La Rioja, Argentina

La Rioja is the capital city of the Argentine province of La Rioja, located on the east of the province. The city has a population of almost 150,000 as per the census-ar|2001.

La Rioja is located on the foot of the Velasco Sierras, 1,167 km from Buenos Aires, and 430 km from Córdoba. The Capitán Vicente Almandos Almonacid Airport airport codes|IRJ|SANL at coordinates coord|29|23|21|S|66|48|09|W| is 7 kilometres away from La Rioja, and serves regular flights to Buenos Aires and Catamarca.The weather is dry and semi-desertic with, average temperatures of 5 °C to 20 °C in winter and 21 °C to 35 °C in summer, but with maximum temperatures of more that 40 °C.

The economy of the entire province is historically tied to cattle farming and agriculture, as well as wine production. But the beginning of the 1970s brought to the city an industrialisation thrust that makes La Rioja today an important centre in Argentina's pharmacological industry.

Former president Isabel Martínez de Perón was born in La Rioja. Another former president, Carlos Menem, was born nearby.

History

Juan Ramirez de Velasco founded the city with the name Todos los Santos de la Nueva Rioja on May 20 1591, while he was the Governor of the Territories of Tucumán, in homage to the region of La Rioja in Spain.

The city was the only settlement of some importance in the territory of the present province, and when an earthquake severely damaged the city in 1894, it had only 8,000 inhabitants. In was not until the 1970s that the population of the city, and of the province, started growing considerably.

External links

* [http://www.municipiolarioja.gov.ar/ Official page] (Spanish)
*ar-mi-muni|LRJ014
* [http://www.welcomeargentina.com/larioja/index_i.html City Information] (English)
* [http://www.unlar.edu.ar/ Universidad Nacional de La Rioja] (Spanish)