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city in Argentina, capital of its province
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Córdoba (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈkoɾðoβa]) is a city in central Argentina, in the foothills of the Sierras Chicas on the Suquía River, about 700 km (435 mi) northwest of Buenos Aires. It is the capital of Córdoba Province and the second-most populous city in Argentina after Buenos Aires, with about 1.6 million urban inhabitants according to the 2020 census.
Córdoba was founded as a settlement on 6 July 1573 by Spanish conquistador Jerónimo Luis de Cabrera, who named it after the Spanish city of Córdoba. It was one of the early Spanish colonial capitals of the region of present-day Argentina (the oldest Argentine city is Santiago del Estero, founded in 1553). The National University of Córdoba, the oldest university of the country, was founded in 1613 by the Jesuit Order, and Córdoba has earned the nickname La Docta ("the learned").
Córdoba has many historical monuments preserved from the period of Spanish colonial rule, especially buildings of the Catholic Church such as the Jesuit Block (Spanish: Manzana Jesuítica), declared in 2000 as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, which consists of a group of buildings dating from the 17th century, including the Colegio Nacional de Monserrat and the colonial university campus. The campus belongs today to the historical museum of the National University of Córdoba, which has been the second-largest university in the country since the early years of the 20th century (after the University of Buenos Aires), in number of students, faculty, and academic programs. Córdoba is also known for its historical movements, such as the Cordobazo of May 1969 and La Reforma del '18 (known as the University Revolution in English) of 1918.
In 1570 the Viceroy of Peru, Francisco de Toledo, entrusted the Spanish settler Jerónimo Luis de Cabrera with the task of founding and populating a settlement in the Punilla Valley. Cabrera sent an expedition of 48 men to the territory of the Comechingones. He divided the principal column that entered through the north of the provincial territory at Villa María. The expedition of one hundred men set foot on what today is Córdoba on 24 June 1573. Cabrera called the nearby river San Juan (today Suquía). The settlement was officially founded on 6 July of the same year and named Córdoba de la Nueva Andalucía, possibly in honour of ancestors of the founder's wife, who originally came from Córdoba, Spain. The foundation of the city took place on the left bank of the river on the advice of Francisco de Torres.
The area was inhabited by aboriginal people called Comechingones, who lived in communities called ayllus. After four years, having repelled attacks by the aborigines, the settlement's authorities moved it to the opposite bank of the Suquía River in 1577. The Lieutenant Governor at the time, Don Lorenzo Suárez de Figueroa, planned the first layout of the city as a grid of 70 blocks. Once the city core had been moved to its current location, the population stabilized. The city's economy blossomed due to trade with the cities in the north.
In 1599, the religious order of the Jesuits arrived in the settlement. They established a Novitiate in 1608 and, in 1610, the Colegio Maximo, which became the University of Córdoba in 1613 (today National University of Córdoba), the fourth-oldest in the Americas. The local Jesuit church remains one of the oldest buildings in South America and contains the Monserrat Secondary School, a church, and residential buildings. To maintain such a project, the Jesuits operated five Reducciones in the surrounding fertile valleys, including Caroya, Jesús María, Santa Catalina, Alta Gracia and Candelaria.
The farm and the complex (started in 1615, had to be vacated by the Jesuits following the 1767 decree by King Charles III of Spain that expelled the Jesuit order from the continent. Franciscans then operated the Jesuits' foundations until 1853, when the Jesuits returned to the Americas. Nevertheless, the university and the high-school were nationalized a year later. Each estancia has its own church and set of buildings, around which towns grew, such as Alta Gracia, the closest to the Block.
In 1776, King Carlos III created the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata, in which Córdoba stays in 1785 as the Government Intendency of Córdoba, including the current territories of the provinces of Córdoba, La Rioja and the region of Cuyo.
According to the 1760 census, the population of the city was 22,000 inhabitants. During the May Revolution in 1810, the widespread opinion of the most notable citizens was of continuing respecting the orders of Fernando VII, attitude assumed by the local authorities, which led to the Liniers Counter-revolution. This position was not shared by the Dean Gregorio Funes, who was adhering to the revolutionary ideas, beside supporting contact with Manuel Belgrano and Juan José Castelli.
In March 1816, the Argentine Congress met in Tucumán for an independence resolution. Córdoba sent Eduardo Pérez Bulnes, Jerónimo Salguero de Cabrera, José Antonio Cabrera, and to the Canon of the cathedral Michael Calixto of the Circle, all of them of autonomous position.
The 1820s belonged to caudillos, since the country was in full process of formation. Until 1820 a central government taken root in Buenos Aires existed, but the remaining thirteen provinces felt that after 9 July 1816 what had happened it was simply a change of commander. The Battle of Cepeda pitted the commanders of the Littoral against the inland forces.
Finally, the Federales obtained the victory, for what the country remained since then integrated by 13 autonomous provinces, on the national government having been dissolved. From this way the period known like about the Provincial Autonomies began. From this moment the provinces tried to create a federal system that was integrating them without coming to good port, this mainly for the regional differences of every province.
Two Córdoba figures stood out in this period: Governor Juan Bautista Bustos, who was an official of the Army of the North and in 1820 was supervised by the troops quartered in Arequito, a town near Córdoba, and his ally and later enemy, General José María Paz. In 1821, Bustos repelled the invasion of Córdoba on the part of Francisco Ramírez and his Chilean ally, General José Miguel Carrera. The conflict originated in a dispute with the power system that included the provinces of Buenos Aires, Córdoba and Santa Fe; according to the 1822 census the total population of Córdoba was of 11,552 inhabitants.
