Entre Ríos Province

For other uses, see Entre Ríos (disambiguation).

Entre Ríos
Province
boca
From top, left to right: El Palmar National Park • Bridge of the Zárate–Brazo Largo Road and Rail Complex over the Paraná River • View of the park of the city of Paraná, the provincial capital • Hot springs complex of Chajarí • San José Palace
Logo
Motto(s):  Federación, libertad y fuerza (Federation, liberty and strength)
Anthem: March of Entre Ríos
Interactive map of Entre Ríos
Coordinates: 32.100000°S 59.300000°W / -32.100000; -59.300000
Country	Argentina
Declaration of autonomy	April 23, 1814
Capital	Paraná Coat of arms of the City of Paraná
Government
• Governor	Gustavo Bordet (PJ)
• Vice Governor	María Laura Stratta (PJ)
• Legislature	Chamber of Senators Chamber of Deputies
• National Deputies	9 seats
• National Senators	Edgardo Kueider (PJ) Stella Maris Olalla (UCR) Alfredo de Angeli (PRO)
Area
• Total	78,781 km2 (30,418 sq mi)
• Rank	17th
Population  (2019)
• Total	1,405,890
• Rank	7th
• Density	16.77/km2 (43.4/sq mi)
Demonym(s)	Entrerriano, -na
ISO 3166 code	AR-E
Divisions	17 departments 117 districts and original ejidos 266 municipalities and government boards
Largest city	Greater Paraná
Member of	Center Region
Capital population	227,863 inhabitants
Capital coordinates	31°43′52″S 60°31′45″W
Language	Spanish
HDI (2018)	0.812 Very High (20th)
% of Argentine area	2.83%
% of Argentine population	3.1%
Website	www.entrerios.gov.ar

The Province of Entre Ríos (as it appears in its provincial Constitution) or Entre Ríos is one of the twenty-three provinces that make up the Argentine Republic. It is also one of the 24 self-governing states or first-order jurisdictions that make up the country, and one of the 24 national legislative electoral districts. Its capital and most populous city is Paraná.

Located in the east of Argentina's Center Region, it borders Corrientes to the north, the Uruguay River to the east, which separates it from Uruguay, and the Paraná River to the south and west, which separates it from Buenos Aires Province and Santa Fe. With 78,781 km² it is the eighth smallest first-order jurisdiction—ahead of San Luis, Formosa, Jujuy, Misiones, Tucumán, Tierra de Fuego and the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, the smallest—and, with 15.6 inhabitants/km², the seventh jurisdiction by population density, behind the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires Province, Córdoba, Santa Fe, Mendoza and Tucumán.

It is a component (the southernmost) of the Argentine Mesopotamia, formed by the Uruguay and Paraná rivers in the Argentine Littoral. Fifteen percent of its territory consists of islands and floodable land. It is often regarded as an "insular" province, since it is surrounded by rivers and streams. Its main access routes are bridges and an underwater tunnel. Its network of surface and deep water, through aquifers and fit for immediate consumption, is up to 12 times larger than in any other province of the country.

The province played a prominent role in the period of organization of the Argentine national State; it was the Federal Territory of the Capital of the country during the term of Justo José de Urquiza, the first constitutional president of Argentina.

History

Main article: History of Entre Ríos Province

Early times

Before the arrival of the first Spanish explorers, the territory of present-day Entre Ríos was occupied by various ethnic groups, such as the Chaná-Timbú and the Guaraní, nomadic groups. The former were characterized as hunters, farmers, fishermen and makers of weapons (bows and arrowheads), as well as being skilled at making canoes and musical instruments and at working with wood and basketry. They settled in the southern region of the province, where they formed a homogeneous culture of a sedentary type. They lived in houses grouped in villages, rectangular or round, made of mud and straw, with a central space where there was a plaza.

As part of the Spanish Empire, Entre Ríos was part of the Viceroyalty of Peru, within the jurisdiction of the cities of Buenos Aires and Santa Fe. The first settlers established themselves in what is now the La Paz Department, on the banks of the Paraná River. The territory was included in the Governorate of the Río de la Plata by virtue of the Royal Decree of December 16, 1617, which subdivided the governorate originally granted to Pedro de Mendoza.

The indigenous peoples of the Entre Ríos territory were defeated and settled in reductions by Governor Hernandarias. After an expedition against the Charrúas of the Banda Oriental ordered by José de Andonaegui, the first towns in Entre Ríos were founded. In 1783, shortly after the creation of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata, the Viceroy Juan José de Vértiz y Salcedo ordered Tomás de Rocamora to organize the Entre Ríos territory, and he went on to found the towns of San Antonio de Gualeguay Grande, Concepción del Uruguay and San José de Gualeguaychú.

National organization

In 1810 the towns of Entre Ríos immediately adhered to the May Revolution, which began the pro-independence process, and the town of La Bajada (Paraná) provided logistical support and militiamen to Manuel Belgrano during his expedition to Paraguay. Relations with Buenos Aires deteriorated after the armistice signed in 1811 with the Viceroy established in Montevideo, Francisco Javier de Elío, by which Buenos Aires agreed to the royalist occupation of the towns of Gualeguay, Gualeguaychú and Concepción del Uruguay and the whole Banda Oriental, in exchange for the lifting of the blockade of its port. The towns of Entre Ríos, commanded by local caudillos such as Francisco Ramírez, Eusebio Hereñú and Gregorio Samaniego, managed to defeat the royalists who had occupied them, and from then on Entre Ríos took a strongly federalist position. Owing to these disagreements with Buenos Aires, Entre Ríos did not send representatives to the Congress of Tucumán, supporting instead the one organized by José Gervasio Artigas in Concepción del Uruguay on June 29, 1815 (Congress of Oriente).

