Córdoba

views updated

Córdoba

THE PROVINCE

The central province of Argentina, Córdoba encompasses 65,161 square miles and has a population of 3,066,801 (2001). Located between the Río Dulce in the north and the Río Quinto in the south, the province of Córdoba stretches across three physiographic units: the eastern pampa, the Sierra de Córdoba, and the interior pampa. Its center is occupied by the Sierra de Córdoba, a crystalline-metamorphic massif rising to a maximum height of 9,817 feet in the Cerro Champaquí. Among the minerals extracted from this sierra and adjacent ranges are manganese, beryl, bismuth, and wolfram. Air purity and cooler temperatures have converted many mountain villages (especially in the Punilla Valley) into spa resorts, frequented by Córdobans and residents of the pampa during the hot summers. In the humid pampa plains east of the sierra, the dominant activity is raising cattle for either meat or dairy production. However, owing to the relatively ample water supply from the Sierra de Córdoba, large areas along the eastern slope and the pampa have specialized in the production of wheat (the main agricultural commodity of the province), rye, maize, flax, peanuts, millet, and alfalfa. Recently, the land dedicated to soybean production has increased to the same degree that the land producing wheat has decreased. Of lesser agricultural significance is the segment of the pampa between the western slope of the sierra and the foothills of the Andes. Excessive aridity and lack of water have created a semidesert landscape; the salt flats of Salinas Grandes and Pampa de Salinas are the most significant examples.

THE CITY

The city of Córdoba (2001 population 1,272,334) was founded on 6 July 1573 by Jerónimo Luis de Cabrera, governor of Tucumán, in order to facilitate the transit between Alto Perú and Santa María del Buen Aire (now Buenos Aires) on the Río De La Plata estuary. The city lies on the banks of the Río Primero, at the eastern slopes of the Sierra de Córdoba. By 1584 forty landholders with trusted Indians settled in the peaceful town to practice agriculture and cattle ranching, and in 1599 the Jesuits opened a mission there. In 1623 Bishop Fernando de Trejo y Sanabria founded the University of Córdoba on the site of what had been a Jesuit academy (1613), and several administrative services were established in the growing town as agricultural activities developed and wealth accumulated. Soon Córdoba competed with Tucumán as a major trading center in the Río de la Plata hinterland: In 1622 an inland custom was instituted to stop the smuggling of European merchandise from the estuary into the interior.

When it was declared the seat of the Intendancy of Córdoba in 1783, with jurisdiction over the provinces of Córdoba, La Rioja, Mendoza, San Juan, and San Luis, the city of Córdoba gained in prestige as one of the most prosperous, cultured, aristocratic, and Spain-oriented settlements in the Río de la Plata region. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, religious orders flocked to the city. The numerous churches, such as the cathedral and the Church of the Compañía de Jesús, are testimony to their presence and influence. At the time independence was declared by the Buenos Aires junta on 25 May 1810, the authorities of Córdoba voted to remain faithful to the king of Spain. A split from and rivalry with Buenos Aires ensued, and Córdoba became one of the most stubborn supporters of the autonomy of the Platine provinces. Rulers of Buenos Aires, such as Bernardino Rivadavia, Juan Manuel de Rosas, Manuel Dorrego, Juan Galo Lavalle, Juan Quiroga, and Manuel López, tried to subdue the rebellious interior province, which in the process was torn apart by internal strife. It was not until 1868 that Governor Félix de la Peña was able to establish order and harmony in the province.

In 1870 a railway line was opened between Córdoba and the capital city of Buenos Aires, accelerating the integration of the region into the national mainstream and promoting active colonization of the interior Pampa. Yet occasional outbursts of dissension continued to perpetuate the traditional enmity between Córdoba and Buenos Aires: in 1880 conservative and Catholic sectors of Córdoba strongly opposed the laicist laws discussed in the congress of Buenos Aires, and throughout republican times the city's elites were at odds with the political leaders of Buenos Aires over accepting foreigners without a patriarchal family background. In the 1950s Juan Perón was resisted not only because of his attacks against the Catholic hierarchy but also because of his plebeian origin, and in 1955 the army uprising that overthrew Perón was started by General Eduardo Leonardi in the artillery barracks of Córdoba. Similarly, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, a member of the Peronist Party and Argentina's first woman president, did not win in this city.

