, Lieutenant Colonel José María Fascio called an open council in San Salvador de Jujuy, which approved autonomy and named him governor of the province of Jujuy, separating from Salta, which was not recognized by the authorities of the confederation until December 17, 1836.
After the overthrow of the governor of Buenos Aires and in charge of foreign relations of the Argentine Confederation, Juan Manuel de Rosas, by the governor of Entre Ríos, Justo José de Urquiza in command of the Big Army in the battle of Caseros, A federal constitution was drawn up for the Argentine Confederation that Urquiza promulgated on May 1, 1853. However, on September 11, 1852, the State of Buenos Aires was segregated, naming Manuel Guillermo Pinto governor. In 1854 this state sanctioned a constitution by which it claimed jurisdiction from the Arroyo de El Medio to the entrance of the Cordillera into the sea, bordering on a line to the West and South-West with the foothills of the Cordilleras, and by the North and East with the Paraná and Plata rivers and with the Atlantic. On September 17, 1861, the battle of Pavón took place with the victory of Buenos Aires under the command of Bartolomé Mitre, which led to the reunification of Buenos Aires with the other provinces and the birth of the organized Argentine Republic.
The provinces emerged from the national territories
Nine provinces were created by provincializing eight national territories. The "national territories" They were a type of centralized political entity, through which Argentina began a process of territorial expansion, after the constitutions of 1853 and 1860 were sanctioned.
The process began with the enactment of Law No. 28 of October 17, 1862, which provided that "all existing territories outside the limits or possessions of the provinces are national", without specifying the location of said territories. Until then, the provinces of Buenos Aires and Mendoza, in addition to Chile, maintained claims over extensive territories located in Patagonia and the Pampas region, inhabited until then by various indigenous peoples. With this norm, the direct management by the national State began, of a territory larger than that occupied by the provinces and which would adopt the name of "national territories".
In 1884, the National Territories Law No. 1532 was enacted, dividing the national territories into nine "governances": La Pampa, El Neuquén, El Río Negro, El Chubut, Santa Cruz, La Tierra del Fuego, Misiones, Formosa and El Chaco. The legal denominations of each governorate had the preposition "de" before the identity name (eg Gobernación del Chubut).
The process of creating "national territories", was part of a larger process of centralization and militarization of the country, imposed by the triumphant roquismo in 1880. Through the establishment of broad political units that did not follow the organization model in provinces, consecrated by the constitutions of 1853 and 1860. For this reason, the population of the national territories lacked political rights in the national State, being unable to choose their representatives, nor to be elected.
In 1951 the process of "provincialization" of the national territories. All of them would be provincialized between 1951 and 1955, but in 1956 the de facto government kept the National Territory of Tierra del Fuego, Antarctica and South Atlantic Islands unprovincialized, which would only be provincialized in 1990.
In addition to the nine national territories that became new provinces, there was a tenth national territory called Los Andes National Territory, created in 1900 and dissolved in 1943, its territory being distributed among the provinces of Catamarca, Jujuy, and Salta.
National Territories of the Northeast
In 1865 Argentina signed an alliance treaty with Brazil and Uruguay against Paraguay, stipulating that: “The Argentine Republic will be divided from the Republic of Paraguay, by the Paraná and Paraguay rivers, until it finds the limits of the Empire of Brazil, being these, on the right bank of the Paraguay River, the Bahía Negra”.
The current province of Formosa and an extensive portion of the current Paraguayan Chaco Boreal up to Bahía Negra were to remain in Argentine territory; In compliance with this, General Emilio Miter occupied Villa Occidental in October 1869 -which was renamed Villa Argentina-, opposite the city of Asunción. On January 31, 1872, President Domingo Faustino Sarmiento created by decree the National Territory of the Gran Chaco, with its capital in Villa Argentina. This was the first territorial legal entity to adopt the name “national territory”. In October 1872 it was ratified by Law No. 576, although without setting limits. Two years earlier, the war against the indigenous peoples of the Chaco had begun, which would culminate in 1917 with the occupation of the territory and the submission of indigenous cultures to the Argentine State.