The province was under the protection of Artigas until Francisco Ramírez assumed the leadership of the federal cause in Entre Ríos territory. Together with Estanislao López of Santa Fe, he confronted the Unitarians of Supreme Director José Rondeau, defeating them at the Battle of Cepeda in 1820. This battle led to the dissolution of the national government and to the signing of the Treaty of Pilar between the two victorious provinces and Buenos Aires.

Flag of the Province of Entre Ríos adopted by Pascual Echagüe on December 28, 1833.

That treaty set Ramírez at odds with Artigas, who did not take part in the negotiations. In 1820 Ramírez created the Republic of Entre Ríos, an autonomous federal state that included, in addition to present-day Entre Ríos, the present-day Province of Corrientes and the former Jesuit missions of the northeast of that province. The Republic of Entre Ríos was dissolved the following year, after the assassination of Ramírez.

Entre Ríos did not accept the unitarian constitution of 1826 promoted by Buenos Aires, but it collaborated during the War of Brazil (1825–1828). After several changes of governor, the province came under the charge of Pascual Echagüe (1832–1841), who was close to the Governor of Buenos Aires, Juan Manuel de Rosas. In 1841, a center of resistance against Rosas arose in the province, which Echagüe confronted, being defeated by General José María Paz. Justo José de Urquiza then took over the governorship of the province. The first agricultural colony of the province was San José, founded in 1857 by Urquiza.

The French blockade from 1838 to 1840 and the Anglo-French blockade from 1845 to 1850 allowed merchant ships to navigate the Paraná and Uruguay rivers, which favored Entre Ríos, since trade had previously been monopolized by the Port of Buenos Aires. When the blockades were lifted, the resentment caused by this, together with Entre Ríos's traditional insistence on true federalism, were the underlying reasons that led Urquiza to confront Rosas in order to unite the country under a federal constitution guaranteeing the free navigation of the rivers. The Battle of Caseros, in 1852, marked Urquiza's decisive victory.

With Buenos Aires separated from the rest of the provinces, the Constituent Congress of 1853 named the City of Paraná as provisional capital of the Argentine Confederation and Urquiza as President, federalizing the entire Entre Ríos territory (Federal Territory of Entre Ríos).

San José Palace, Urquiza's residence.

In 1860, after Buenos Aires joined the Confederation, the Constitution of Entre Ríos was enacted, and Urquiza was elected governor of the reestablished Province of Entre Ríos. Urquiza returned to the governorship in 1868 and was assassinated in 1870 during a revolution led by Ricardo López Jordán. The latter was appointed governor by the Legislature, but President Domingo Faustino Sarmiento did not recognize his authority and sent an army to intervene in the province. López Jordán attempted to resist (Jordanist rebellion), but was defeated and took refuge in Brazil. The intervention ended after the election of Governor Emilio Duportal.

From the immigrant colonies to the present

During the great wave of European immigration of 1853–1930, Entre Ríos was one of the provinces where the largest number of immigrants settled, and a great number of agricultural colonies were formed.

A significant percentage of the descendants of those immigrants are also descendants of the indigenous peoples, owing to the typical mingling of bloodlines that took place in the past, something that is repeated with hardly any variation in almost every region of the country.

The provincial constitution was amended in 1903, during the government of Enrique Carbó Ortiz. When the Sáenz Peña Law on the secret ballot came into force in 1912, the Radical Civic Union, the Conservative Party and the Socialist Party stood for election. The Radical candidate, Miguel Laurencena, won that election.

The world economic crisis of 1929, known as the Great Depression, harmed the agro-exporting economies, which led to an increase in the urbanization of the province. The process of industrialization that began in the 1930s prompted an exodus from the province, since the provincial urban centers could not absorb all the population arriving from the countryside.

In 1933 the provincial constitution was amended. Between 1946 and 1955 new amendments were made, which were annulled in 1955 to restore the constitutional text of 1933. The coups d'état that recurred between 1930 and 1983 abolished provincial autonomy through military rulers appointed by the dictator in power, who took the title of "governor." Together with San Luis, however, Entre Ríos was one of only two provinces whose constitutional government was not intervened after the first coup d'état in 1930, because it had an elected government sympathetic to it. It was, however, intervened during the other interruptions of the constitutional order. Among the most notable events of that period was the construction of the Raúl Uranga – Carlos Sylvestre Begnis Subfluvial Tunnel (originally called Hernandarias), which joined the cities of Paraná and Santa Fe and ended the overland isolation of the Mesopotamia, and which was complemented in 1975 by the inauguration of the Zárate–Brazo Largo Road and Rail Complex, which joins it with the Province of Buenos Aires. In 1974 construction began on the Salto Grande Binational Hydroelectric Plant, which began generating power in 1979.