At the end of the 19th century the process of national industrialization began with the height of the economic agro-exporting model, principally of meats and cereals. This process is associated with the European immigration who began to settle the city, generally possessing the education and enterprising capacity appropriate for the development of industry. The majority of these European immigrants came from Italy (initially from Piedmont, Veneto and Lombardy; later from Campania and Calabria), and Spain (mostly Galicians and Basques).
At the beginning of the 20th century the city had 90,000 inhabitants. The city's physiognomy changed considerably following the construction of new avenues, walks and public squares, as well as the installation of an electrified tram system, in 1909. In 1918, Córdoba was the epicentre of a movement known as the University Reform, which then spread to the rest of the Universities of the country, Americas and Spain.
The development of the domestic market, the British investments that facilitated European settlement, the development of the railways on the pampas rapidly industrialized the city. Córdoba's industrial sector first developed from the need to transform raw materials such as leather, meats and wool for export.
In 1927, the Military Aircraft Manufacturer (FMA) was inaugurated. The facility would become one of the most important in the world after World War II with the arrival of German technical personnel. From 1952, its production began to diversify, to constitute the base of the former Institute Aerotécnico, the state-owned company Aeronautical and Mechanical Industries of the State (IAME). Córdoba was chosen as the site of The Instituto Aerotécnico that later became the Fábrica Militar de Aviones. It employed the Focke Wulf men until President Juan Perón was ousted by a coup in 1955. Lockheed Martin purchased FMA in 1995.
Córdoba, according to the census of 1947, had almost 400,000 inhabitants (a quarter of the province's total). Subsequent industrial development led thousands of rural families to the city, doubling its population and turning Córdoba into the second largest city in Argentina, after Buenos Aires, by 1970. The city's population and economic growth moderated, afterwards, though living standards rose with the increase in the national consumption of Córdoba's industrial products, as well as the development of other sectors of economic activity.
At times rivaling Buenos Aires for its importance in national politics, Córdoba was the site of the initial mutiny leading to the 1955 Revolución Libertadora that deposed President Juan Perón and the setting for the 1969 Cordobazo, a series of violent labor and student protests that ultimately led to elections in 1973. Córdoba's current economic diversity is due to a vigorous services sector and the demand for agro-industrial and railway equipment and, in particular, the introduction of U.S. and European automakers after 1954.
The city's geographic location is 31°25′S 64°11′W / 31.417°S 64.183°W, taking as a point of reference San Martín Square in downtown Córdoba. The relative location of the municipal common land, is in the south hemisphere of the globe, to the south of the South American subcontinent, in the geographical centre – west of Argentina and of the province of Córdoba; to a distance of 702 km (436 mi) from Buenos Aires, 401 km (249 mi) from the city of Rosario and (340 km (211 mi)) west of Santa Fe.
As per the provincial laws No. 778 14 December 1878, Not. 927 20 October 1883, and Not. 1295 29 December 1893, the limits of the city of Córdoba are delineated in the northern part, South, East and West located to 12 km (7 mi) from San Martín Square which means that the common land has 24 km (15 mi) from side. The city, adjoins in the northern territory with Colón Department summarizing a total surface of 562.
The city is located in the plain of the Humid Pampa, to the east of the oriental cord of Córdoba Hills or Sierras Chicas, also known as the Sierras Cordobesas, which has an average height of 550 m. It spreads at the foot of the mount, on both banks of the River Suquía, and flows into the San Roque reservoir; from there, the Primero River goes east into the plains surrounding the city of Córdoba.
Once inside the city, the La Cañada stream meets the Rio Primero near the city centre area. Two kilometers to the east, Isla de los Patos (Ducks Island) was repopulated with ducks and swans in the 1980s. It was reported in March 2006 that a large number of ducks had died due to unspecified causes. Pollution caused by chemical waste is suspected as the cause, but avian influenza is also being investigated.
Beyond the city limits, the river flows towards the Algarrobos swamp and ends its course on the southern coast of the Mar Chiquita (or Mar de Ansenuza) salt lake. All in all, the river has a length of approximately 200 km (124 mi) and carries, on average, 9.7 m³/s, with minimum of 2 m³/s and maximum of 24 m³/s with a peak during the summer months.
Pollution of the water and of the riverbank is a major environmental issue in Córdoba. Periodic cleaning operations are carried out to increase the quality of the water and to preserve the viability of fishing, both in the San Roque reservoir area and downstream.
The climate of the city of Córdoba, and that of most of the province, is humid subtropical (Cwa, according to the Köppen climate classification), moderated by the Pampas winds, cold winds that blow from the South-western quadrant, which originate in Antarctica.
There are four marked seasons. Summers run from late November till early March, and bring days between 28 °C (82 °F) and 33 °C (91 °F) and night between 15 °C (59 °F) and 19 °C (66 °F) with frequent thunderstorms. Heat waves are common, and bring days with temperatures over 38 °C (100 °F) and hot, sticky nights; however, Pampero winds are sure to bring relief with thunderstorms and a day or two of cool, crisp weather: nighttime temperatures can easily descend to 12 °C (54 °F) or less, but the heat starts building up right away the next day.
By late February or early March, nights start getting cooler and, in March, highs average 27 °C (81 °F) and lows 15 °C (59 °F); after cold fronts, lows below 10 °C (50 °F) and highs below 20 °C (68 °F) are recorded in this month. April is significantly drier already; highs reach 24 °C (75 °F) on average and lows 12 °C (54 °F), creating very pleasant conditions. In some years, temperatures can approach or even reach the freezing point in late April; however, heat waves of up to 33 °C (91 °F) are still possible, but nights are rarely as hot as in the summer. May usually brings the first frosts, and very dry weather, with under 20 mm (1 in) of rain expected. Highs average 21 °C (70 °F) and lows average 8 °C (46 °F); however, when cold waves reach the area, highs may stay below 8 °C (46 °F) and lows can be well below freezing.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Córdoba, Argentina”, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.