On February 3, 1876, Argentina and Paraguay signed a treaty tracing the border between the two countries at the Paraná, Paraguay and Pilcomayo rivers, establishing that the areas that in the middle of the following century would make up the current provinces of Misiones belonged to Argentine territory. and Formosa.
On December 22, 1881, the National Congress decided to create the National Territory of Misiones, which until then belonged to the province of Corrientes. Corrientes completed the federalization of the territory, ceding in 1882 the city of Posadas, which was incorporated as the capital to the national territory of Misiones in 1884, by Law No. 1437.
Law No. 1532 of National Territories sanctioned on October 16, 1884, which established the jurisdictions of all the country's national territories, provided for the division of the Gran Chaco National Territory into two national territories or governorates: National Territory of Formosa and National Territory of Chaco, the latter encompassing current parts of the provinces of Santa Fe (until 1886) and Santiago del Estero (until 1910).
Southern National Territories
Law no. Another law, No. 947 of October 5, 1878, set the limits of the provinces of Buenos Aires, Santa Fe, Córdoba, San Luis and Mendoza with the Patagonian territories.
The Government of Patagonia was created by Law No. 954 of October 11, 1878. It extended nominally from the limit set by the previous law to Cape Horn, a which at that time was in the hands of the Mapuche, Tehuelche, Ranquel, Selk'nam, Yámana and other indigenous peoples. Both Argentina and Chile intended to occupy that territory.
Between the end of 1878 and the beginning of 1885, the war called Conquest of the Desert took place, through which the Argentine State took possession of Patagonia and the Pampas and subdued the indigenous peoples who inhabited those lands. In 1881 the Boundary Treaty with Chile was signed.
By law no. Negro, called La Pampa (or Central Pampa) and Patagonia, without their government being altered.
Law No. 1532 of National Territories sanctioned on October 16, 1884, which established the jurisdictions of all the national territories of the country, provided for the division of the Governorate of Patagonia into six national territories or governorates: National Territory of Río Negro, National Territory of La Pampa, National Territory of Neuquén, National Territory of Chubut, National Territory of Santa Cruz and Government of Tierra del Fuego. On November 24, 1884, the first governors of the new entities took office and the administrative unit of Argentine Patagonia ceased to exist. Part of the territory of the former governorate of La Patagonia was provincialized in favor of the provinces of Mendoza and San Luis.
On April 7, 1948, by decree-law no. Law No. 5626 of August 18, 1943.
The provincialization of national territories
During the presidency of Juan Domingo Perón, the process of provincialization of the national territories began.
Law no. sanctioned its constitution, where they established that the name would be President Perón province. In September 1955, the dictator Eduardo Lonardi, when he was still in Córdoba and before taking office, decided to annul the name chosen by the Constituent Assembly for the province, and established that it should be designated with the name he had imposed on it. President Domingo F. Sarmiento in 1872, upon incorporating it as a national territory: Del Chaco. On April 27, 1956, the dictator Pedro Eugenio Aramburu issued a proclamation annulling the current national constitution and the provincial constitutions, including the chaqueña. Thus, the province of Chaco was left without a constitution. In 1957 the dictatorship called for the election of a provincial constituent assembly, but with the legal prohibition for the Peronist party to appear in the elections. The result was the sanction of the Chaco Constitution of 1957, whose legitimacy was under discussion, because it was not democratically sanctioned.