In 1983, when democracy was restored, the following were elected governors: Sergio Alberto Montiel (UCR, 1983–1987), Jorge Busti (PJ, 1987–1991), Mario Armando Moine, Busti (1995–1999), Montiel (1999–2003), Busti for a third time (2003–2007), Sergio Urribarri (PJ, 2007–2011 and 2011–2015), the first to be consecutively reelected, thanks to the amendment of the provincial Constitution; and Gustavo Bordet (2015–2019) for the same party.

The creation of Mercosur in 1991 was of great importance for Entre Ríos, owing to its strategic location as a communications crossroads between the four countries that make up the bloc and as the axis of the bioceanic corridor.

From 2004 onward, the construction of a cellulose plant on the Uruguayan bank of the Uruguay River led to a mobilization of the population of the tourist cities of Gualeguaychú and Colón to oppose it, which opened a diplomatic conflict between Argentina and Uruguay. Tourism is an expanding sector in the province, making it the fourth most visited destination nationwide. On April 20, 2010, the International Court of Justice issued its final ruling, finding that Uruguay had violated its procedural obligations established by the Statute of the Uruguay River, and instructed both countries to carry out joint monitoring of the river through the Administrative Commission of the Uruguay River (CARU).

In January 2008 a constituent convention began its sessions and amended the Provincial Constitution; it was presided over by Jorge Busti, who shortly before had held the governorship of the province. On October 11 the new constitution was sworn in Concepción del Uruguay, and it came into force on November 1, 2008.

Government

Entre Ríos, like the other Argentine provinces, is autonomous from the national government in most matters, except those of a federal nature. This is recognized by Article 121 of the Constitution of the Argentine Nation:

The provinces retain all the power not delegated by this Constitution to the federal Government, and that which they have expressly reserved by special acts at the time of their incorporation.

The provincial Constitution was approved on April 2, 1860, and has undergone several amendments over the course of history, the latest in 2008. The constitution currently in force establishes three branches: executive, legislative and judicial.

Executive branch

Provincial Government House.

Main article: List of governors of Entre Ríos

It is exercised by a governor, with a vice governor as substitute, who remain in office for four years. Since the constitutional amendment of 2008, reelection for a single consecutive term has been introduced. The new constitution also makes the creation of ministries more flexible; until then it was forbidden to have more than three.

In 2006 these were the Ministry of Government, Justice, Education, Public Works and Services; the Ministry of Economy, Treasury and Finance; and the Ministry of Health and Social Action. At present, the following exist: Ministry of Government and Justice, Ministry of Economy, Treasury and Finance, Ministry of Social Development, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Planning, Infrastructure and Services, Ministry of Production, Ministry of Labor, Ministry of Culture and Social Communication, Ministry of Tourism and the Ministry of Education, Sport and Addiction Prevention.

Legislative branch

The provincial legislative branch has a bicameral system and is competent to legislate on all matters not expressly delegated by the National Constitution to the federal government. The codes and legislation on rights (civil, commercial, criminal, labor, social security and mining) are reserved to the National Congress.

The Legislature is made up of two chambers: the Chamber of Deputies and the Chamber of Senators. Legislators' terms last four years, and the chambers are entirely renewed at each election.

The Chamber of Senators of Entre Ríos is made up of seventeen representatives, one for each department into which the province is divided. It is presided over by the vice governor, who only has the right to vote in the event of a tie. Its powers also include judging in public trial those impeached by the Chamber of Deputies, and granting or denying consent to the Executive Branch for the appointment of the members of the Superior Court of Justice, its prosecutor and defender of minors, judges of first instance, the State prosecutor, the comptroller, the treasurer, members of the Court of Auditors, the director general of Schools, members of the General Council of Education and the other officials for whom the law establishes this form of appointment.

The Chamber of Deputies of Entre Ríos is made up of thirty-four representatives, elected by a single list every four years with a system of proportional representation according to the votes obtained, but one that ensures the majority party an absolute majority of the representation, taking the whole province as a single district.

Judicial branch

The Judicial Branch is headed by a Superior Court of Justice, which is made up of nine members; the chambers and lower courts also form part of the Judicial Branch. The province also provides for the creation of Justice of the Peace Courts to handle small-claims or neighborhood cases. The Superior Court is divided into three chambers of three members each: Chamber No. 1 for Criminal matters, Chamber No. 2 for Civil and Commercial matters and Chamber No. 3 for Labor matters.

The presidency of the Superior Court of Justice is held by Dr. Daniel Omar Carubia for a third consecutive two-year term until 2009, while the vice president is Dr. Germán Reynaldo Francisco Carlomagno. The decision was adopted through General Agreement No. 41.

