In 2010, Chaco became the second province in Argentina to adopt more than one official language. These are theKom,Moqoit andWichí languages, spoken by theToba,Mocovi and Wichí peoples respectively. Chaco has historically been among Argentina's poorest provinces, and currently rankslast both byGDP per capita andHuman Development Index.
Chaco derives fromchaku, theQuechua word used to name a hunting territory or the hunting technique used by the people of theInca Empire.
Annually, large groups of up to thirty thousand hunters would enter the territory, forming columns and circling their prey.[6]Jesuit missioner Pedro Lozano wrote in his bookChorographic Description of the Great Chaco Gualamba, published inCordoba, Spain in 1733: "Its etymology indicates the multitude of nations that inhabit that region. When they go hunting, theIndians gather from many parts thevicuñas andguanacos; that crowd is calledchacu in the Quechua language, which is common in Peru, and that Spaniards have corrupted intoChaco".[7]
Chaco Province covers an area of 99,633 km2 (38,469 sq mi) and ranks as the twelfth largest Argentinian province. The highest ground in the province is also the most western, near the municipality ofTaco Pozo, at an elevation of 272 m (892 ft) above sea level.[9]
The province has asubtropical climate.[10] It is divided in two different climate zones: a more humid one in the east and a drier subtropical climate in the center and west.[11] The eastern parts of the province have ahumid subtropical climate (Cfa under theKöppen climate classification) with no dry season.[12] In the west where precipitation is lower, it has a subtropical climate with a dry winter and is classified as asemi-arid climate (BS under the Köppen climate classification) due to potentialevapotranspiration exceeding precipitation.[12]
In the most humid (eastern) parts of the province, precipitation falls throughout the year with no dry season.[12] These areas receive around 1,400 millimetres (55 in) of precipitation per year.[12] Precipitation decreases westwards and become more concentrated in the summer months.[10][12]
Mean annual temperatures range between 21 and 23 °C (70 and 73 °F), which decreases from north to south.[12] Summers are hot with temperatures that can reach up to 38 to 41 °C (100 to 106 °F) in the eastern parts of the province.[12] The western parts experience more variation in temperatures due continental influences;[10] extreme temperatures in summer are more extreme with temperatures that frequently exceed 40 °C (104 °F).[12] During winters, incursions of cold, polar air from the south can lead to frosts and temperatures that fall below freezing.[12] Being under an area of high solar radiation during summer, a consequence is that a low pressure system forms over the province during summer.[12]
Humidity in the province is high due to its climate, particularly in the north, the wettest portion of the province.[12] Most of the winds that transport humid air come from the north and east.[12] Winters are the most humid seasons (high humidity) due to this season being characterized by frequent fogs.[12]
La Sabana and its new railway station in 1899Territorial Governor's House
The area was originally inhabited by varioushunter-gatherers speaking languages from theMataco-Guaicru family. Native tribes including theToba, andWichí survive in the region and have important communities in this province as well as inFormosa Province.
In 1576, the governor of a province in Northern Argentina commissioned the military to search for a huge mass of iron, which he had heard that natives used for their weapons. The natives called the area Heavenly Fields, which was translated into Spanish asCampo del Cielo. This area is now a protected region situated on the border between the provinces of Chaco and Santiago del Estero where a group ofiron meteorites fell in aHoloceneimpact event some four to five thousand years ago. In 2015, Police arrested four alleged smugglers trying to steal over a ton of legally protected meteoric iron.[13]
The first European settlement was founded bySpanishconquistador Alonso de Vera y Aragón, in 1585, and was calledConcepción de Nuestra Señora. It was abandoned in 1632. During its existence, it was one of the most important cities in the region, but attacks from local Indians forced the residents to leave. In the 17th century, theSan Fernando del Río NegroJesuitmission was founded in the area of the modern-day city ofResistencia, but it was abandoned fifteen years later.