Law no. 14037 also provided for the provincialization of the national territory of La Pampa, which was constituted by means of a convention democratically elected by its population that met between December 17 and 21, 1951 and sanctioned its constitution, in where they established that the name would be Eva Perón province. In September 1955, the dictator Eduardo Lonardi, when he was still in Córdoba and before taking office, decided to annul the name chosen by the Constituent Assembly for the province, and established that it should be designated with the name he had imposed on it. President Julio Argentino Roca in 1884, upon incorporating it as a national territory: La Pampa. On April 27, 1956, the dictator Pedro Eugenio Aramburu issued a proclamation annulling the current national constitution and provincial constitutions, including that of the Eva Perón province, which thus remained without a constitution. In 1957 the dictatorship called for the election of a provincial constituent assembly, but with the legal prohibition for the Peronist party to appear in the elections; Due to the withdrawal of the Convention members of the Intransigent Radical Civic Union, the assembly was left without a quorum and could not meet. In December 1959, President Arturo Frondizi called for elections to elect a provincial constituent assembly, prohibiting the Justicialista Party from presenting in the elections. The result was the approval of the Pampean Constitution of 1960, whose legitimacy was under discussion, because it was not democratically sanctioned.
On December 10, 1953, Law No. 14294 established the creation of the province of Misiones.
On June 15, 1955, Law No. 14408 created the provinces of Formosa, Neuquén, Río Negro, b>Chubut and Patagonia. The latter covered from parallel 46°S to the South Pole, including Santa Cruz, Tierra del Fuego, the islands of the South Atlantic and the Argentine Antarctic Sector, although it did not come into effect when it was annulled by the Liberating Revolution.
Decree-law no. province of Santa Cruz.
Finally, Law No. 23775 of April 26, 1990 created the province of Tierra del Fuego, Antártida and Islas del Atlántico Sur.
Territories that did not become provinces
In addition to the nine national territories that became provinces, there were three other Argentine political entities that never became provinces, two of which had an ephemeral existence.
The National Territory of the Andes was created in 1900 by Law No. 390, occupying the Puna de Atacama sector, awarded to the country by the Buchanan arbitration award, and the town of San Antonio de los Cobres ceded by the province of Salta, but due to its tiny population and development it was dissolved by decree-law no. 9375/1943, its territory being distributed among the provinces of Catamarca, Salta and Jujuy.
The Comodoro Rivadavia Military Zone also existed briefly between 1945 and 1955, which included sectors of southern Chubut and northern Santa Cruz, from the sea to the Andes mountain range. The reason for this ephemeral administrative unit was the protection of the exploitation of hydrocarbons.
In 1982, within the framework of the Malvinas War, the Military Governorate of the Malvinas, South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands was created, separated from the National Territory of Tierra del Fuego, Antarctica and the South Atlantic Islands, which it rejoined when it was formally dissolved in 1985, although in fact these archipelagos returned to the administration of the United Kingdom in June 1982.
Federal Capitals of the Nation
The Federal Territory of Entre Ríos or Federal Territory of the Capital was established on March 24, 1854 so that its capital, the city of Paraná, served as provisional capital of the Argentine Confederation. It subsisted until May 1, 1860 when the province of Entre Ríos was defederalized and reestablished, however only the city of Paraná continued as the provisional capital of the Confederation until December 2, 1861, when it was reintegrated into Entre Ríos.
On August 6, 1862, a national law federalized the territory of the province of Buenos Aires for a period of three years, but the Legislature of that province did not give its consent. Due to a transitory compromise law, the city of Buenos Aires served as the residence of the federal authorities between 1863 and 1880, but lacked immediate administrative authority over the territory in which they were staying. In 1869 the National Congress sanctioned a bill by which the nation's capital was located in the city of Rosario, but it was vetoed by the executive branch. On September 19, 1871, the National Congress enacted another law that established the federalization of an area to be defined of 26 kilometers per side of the point called Villa María in the province of Córdoba, but again it was vetoed by the executive branch. Buenos Aires was federalized by law no.
The Viedma-Carmen de Patagones Federal District Project was a discontinued attempt to create a new district in which the new federal capital of Argentina would be located, created by Law no. 23512, which was sanctioned by the National Congress on May 27, 1987 at the initiative of a bill presented in 1986 by then President Raúl Alfonsín. The transfer of the capital to the Viedma-Carmen de Patagones region did not take effect -despite the fact that the provinces of Buenos Aires and Río Negro conditionally ceded the affected territories- and legally came to an end with the repeal of Law no. º 23512, when sanctioning the Argentine Legal Digest, on May 21, 2014.