There are 6 Chambers in the province:

• The First Chamber of Paraná, divided into two Divisions, which hear Criminal matters and exercise territorial jurisdiction in the departments of Paraná, Diamante, La Paz and Feliciano.
• The Second Chamber of Paraná, which consists of two Divisions that hear Civil and Commercial matters and exercise territorial jurisdiction in the departments of Paraná, Diamante, Nogoyá, Victoria, Feliciano, La Paz and Gualeguay.
• The Third Chamber of Paraná consists of two Divisions, which hear labor matters and exercise territorial jurisdiction in the departments of Paraná, Diamante, Nogoyá, Victoria, Gualeguay, La Paz and Feliciano.
• The Chamber of Concordia, which is divided into three Divisions: Criminal Division, Labor Division, and Civil and Commercial Division. Each exercises territorial jurisdiction in the departments of Concordia, Federal, Federación and San Salvador.
• The Chamber of Concepción del Uruguay, which is divided into three Divisions: a Criminal Division, a Civil and Commercial Division and a Labor Division. The three Divisions exercise territorial jurisdiction in the departments of Uruguay, Colón, Tala, San Salvador and Villaguay, and in addition the Civil and Commercial Division and the Labor Division also exercise territorial jurisdiction in the departments of Gualeguaychú and Islas del Ibicuy.
• The Chamber of Gualeguay has jurisdiction in Criminal matters in the Departments of Gualeguay, Gualeguaychú, Nogoyá, Victoria and Islas del Ibicuy.

Representatives in the national Government

Like all the provinces and the City of Buenos Aires, Entre Ríos has three senators representing it in the Senate of the Argentine Nation of the National Congress, two for the majority and one for the first minority. From December 2013 to December 2019 they are:

• Pedro Guillermo Ángel Guastavino (Justicialist Bloc–Front for Victory).
• Sigrid Kunath (Justicialist Bloc–Front for Victory)
• Alfredo De Angeli (PRO–Union for Entre Ríos Bloc).

Based on its number of inhabitants, as provided in the National Constitution, it is entitled to nine representatives in the Chamber of Deputies:

• Bahillo, Juan José - PJ
• Benedetti, Atilio Francisco Salvador - UCR
• Cresto, Mayda - PJ
• Fregonese, Alicia - Pro
• Gayol, Yanina Celeste - Pro
• Huss, Juan Manuel - Fpv (PJ)
• Lacoste, Jorge Enrique - UCR
• Monfort, Marcelo Alejandro - UCR
• Solanas, Julio Rodolfo - Fpv (PJ)

Provincial emblems

The characteristic provincial symbols of Entre Ríos are the coat of arms and the flag.

The coat of arms of Entre Ríos was made official by Provincial Law No. 4676 of October 23, 1967.

Article 1. The Coat of Arms of the Province shall consist of an elliptical field: it shall have as its bordure a cord of argent and, within it, two laurel branches forming an orle, which shall cross at the lower end and join at the upper end. The field of the ellipse shall be divided horizontally into two irregular quarters. The division shall be made by two "issuant" bare arms rising from the "flanks" of the center, from the bordure, with "clasped" hands and with an elevation of 15 degrees above the horizontal diameter. In the center of the upper quarter, the smaller one, there shall be a five-pointed star of argent on a grana ("gules") field with this inscription in Roman characters of argent, surmounted, forming an arch: PROVINCIA DE ENTRE RÍOS. In the center of the upper quarter, the larger one, there shall be a sun of gold with 8 straight rays and 8 wavy ("flaming") rays, alternating, on a green ("vert") field with the motto: FEDERACIÓN, LIBERTAD Y FUERZA, "surmounted," forming an arch, in Roman characters of gold. At each end of the diameters of the solar circle, which intersect perpendicularly, there is a straight ray.

Main article: Coat of arms of Entre Ríos

The flag of the Province is similar to the Argentine flag, but it is crossed by a red stripe from the upper left corner to the lower right, and has no sun. Punzó red is the traditional color of Argentine federalism, and the band shows the historically federalist stance of Entre Ríos. It was the flag of the Republic of Entre Ríos and that of the League of the Free Peoples led by José Gervasio Artigas. By Decree No. 879 of March 5, 1987, of Governor Sergio Montiel, it was declared the official flag.

Main article: Flag of Entre Ríos

Entre Ríos has two provincial commemorative dates that are public holidays throughout its territory. There are also several municipal holidays, which generally coincide with the feast of each locality's patron saint or the date of its founding.

Provincial holidays

Date	Name
February 3	Battle of Caseros.
September 29	Feast of Saint Michael the Archangel, patron of Entre Ríos.

Geography

Satellite photo during the floods of May 2003. The Province of Entre Ríos covers the south-center, or in this case, which is the same thing: the central and almost southern continental part (farther south are the northern partidos of Buenos Aires Province, the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires and the southern departments of the Oriental Republic of Uruguay) of the satellite photo.

Paraná River seen from the city of Paraná.

Together with Misiones and Corrientes, Entre Ríos makes up the Argentine Mesopotamia, since it is bounded to the east and west by the Paraná and Uruguay rivers.

The parallel of Punta Gorda (Colonia) marks the beginning of the Río de la Plata to the south and kilometer zero of the Uruguay River to the north. South of this parallel lie Entre Ríos islands with shores on the Río de la Plata, which belong to the 1st and 4th island sections of Ibicuy.

It has flat relief crossed by hundreds of watercourses, with the gentle undulations of the lomadas entrerrianas, wrongly called cuchillas, although unlike the cuchillas of the Banda Oriental they do not have a rocky geological origin but are largely fossilized albardones. They originate on the Payubré plateau in the Province of Corrientes, at about 30° south latitude, and, already in Entre Ríos, some 20 or 30 km from the border, they fork into the Cuchilla Grande (to the east, extending from north to south) and the Cuchilla de Montiel (to the west, from northeast to southeast). Through the central valley between the two cuchillas runs the Gualeguay River, which divides the province in two. The Cuchilla Grande forks at about 31° 50' S into two parallel branches that give rise to the valley of the Gualeguaychú River. The Cuchilla de Montiel forks at about 32° S, forming a perpendicular branch that reaches the Paraná River at Punta Gorda in the Diamante Department, creating a valley between both branches in the Nogoyá Department through which the Nogoyá Stream flows.

