Santiago del Estero is a city in northern Argentina, the capital of the Santiago del Estero Province. It has a population of 244,733 inhabitants (2001census [INDEC]) and a surface of 2,116 km². It lies on the Dulce River and on National Route 9, at a distance of 1,042 km north-northwest from Buenos Aires. Santiago del Estero is the oldest city founded by Spanish settlers in Argentina that still exists as such. The city houses the Universidad Nacional de Santiago del Estero, founded in 1973, and Universidad Católica, founded in 1960. Other points of interest include the city's Cathedral, the Santo Domingo Convent, and the Provincial Archeology Museum. The Santiago del Estero Airport (IATA: SDE, ICAO: SANE) at coordinates 27°45′56″S,064°18′36″W is located 6 kilometres north of the city, and has regular flights to Buenos Aires and Tucumán. The local climate is warm and dry, and it practically does not have a winter season. Santiago del Estero and its region are home to about 100,000 speakers of the local variety of Quechua, making this the southernmost outpost of the language of the Incas. This is one of the few indigenous languages surviving in modern Argentina.
History
Cathedral of Santiago del Estero
After a series of exploratory expeditions from Chile since 1543, Santiago del Estero del Nuevo Maestrazgo was founded on July 251553 by Francisco de Aguirre (although some historians consider that its real foundation was in 1550). It is the oldest city in Argentina, but except for several churches, it preserves little of its former colonial architecture. The city was the capital of the Intendency of Tucumán during the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata, and first seat of its bishop; those were later moved to Salta and Córdoba respectively. Santiago del Estero stands in the middle of an extensive but largely semi-arid agricultural region. Originally a forest area, their forests were exhausted by timber industries of British capital during the 19th century.
Culture
Some important figures related to the history of Santiago del Estero are Colonel Juan Francisco Borges, leader of the Independence War (ancestor of writer Jorge Luis Borges), the 19th-century painter Felipe Taboada, as well as the revolutionary leaders Mario Roberto Santucho|Mario Roberto and Francisco René Santucho, founders of the Partido Revolucionario de los Trabajadores (Workers' Revolutionary Party, PRT) and the Ejército Revolucionario del Pueblo (People's Revolutionary Army, ERP). In the field of the arts, the town has provided important representatives, such as Ramon Gómez Cornet, Carlos Sánchez Gramajo, Alfredo Gogna, Ricardo and Rafael Touriño in plastic arts and Jorge Washington Ábalos, Bernardo Canal Feijóo, Clementina Rosa Quenel, Alberto Tasso, Carlos Virgilio Zurita and Julio Carreras (h) in literature. Santiago's musical heritage is one of the most important cultural aspects of the city, with typical folklore chacarera and zamba. Some renowned artists and groups include the Manseros Santiagueños, Alfredo Ábalos, Jacinto Piedra and Raly Barrionuevo.