Projects for the creation of new national territories that were not fulfilled
In September 1871, a bill was presented that was not approved, which organized the territories outside the jurisdictions of the provinces into the following:
- In the Grand Chaco: the Pilcomayo, the Bermejo and the Grand Chaco.
- Missions.
- In La Pampa and Patagonia: de la Pampa, del Río Negro, del Chubut, de la Patagonia, de Magallanes (in dispute with Chile), del Limay and the Andes.
Between 1881 and 1884, there was a project to cede to the Nation the departments of Orán, Iruya, Rivadavia, San Martín and Santa Victoria in the province of Salta, to constitute the National Territory of Orán with capital in San Ramón de la Nueva Orán, but it did not materialize.
On September 16, 1914, the National Executive Branch sent a bill to create three national territories in Patagonia called Los Lagos, Patagonia and San Martín. On September 19, 1916, the project was postponed indefinitely.
Provincial competitions
The provinces have de jure all the powers that have not been expressly delegated to the federal government (art. 121 of the National Constitution). They administer justice over people and things that are not under federal jurisdiction, the latter established in articles 116 and 117 of the federal Constitution. As a correlate of this power to administer justice, they have their own local magistrates and courts or supreme courts, which are the last instance in ordinary provincial justice, they also dictate their own Code of Procedure (Civil and Commercial, Criminal) this power is exercised by the Congress in the Federal Capital according to art. 75 inc. 30 of the Constitution, a power that Congress still retains despite the creation of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires.
They are in charge of the health system and the education system. Likewise, and unlike what happens in other Latin American federal countries, such as Mexico and Venezuela, where it is the national constitution that regulates it, the Argentine provinces regulate the municipal regime, guaranteeing the autonomy of the municipalities only by rule of the federal constitution..
According to art. 126 of the National Constitution: The provinces do not exercise the power delegated to the Nation. They cannot celebrate partial treaties of a political nature; nor issue laws on commerce, or internal or external navigation; nor establish provincial customs; nor coin money; nor establish banks with the power to issue banknotes, without the authorization of the Federal Congress; nor dictate the Civil, Commercial, Penal and Mining Codes, after Congress has sanctioned them; nor specifically enact laws on citizenship and naturalization, bankruptcies, counterfeiting of currency or State documents; nor establish tonnage rights; nor to arm warships or raise armies, except in the case of foreign invasion or in such an imminent danger that it does not admit delay, informing the Federal Government later; nor appoint or receive foreign agents. Provincial militias were abolished by decree of President Julio Argentino Roca of 1881, although they are still contemplated in some provincial constitutions (vgr. Constitution of the province of Corrientes of 2007: art. 162 inc 13: the Governor... He is the superior commander of the provincial militias and disposes of them in the cases established by the Constitution and national laws)
They are organized internally according to their interests, choosing their executive and legislative powers, whose regime they are free to determine. They can enter into all kinds of judicial, economic or social agreements with each other with the knowledge of the federal legislative Congress and without the need for its approval (examples of these treaties are the regionalization treaties that in each case created the regions for economic development and social).
The federal government cannot intervene in the domestic political affairs of a province, the National Executive Branch is only empowered to intervene in a province in order to ensure the republican form of government or repel foreign invasions, with the prior agreement of the National Congress.
The provinces of Buenos Aires, Río Negro, Chubut, Santa Cruz, and Tierra del Fuego, Antártida and Islas del Atlántico Sur possess maritime coastline and ownership of hydrocarbon deposits (law no. 24145) and resources alive in the internal waters and Argentine territorial sea adjacent to its coasts, up to 12 nautical miles measured from the baselines (Federal Fisheries Law No. 24922).