The homogeneity of the undulating landscape is interrupted in the south by the depressed area of the Paraná Delta. In the north of the La Paz Department there is another depressed area called Bajo del Yacaré or esteros del Yacaré. To the northeast the Uruguay River forms river terraces, today largely submerged by the Salto Grande reservoir. During the Andean folding, fault lines were created, along which the Gualeguaychú and Gualeguay rivers and the Nogoyá Stream run longitudinally.

Entre Ríos is the province whose highest point is the lowest of the 23 Argentine provinces. That highest point is on the Cuchilla de Montiel, between the localities of Crespo and Estación Camps (32.0477057°S 60.2810093°W / -32.0477057; -60.2810093), at an elevation of 127.5 meters above sea level.

Entre Ríos has 5 types of soils:

• Mollisols, 24.36% of the provincial territory, along the Paraná coast;
• Vertisols, 30.13% of the provincial territory, from the Tala and Uruguay departments northward;
• Alfisols, 10.90% of the provincial territory, in elevated and undulating areas of the Feliciano, Federal, La Paz, Paraná, Tala and Villaguay departments;
• Entisols, 8.33% of the provincial territory, in the northeast, in a strip parallel to the Uruguay River down to Concepción del Uruguay and in the lower delta;
• Inceptisols, 5.77% of the provincial territory, in the valleys of the Gualeguay, Gualeguaychú and Feliciano rivers;
• A mixture of entisols and inceptisols, 20.51% of the provincial territory, in the Paraná Delta.

Seismicity

On October 22, 1948, an earthquake struck Entre Ríos with its epicenter 90 km southeast of Chajarí; it had a strong impact in the region because of the complete unawareness that such natural catastrophes could occur in this province.

The province is affected by the "Paraná River" and "Río de la Plata" sub-faults, and by the "Punta del Este" fault, with low seismicity. Its most recent manifestations, in addition to that of 1948, occurred on June 5, 1888, at 3:20 UTC-3, with a magnitude of approximately 5.0 on the Richter scale (1888 Río de la Plata earthquake).

Climate

Climate types of Entre Ríos according to the Köppen climate classification

The characteristic climates are the subtropical climate without a dry season in the north and the Pampean temperate climate in the south. The province of Entre Ríos is swept by winds coming from the Atlantic Ocean, as well as local winds such as the Pampero, the Sudestada and the North Wind. It has abundant precipitation, averaging 1,000 mm annually, always in the form of rain, since no snowfall is recorded. The average temperature in summer is 30 °C, from November to March. In winter the average temperature is 8 °C, from June to October. In this western zone of Entre Ríos temperatures are somewhat different from those of the eastern zone of the province, since there summer temperatures rise to a peak of 41 °C, while in winter frosts and temperatures below 0 °C usually occur. Winters are usually quite cold (though not freezing), with very common frosts and continuous morning fogs. Records of snowfall are very scarce in the last 100 years: on June 20, 1915, in the Paraná Department; in the Gualeguaychú Department on June 15, 1918, and July 16, 1962; on August 11, 1936, in Gualeguay, Tala and the south-central part of the province; and on July 9, 2007, in Gualeguay.

Water resources

Salto Grande Dam.

The name of the province reflects the fact that its borders are formed by rivers or streams:

• to the west and south, the Paraná River
• to the north, the Guayquiraró, the Mocoretá and the Basualdo and Tunas streams.
• to the east, the Uruguay River. From the border with Corrientes to a few kilometers north of Concordia lies the Salto Grande reservoir.

To the south lies the Paraná Delta, with low-lying land and island formations.

In total the province has 41,790 kilometers of rivers and streams, in addition to 7,736 inland watercourses.

Road and rail infrastructure

Victoria–Rosario Bridge.

Entre Ríos lies on a strategic corridor of Mercosur and of the South American bioceanic connection. Since the province is surrounded by rivers on all its borders, bridges are of great importance for the province's road communication with the outside. Three bridges join the province with the Oriental Republic of Uruguay over the Uruguay River. One of them is the "Gualeguaychú–Fray Bentos" international crossing, which, by means of the Libertador General San Martín Bridge, joins the City of Gualeguaychú with the Uruguayan city of Fray Bentos. The General Artigas Bridge joins the City of Colón with the Uruguayan city of Paysandú. There is also a road and rail bridge over the Salto Grande Dam, which joins Concordia with Salto in Uruguay.

Among the crossings of the Paraná River is the Raúl Uranga – Carlos Sylvestre Begnis Subfluvial Tunnel (formerly called Hernandarias), 2,397 meters long under the river. In turn, the Rosario–Victoria Bridge joins Victoria with the city of Rosario. The Zárate–Brazo Largo Road and Rail Complex, formed by two bridges over the Paraná Guazú and Paraná de las Palmas rivers, named General Urquiza and General Mitre respectively, is the main link between Entre Ríos and Buenos Aires.