Nonconformism and rebelliousness have not been the hallmark exclusively of the conservative circles of Córdobans. In 1969 workers and students from that city initiated the Cordobazo, a massive rebellion that brought an end to the rule of General Juan C. Onganía. During subsequent military governments, montonero guerrillas effectively attacked military and government targets in the city of Córdoba, keeping military rulers at bay.

The metropolitan perimeter of Córdoba stretches over a gentle slope between 1,320 and 1,650 feet. Originally the settlement spread out from the left bank of the Río Primero. Later, it expanded along the river into the General Paz and San Vicente boroughs. Early in the twentieth century the city grew toward the western slope, where today most military garrisons are established. After World War II the most accelerated development took place along the highway leading to Buenos Aires and Rosario. Along this artery are located most of the industrial establishments of the city: automobile factories, chemical and fertilizer plants, factories of electromechanical equipment, and food-processing plants.

Since colonial times, Córdoba has benefited from good communications with neighboring and distant regions. Railway lines of the General Belgrano and Bartolomé Mitre systems connect the city with Rosario and Buenos Aires to the southeast; with Tucumán, La Rioja, and San Juan to the north and west across the Sierra de Córdoba; and with Mendoza to the southwest, after connecting with the General San Martín railway at Mercedes. Airport Coronel Olmedo secures communications with the nation's capital and with major cities in western Argentina.

The main cultural center is the University of Córdoba, supported by the Catholic University of Córdoba, and the National Technological University. The city and province are centers for Argentine space research. An observatory was established at the University of Córdoba in 1869, and researchers there produced the first star atlas of the Southern Hemisphere, in the early 1900s. Teofilo Tabanera Space Center, devoted to space investigation, is located in the province. In addition to being an important educational and economic center, Córdoba is the birthplace of a popular musical genre known as the cuarteto.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Alfredo Terzaga, Geografía de Córdoba (Córdoba, 1963).

Efraín Bischoff, Historia de la provincia de Córdoba (Buenos Aires, 1968).

Raúl J. Arias, Córdoba: Cuatro siglos (Buenos Aires, 1973).

María C. Vera, Córdoba: Una historia para los argentinos (Buenos Aires, 1989.)

Additional Bibliography

Arcondo, Aníbal B. En el reino de Ceres: La expansión agraria en Córdoba, 1870–1914. Córdoba, Argentina: Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, 1996.

Boixadós, María Cristina. Las tramas de una ciudad, Córdoba entre 1870 y 1895: Elite urbanizadora, infraestructura, poblamiento. Córdoba, Argentina: Ferreyra Editor, 2000.

Bravo, Fernán. Los viajes de don Jerónimo Luis de Cabrera: La fundación de Córdoba y la formación del talante ciudadano. Córdoba, Argentina: Editorial Espartaco Córdoba, 2006.

Brennan, James P. The Labor Wars in Córdoba, 1955–1976: Ideology, Work, and Labor Politics in an Argentine Industrial City. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1994.

Cena, Juan Carlos. El cordobazo: Una rebelión popular. Buenos Aires: La Rosa Blindada, 2000.

Florine, Jane L. Cuarteto Music and Dancing from Argentina: In Search of the Tunga-Tunga in Córdoba. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2001.

Mayo, Carlos A., and O. Alborés. La Historia agraria del interior: Haciendas jesuíticas de Córdoba y el Noroeste. Buenos Aires: Centro Editor de América Latina, 1994.

Parra Garzón, Gabriela. El Cabildo de Córdoba del Tucumán a través de sus documentos (1573–1600): Estudio diplomático. Córdoba, Argentina: Centro de Estudios Historicos Prof. Carlos S. A. Segreti, 2005.

Segreti, Carlos S. A. Córdoba, ciudad y provincia, siglos XVI-XX: Según relatos de viajeros y otros testimonios. 2nd ed. Córdoba, Argentina: Centro de Estudios Históricos, 1998.

CÉsar N. Caviedes

Encyclopedia of Latin American History and Culture