Provincial governments
Due to the federal system adopted by the Constitution, the provinces are autonomous and retain all power not explicitly delegated to the federal government.
All the provinces have a republican and representative constitution that organizes its own powers, executive, legislative and judicial, and regulates the regime of municipal autonomy. The provinces can enact laws on non-federal issues, but the main common laws (civil, commercial, criminal, labor, social security and mining) are reserved to the National Congress (National Constitution, article 75, paragraph 12).
In all the provinces, the executive power is in charge of a governor who lasts in office for four years and who, in general, can be re-elected. Legislative power in some provinces is exercised by a unicameral legislature and in others by a bicameral legislature. All provinces have a judiciary with its corresponding provincial Superior Court and tribunals in charge of resolving governed conflicts. by common law (civil, criminal, commercial, labor, local administrative).
The Autonomous City of Buenos Aires has a special regime of autonomy, in such a way that without bearing the title of "province", it functions the same as a province, similar to what happens in Mexico with the City of Mexico, which being a city fully has the rank of "State". Since 1996 the City of Buenos Aires]] has its own Constitution of provincial rank and elects its own governor, who bears the title of "Head of Government". Since 2005, Buenos Aires has been divided into communes and since 2011 the communal board or board that governs each commune has been elected. A law enacted in 1880 confirmed it as the capital of the Republic and federalized it, separating it from the province of Buenos Aires. Its political organization also has a republican Constitution that establishes a government divided into three branches (executive, legislative and judicial) and a system of decentralization in communes. The restrictions on autonomy have had an influence so that until 2006 it lacked its own police and a judicial system to resolve conflicts motivated by the application of common laws. The holder of the executive power bears the title of Head of Government of the City of Buenos Aires. As of 2020, 16 of the 24 first-order jurisdictions have unicameral Legislatures, while all deliberative councils throughout the country are also single-chamber.
The National Constitution asks each province to organize a municipal regime and recognizes the autonomy of municipalities.
The municipalities direct the destinies of each city or town; In general, its jurisdiction extends to the surrounding rural area and, on occasions, includes smaller towns.
Executive Branch
The executive power of the Argentine provinces in all cases is in charge of a person with the title of governor. In all the provinces, the governor has a four-year mandate, although it is the power of each one to establish the terms in the Constitution. In some cases he can be reelected indefinitely and in others not. In all cases, when the governor is elected, a lieutenant governor is also elected to replace him in case of absence, illness, disability or death.
- 3 provinces allow indefinite re-election: Catamarca, Formosa and Santa Cruz.
- 1 province allows re-election for two additional periods: San Juan.
- 17 territories allow re-election for an additional mandate: Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Chaco, Chubut, Córdoba, Corrientes, Entre Ríos, Jujuy, La Pampa, La Rioja, Misiones, Neuquén, Río Negro, Salta, San Luis, Santiago del Estero, Tierra del Fuego and Tucumán.
- 2 provinces allow re-election but not consecutively: Mendoza and Santa Fe.
Three provinces (Chaco, Corrientes and Tierra del Fuego, Antártida and Islas del Atlántico Sur, contemplate the possibility of a second round for the election of governor and vice president. In Chaco and Corrientes, a second round corresponds between the two most voted formulas, when the candidate with the most votes had not reached 45% of the votes, or exceeding 40%, would not have surpassed the second force by more than ten percentage points. In Tierra del Fuego, Antarctica and the South Atlantic Islands, the second corresponds return, if no formula obtains an absolute majority.