On the border with Corrientes, there are three bridges crossing the Guayquiraró River at the Telégrafo, Ocampo and Yunque crossings (the latter destroyed in 2000 by a flood of the river), and one road bridge and one railway bridge crossing the Mocoretá River. Two other bridges cross the Tunas Stream, and the Diamante–Crespo–Federal–Curuzú Cuatiá railway branch of the General Urquiza Railway passes through the dry border between the two provinces.

The road layout is very important for the province's agricultural and livestock activity, since it is the main means of transporting production. In total there are 2,491 km of paved roads, most notably National Routes 12, 14 (Mercosur route), 18 and 127 and provincial routes 11, 6 and 39.

The railway, on the other hand, has declined in importance, and at present the Posadas–Buenos Aires branch provides freight services. Passenger services have begun to be reintroduced in an incipient way on that branch and on other internal lines of the province. There is a total of 2,000 km of standard-gauge track, belonging to the General Urquiza Railway.

Flora

Ñandubay tree.

The vegetation of the province includes Montes in the central and northwestern area, formed, among other species, by the ñandubay, the algarrobo, the espinillo, the chañar, the tala, the molle, the lapacho and the timbó. In the Paraná Delta are found the Montes Blancos, formed by other tree species such as the Creole willow, the red or coastal willow; the Creole poplar, the Carolina and Canadian poplars, the ceibos, curupíes, canelones, Creole laurels, ingáes, palo amarillo and false alders. In Colón and Concordia grow palms known as yatay. The rivers and lagoons have aquatic flora such as the irupé, water lettuce, camalotes and achiras. The forestry sector is currently growing, although it still carries little weight within the country as a whole. The province has allocated 91,000 hectares, mostly along the Uruguay River, and the main trees used are eucalyptus, pine and salicaceae. The industry is also accompanied by an infrastructure of sawmills and wood-processing establishments.

Phytogeography

El Palmar National Park, with 8,500 hectares, is an immense protected territory with abundant specimens of yatay palms. The park attracts thousands of tourists annually.

According to the classification presented by Ángel Lulio Cabrera in his 1976 book Regiones Fitogeográficas Argentinas, phytogeographically Entre Ríos forms part of the Neotropical Region, and its territory is distributed between the Amazonian domain and the Chaco domain. To the Amazonian domain belong the gallery forests bordering the streams and rivers, the islands and the Delta of the Paraná River and the islands of the Uruguay River, which make up the Mixed Forests phytogeographic district of the Paranaense phytogeographic province. Two phytogeographic provinces of the Chaco domain are distributed across the territory of Entre Ríos: the Espinal phytogeographic province (northern half of Entre Ríos) and the Pampean phytogeographic province (southern part of Entre Ríos outside the Amazonian domain). The Espinal comprises two subdistricts: the Montiel forest phytogeographic subdistrict (within the Ñandubay phytogeographic district) and the Tala phytogeographic subdistrict (within the Algarrobo phytogeographic district). The Pampean forms the Uruguayense phytogeographic district.

Fauna

The fauna of Entre Ríos is protected from depredation by the rivers surrounding the province, as well as by limits established on the hunting and fishing of species.

Birds are found in the lakes, rivers and streams; among them are waders, storks, the tutuyú coral, the cocoi heron, ibises, cuervillos and spoonbills, as well as web-footed birds, ducks, biguás and swans. Among the most common birds are the pirincho, the urutaú, cardinals, the kingfisher, the biguá and the woodpecker. There are reptiles such as caimans, iguanas and lizards, and snakes such as coral snakes, boas, rattlesnakes and yararás.

Among the mammals there are capybaras, ferrets, crab-eating foxes, guazunchos, mice, mulitas, peludos and opossums; and among the more than 200 species of fish one can mention the armado, surubí, patí, dorado, sardine, sábalo, manduví, anamengüí, boga, pacú and dientudo. The construction of the underwater tunnel joining the provinces of Entre Ríos and Santa Fe brought with it the disappearance of the pacú in the area of the Riacho Victoria. It is believed that one of the causes is this species' sensitivity to the noise caused by the heavy traffic of this roadway on the course that this fish had to cross to reach those areas.

Protected natural areas

Main article: List of protected natural areas of Entre Ríos

Sunset in El Palmar National Park.

There are more than 40 protected natural areas in the province, including two national parks, a Ramsar site and 2 intangible fish reserves.

• El Palmar National Park (Colón Department, 8,200 ha. Created on January 23, 1966)
• Predelta National Park (Diamante Department, 2,458 ha. Created on January 13, 1992)
• Palmar Yatay Ramsar Site, located in the Colón and San Salvador departments. 21,450 ha. Declared on June 5, 2011.

Geographic location

Santa Fe Province	Corrientes Province	Uruguay
Santa Fe Province	Entre Ríos	Uruguay
Santa Fe Province	Buenos Aires Province	Uruguay

Territorial division

Main article: Municipal organization of Entre Ríos

Municipal Palace of Paraná.

The 2008 amendment of the Provincial Constitution recognized the municipal autonomy enshrined in the National Constitution of 1994. Under the provincial constitution corresponding to the 1933 amendment, the municipalities of Entre Ríos were self-administering but not autonomous entities. The province uses the system of non-adjacent ejidos for its municipalities, so there are unorganized territories in the gaps between municipalities and government boards, whose inhabitants are deprived of the services provided by local governments.