TheGran Chaco region remained largely unexplored, and uninhabited, by either Europeans or Argentines until the late 19th century, after numerous confrontations between Argentina and Paraguay during theWar of the Triple Alliance. San Fernando was re-established as a military outpost, and was renamed Resistencia in 1876.
The Territorio Nacional del Gran Chaco was established in 1872. This territory, which included the current Formosa Province and lands presently inside Paraguay, was superseded by Territorio Nacional del Chaco upon its administrative division, in 1884.
The Provincial Government House. Designed in 1955, political disputes delayed its completion until 1972.
Between the end of the nineteenth and the first decades of the twentieth centuries, the province received a variety of immigrants, among themVolga Germans andMennonites fromRussia,Germany, andCanada. They, alongside other immigrants, transformed Chaco into a productive farming region known for its dairy and beef production.
In 1951, the territory became a province; further, its name was changed to Provincia Presidente Perón. The province was renamed again in 1955 when the government of PresidentJuan Perón was overthrown, returning to the historical name of Chaco. Chaco voters, however, continued to supportPeronist candidates in subsequent elections, notablyDeolindo Bittel whose three terms as governor in the 1960s and 1970s were each cut short by military intervention. Bitell subsequently ran for vice-president in the1983 Argentine Presidential elections and later served as mayor of the provincial capital,Resistencia.
With few paved highways, and thus an overdependence on passenger rail services, Chaco was adversely impacted by the national rail privatizations and line closures of the early 1990s. In 1997, the services that had been previously run by the state-owned company Ferrocarriles Argentinos since railway nationalization in 1948, were taken over by the Servicios Ferroviarios del Chaco S.A. (SEFECHA) (Chaco Railway Services), makingSEFECHA, at the time, the only publicly owned commuter rail service in Argentina. SEFECHA currently carries nearly a million passengers a year and has contributed to the province's vigorous recovery from the 2002 crisis.[14]
Chaco Province continues to suffer from the worst social indicators in the country with 49.3% of its population living below thepoverty line by income and with 17.5% of children between the ages of two and five in a state ofmalnutrition in 2009.[15] Among Argentine provinces, itranks last byGDP per capita and21st byHuman Development Index, only above its neighbors Formosa and Santiago del Estero.
In 2010, Chaco became the second province in Argentina to declare indigenous languages official within the province, afterCorrientes.[16] Three local languages gained official status in Chaco besides Spanish:Kom,Moqoit, andWichí.[17]
Chaco's economy, like most in the region, is relatively underdeveloped, yet has recovered vigorously since 2002. It was estimated to be US$4.397 billion in 2006, or US$4,467 per capita (half the national average and the third-lowest in Argentina).[19] Chaco's economy is diversified, but its agricultural sector has suffered from recurrent droughts over the past decade.
Agricultural development in Chaco is predominantly associated with the commercial growing ofquebracho wood andcotton. Chaco currently produces 60% of Argentina's national cotton production. Agricultural food production accounts for 17% of Argentina's output. This includes crops such assoy,sorghum, andmaize.Sugarcane is also cultivated in the south, as well as rice and tobacco to a lesser degree.
Cattle breeds consisting of crosses withzebu are regarded as better adapted to the high temperatures, grass shortage and occasional flooding thanintensively reared pure-breeds.
Industrial contributes approximately 10% to the provincial economy and includes textiles produced from local cotton, oil and coal production, and sugar, alcohol and paper, all derived from sugar cane.
Chaco is home to theChaco National Park, but tourism is not a well-developed industry in the province. The province's main airport,Resistencia International Airport, serves around 100,000 passengers annually.
The provincial government is divided into the usual three branches: the executive, headed by a popularly elected governor, who appoint the cabinet; the legislative; and the judiciary, headed by the Supreme Court and completed by several inferior tribunals.
^"Provincia de Chaco"(PDF) (in Spanish). Administración Nacional de Laboratorios e Institutos de Salud. Archived fromthe original(PDF) on 3 November 2016. Retrieved2 November 2016.
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