Legislative branch
All provinces have a legislative power with the power to enact laws in all matters not expressly delegated to the National Legislative Power, which are exhaustively determined in art. 75 of the National Constitution. Some provinces have bicameral legislative powers (senators and deputies) and others only unicameral (only deputies or representatives). In those that have two chambers, senators normally represent the sections or departments into which the province is divided.
| Province | Legislature | Level | Scalls | Mandate (years) | Renewal | Electoral system | Electoral district | Electoral floor |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Buenos Aires
| Chamber of Deputies | Low | 92 | 4 | For halves every 2 years | Proportional representation | 8 electoral sections | Hare |
| Senate | High | 46 | 4 | For halves every 2 years | Proportional representation | 8 electoral sections | Hare | |
 City of Buenos Aires
| Legislature | Unicameral | 60 | 4 | For halves every 2 years | Proportional representation | City | 3% of valid votes |
| Catamarca
| Chamber of Deputies | Low | 41 | 4 | For halves every 2 years | Proportional representation | Province | 3% of the crop |
| House of Senators | High | 16 | 4 | For halves every 2 years | Uninominal majority scrutiny | Departments | None | |
| Chaco
| Chamber of Deputies | Unicameral | 32 | 4 | For halves every 2 years | Proportional representation | Province | None |
| Chubut
| Legislature | Unicameral | 27 | 4 | Complete |
| Province | 3% of the crop |
| Córdoba
| Legislature | Unicameral | 70 | 4 | Complete | Parallel vote: | ||
| 44: Proportional representation | Province | None | ||||||
| 26: Uninominal majority scrutiny | Departments | None | ||||||
| Current
| Chamber of Deputies | Low | 30 | 4 | For halves every 2 years | Proportional representation | Province | 3% of the crop |
| House of Senators | High | 15 | 6 | For thirds every 2 years | Proportional representation | Province | 3% of the crop | |
| Between Rios
| Chamber of Deputies | Low | 34 | 4 | Complete |
| Province | Hare |
| House of Senators | High | 17 | 4 | Complete | Uninominal majority scrutiny | Departments | None | |
| Formosa
| Chamber of Deputies | Unicameral | 30 | 4 | For halves every 2 years | Incomplete list with two simultaneous votes:
| Province | None |
| Jujuy
| Legislature | Unicameral | 48 | 4 | For halves every 2 years | Proportional representation | Province | 5% harvest |
| The Pampa
| Chamber of Deputies | Unicameral | 30 | 4 | Complete | Proportional representation | Province | 3% of the crop |
| La Rioja
| Legislature | Unicameral | 36 | 4 | For halves every 2 years | 24: Proportional representation | Departments | 3% of the crop |
| 12: Uninominal majority scrutiny | Departments | 3% of the crop | ||||||
| Mendoza
| Chamber of Deputies | Low | 48 | 4 | For halves every 2 years | Proportional representation | 4 electoral sections | 3% of the crop |
| House of Senators | High | 38 | 4 | For halves every 2 years | Proportional representation | 4 electoral sections | 3% of the crop | |
| Missions
| House of Representatives | Unicameral | 40 | 4 | For halves every 2 years | Proportional representation | Province | None |
 Neuquén
| Legislature | Unicameral | 35 | 4 | Complete | Proportional representation | Province | 3% of valid votes |
| Black River
| Legislature | Unicameral | 46 | 4 | Complete | Parallel vote: | ||
| 22: Proportional representation | Province | 5 per cent of valid votes | ||||||
| 24: Proportional representation | 8 electoral circuits | 5 per cent of valid votes | ||||||
| Balance
| Chamber of Deputies | Low | 60 | 4 | For halves every 2 years | 47: Proportional representation | Departments | 5 per cent of valid votes |
| 13: Uninominal majority scrutiny | Departments | 5 per cent of valid votes | ||||||
| House of Senators | High | 23 | 4 | For halves every 2 years | Uninominal majority scrutiny | Departments | None | |
| San Juan
| Chamber of Deputies | Unicameral | 36 | 4 | Complete | Parallel vote: | ||
| 17: Proportional representation | Province | 3% of valid votes | ||||||
| 19: Uninominal majority scrutiny | Departments | None | ||||||
| San Luis
| Chamber of Deputies | Low | 43 | 4 | For halves every 2 years | Proportional representation | Departments | 3% of the crop |
| House of Senators | High | 9 | 4 | For halves every 2 years | Uninominal majority scrutiny | Departments | None | |