The departments of Entre Ríos are not organized administrative divisions, since they have no governing body; their purpose is to serve the decentralization of the provincial administration. There are departmental headquarters of the Entre Ríos Police, departmental school directorates and other decentralized bodies. They also serve as electoral districts for the provincial Senate, with one senator elected for each department.

For cadastral purposes, the departments are entirely subdivided into districts, which are independent of the ejidos of the municipalities and government boards, which may comprise all or part of one or more districts. Most of the islands of the Paraná Delta are grouped into sections.

Since the creation of the San Salvador Department, the province has been divided into seventeen departments, whose names according to the provincial Constitution are the following:

Administrative division of the Province of Entre Ríos and its capital.

Department	Seat	Area	Population
Colón	Colón	2,893 km²	62,160
Concordia	Concordia	3,357 km²	170,033
Diamante	Diamante	2,774 km²	46,361
Federación	Federación	3,760 km²	68,736
Federal	Federal	5,060 km²	25,863
Feliciano	San José de Feliciano	3,143 km²	15,079
Gualeguay	Gualeguay	7,178 km²	51,883
Gualeguaychú	Gualeguaychú	7,086 km²	119,897
Islas del Ibicuy	Villa Paranacito	4,500 km²	12,077
La Paz	La Paz	6,500 km²	66,903
Nogoyá	Nogoyá	4,282 km²	39,026
Paraná	Paraná	4,974 km²	340,861
San Salvador	San Salvador	1,275 km²	17,357
Tala	Rosario del Tala	2,663 km²	26,665
Uruguay	Concepción del Uruguay	5,855 km²	100,728
Victoria	Victoria	6,822 km²	35,767
Villaguay	Villaguay	6,654 km²	48,965

Microregions

Article 75 of the Constitution of Entre Ríos promotes associationism within its territory.

It shall promote the creation of regions or microregions within its territory, taking into account characteristics of community of interests and population and geographic affinities, in order to enable sustainable economic and social development.

There are currently two microregions that have statutes and common authorities:

• Commonwealth of Municipalities "Tierra de Palmares", created in 2009 and made up of the municipalities and government boards of the Colón and San Salvador departments.

• "Middle Paraná" Microregion, which groups the municipalities of La Paz, Santa Elena, Bovril, Piedras Blancas, San Gustavo, San José de Feliciano and Federal, and the localities of Sauce and Esquina in the south of Corrientes Province.

Center Region

Main article: Center Region (Argentina)

On August 15, 1998, the provinces of Córdoba and Santa Fe signed the Treaty of Regional Integration between the Provinces of Córdoba and Santa Fe "in order to promote economic and social development by virtue of the provisions of Art. 124 of the National Constitution, and human development, health, education, science, knowledge and culture..." On April 6, 1999, the Act of Integration of the Province of Entre Ríos into the Treaty of Regional Integration was signed, whereby the Center Region took on the composition it has today.

Population

Population density of the Province of Entre Ríos.

Buildings in the city of Paraná, the most populous city in Entre Ríos.

Historical evolution of the provincial population:

• 1797: 11,600 inhabitants
• 1820: 30,000 inhabitants
• 1847: 30,000 inhabitants
• 1853: 70,000 inhabitants
• 1869: 134,271 inhabitants
• 1895: 116,136 inhabitants
• 1914: 425,373 inhabitants
• 1947: 787,362 inhabitants
• 1960: 805,357 inhabitants
• 1970: 811,691 inhabitants
• 1980: 908,313 inhabitants
• 1991: 1,020,257 inhabitants
• 2001: 1,156,799 inhabitants
• 2010: 1,236,300 inhabitants

The 2001 census also showed an urban population of 951,796 inhabitants and a rural population of 205,003. That rural population accounts for 17.72% of the total population, and it shows a downward trend across the various censuses conducted.

The number of foreigners residing in the province is 8,110 people (0.7%), most of them from neighboring countries, mainly Uruguay.

Households with unsatisfied basic needs account for 14.7% of the population, below the national average (17.7%). Islas del Ibicuy and Feliciano are the departments with the greatest deprivation, reaching 36.3% and 28.8% respectively.

At the end of 2007, in the urban agglomerations of Concordia and Greater Paraná there was 6.7% and 5.8% unemployment, as well as 7.9% and 4.9% job-seeking underemployment respectively, below the respective national rates, which reached 8.1% and 5.8%.

Main urban centers

Unlike other Argentine provinces, the population of the Province of Entre Ríos is not concentrated in one main urban center. The ten most populous municipalities in the province are:

Main cities of Entre Ríos
Paraná Concordia		City	Department	Population			City	Department	Population	Gualeguaychú Concepción del Uruguay
	1	Paraná	Paraná	247,863		6	Chajarí	Federación	34,848
	2	Concordia	Concordia	152,282		7	Villaguay	Villaguay	48,965
	3	Gualeguaychú	Gualeguaychú	83,116		8	Victoria	Victoria	31,842
	4	Concepción del Uruguay	Uruguay	73,729		9	La Paz	La Paz	25,808
	5	Gualeguay	Gualeguay	43,009		10	Colón	Colón	24,835
	Population by municipality according to the 2010 Census

Economy

Main article: Economy of Entre Ríos

Almost 80% of Argentine rice is processed in the province.