| Santa Cruz
| Chamber of Deputies | Unicameral | 24 | 4 | Complete | Parallel vote: | ||
| 10: Proportional representation with double simultaneous vote | Province | 3% of the crop | ||||||
| 14: Uninominal majority scrutiny with two simultaneous votes | Municipalities | 3% of the crop | ||||||
| Santa Fe
| Chamber of Deputies | Low | 50 | 4 | Complete |
| Province | 3% of valid votes |
| House of Senators | High | 19 | 4 | Complete | Uninominal majority scrutiny | Departments | None | |
| Santiago del Estero
| Chamber of Deputies | Unicameral | 40 | 4 | Complete | Proportional representation | Province | 2% of valid votes |
| Land of Fire
| Legislature | Unicameral | 15 | 4 | Complete | Proportional representation | Province | 5 per cent of valid votes |
| Tucumán
| Legislature | Unicameral | 49 | 4 | Complete | Proportional representation | 3 electoral sections | None |
Judicial branch
All provinces have a judicial branch made up of a Supreme Court of Justice (usually called by different names, such as Superior Court of Justice), chambers of appeal, and lower courts.
The provincial courts must resolve all conflicts derived from common legislation (civil, commercial, labor, criminal), even if the laws have been dictated by the National Congress. On the contrary, they cannot intervene in conflicts regulated by strictly federal laws.
Municipal regime
Each province has among the powers delegated by the federal government (art. 5 of the National Constitution) that of organizing the municipal regime ensuring the autonomy of the municipalities and regulating its scope and content in the institutional, political, administrative, economic and financial. On these bases, the Argentine provinces have organized different municipal systems.
Regions for economic and social development
The regions for economic and social development, or simply regions, are coordination entities formally constituted in Argentina by interprovincial treaties, which bring together a number of provinces that voluntarily accede. Among its main objectives is the improvement in the execution of public policies, the administration of economic resources, and the favoring of the economic and social development of the provinces that comprise them. The conformation of a region can respond to historical, geographical, economic, social, cultural and political aspects, there being no established criteria for its conformation.
The regions were foreseen in the reform of the national constitution of 1994:
Article 124. The provinces may create regions for economic and social development and establish bodies with powers to fulfil their aims and may also conclude international agreements as long as they are not incompatible with the foreign policy of the Nation and do not affect the powers delegated to the federal government or the public credit of the Nation; with the knowledge of the National Congress. The city of Buenos Aires will have the regime established for this purpose. It corresponds to the provinces the original domain of the natural resources existing in their territory.
Existing Regions
There are four regions formally constituted by the respective interprovincial treaties:
- Region of the North Great Argentine: formed by the provinces of Catamarca, Corrientes, Chaco, Formosa, Jujuy, Misiones, Tucumán, Salta, and Santiago del Estero. It was created by the Interprovincial Partial Treaty on the Creation of the Northern Great Argentine Region of 9 April 1999. In 2012 La Rioja was integrated.
- Region of the New Cuyo: initially formed by the provinces of La Rioja, Mendoza, San Juan, and San Luis. It was created by the New Cuyo Economic Integration Treaty of 22 January 1988. Since 2012 La Rioja left the region, which since then took the name of Cuyo. It is the only one of the four regions that has not been established under article No. 124 of the National Constitution, as it is pre-existing to the constitutional reform of 1994.
- Patagonia region: formed by the provinces of Chubut, La Pampa, Neuquén, Río Negro, Santa Cruz, and Tierra del Fuego, Antarctica and South Atlantic Islands. It was created by the Founding Treaty of the Patagonia Region of 26 June 1996.
- Central region: formed by the provinces of Córdoba, Entre Ríos, and Santa Fe. It was created by the Regional Integration Treaty of 15 August 1998, incorporating the province of Entre Ríos on 6 April 1999.
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