The economic activity of the province rests mainly on agriculture, livestock farming and tourism, and to a lesser extent on mining and industry.

• Agricultural activity: it is characterized by the cultivation of rice, soybeans, wheat, corn, citrus, blueberries, pecan nuts and the forestation of eucalyptus. It is the leading national producer of mandarins, oranges and pecan nuts, and the second of grapefruits. As for its rice production, it was the leading producer until 2002, when it was overtaken by Corrientes.
• Livestock activity: there is a clear predominance of the cattle and poultry sectors. On a smaller scale there is sheep production. Livestock activity received a boost when the province was declared free of foot-and-mouth disease.
• Industrial activity: it has a strong link with the agricultural and livestock sector, with food and beverage production, flour mills, rice mills and meatpacking plants standing out. There are also industries related to wood, chemical products, metallurgy and machinery.

Entre Ríos is the origin of approximately 2.3% of Argentina's total exports. Its main destination markets are China (14%) and Brazil (12%).

The province's main energy sources are electricity and gas. Electricity production originates at the Salto Grande Dam. That dam was the country's first binational hydroelectric complex, and it supplies electricity to both Argentina and Uruguay. The gas supply is due to the connection with the Subfluvial Gas Pipeline that crosses the Paraná River and continues with the Entre Ríos Trunk Gas Pipeline, a work carried out by the company Gas del Norte S.A.

Tourism

Beach resort on the Uruguay River.

Entre Ríos currently has tourist activity as one of its axes of development; it is the ninth most visited destination nationwide. Its main tourist attractions are the hot springs complexes, rural tourism, sport fishing, adventure tourism and the carnivals. The province promotes a total of ten tourism products, which it presents on its official website, updated daily, guaranteeing the quality and accuracy of the data and information provided there.

The following localities have approved beach resorts on rivers or streams with services for tourists, and most of them also offer water sports: Concepción del Uruguay, Colón, San José (the country's first quality-certified river beach), Concordia, Federación, Santa Ana, Gualeguaychú, Victoria, Diamante, Villa Elisa, Villaguay, Valle María and Villa Urquiza. The province also has numerous sites of historical interest, among which the San José Palace, which was the residence of Justo José de Urquiza, stands out.

The hot springs complexes are located in various localities: Concepción del Uruguay, Concordia, La Paz, Federación, Colón, Villa Elisa, Chajarí, María Grande, San José, Victoria, Gualeguaychú, Basavilbaso, Diamante and Villaguay.

In several cities carnival celebrations are held during the summer months, with comparsas parading in the streets and in the corsódromos. The most notable are those of Gualeguaychú (Carnaval del País), Victoria, Concepción del Uruguay, Santa Elena, Gualeguay, Concordia, Chajarí and Hasenkamp.

Catch-and-release sport fishing is practiced in Concordia, Puerto Yeruá, Federación, Colón, Paraná, Hernandarias, Pueblo Brugo, Piedras Blancas, La Paz, Santa Elena, Victoria, Diamante, General Alvear and Villa Paranacito

Other tourism products: - rural tourism - adventure tourism - golf - birdwatching - events and conventions

Culture

Languages

Before the arrival of the Europeans approximately 450 years ago, the territory that currently corresponds to the Province of Entre Ríos was populated by Indo-American peoples who were almost always at war with one another. Among these ethnic groups the Minuanes, Chanás and Guenoas stood out, but these peoples were invaded and transculturated by the Guaraníes coming from the Amazon shortly before the arrival of the first Spaniards. This, together with the use of the Guaraní language as a lingua franca, means that even today, as in Paraguay, most of the toponymy and the common names of native animals and plants are derived from Guaraní.

However, given the arrival of settlers from Spain and of Spanish speakers from the 17th century onward, a proportion that increased in the following centuries up to the present, the common language is Spanish, with some local dialectal variations.

The European immigration that took place from the late 19th century to the mid-20th century has left unique linguistic features in Entre Ríos. On the one hand, it is home to the largest number of descendants of the ethnic German minority that lived in Russia and emigrated to Argentina: the Wolgadeutsche or Volga Germans

Literature

Alberto Gerchunoff (1883–1950). Russian-Entre Ríos writer and journalist. Like many other Jews fleeing antisemitism in Europe, he settled as a child in an agricultural colony near Villaguay. He wrote classics such as Los gauchos judíos and Entre Ríos, mi país.

Among the notable artists from Entre Ríos are writers such as Martiniano Leguizamón, Alberto Gerchunoff (Los gauchos judíos; Entre Ríos, mi país), Fray Mocho, Isidoro Blaisten, Fermín Chávez, Arturo Sampay, Juan José Segura, María Esther de Miguel, the poets Evaristo Carriego, Juan L. Ortiz, Carlos Mastronardi and Manuel Gálvez, and sculptors such as Roberto Aizenberg.

Music

Among the rhythms characteristic of this province, the Chamamé, the Polka and the Chamarrita stand out. These rhythms are the result of the intermingling of the Guaraníes with the Spanish settlers, as well as of the slaves brought from Africa, and even a small influence from the migratory flows that reached this province.

Film and television

In film and television, notable figures include the actress Leonor Benedetto, star of great classics of Argentine television such as Rosa de Lejos, Rolando Rivas, taxista and Padre coraje; and Isabel Sarli, who stood out in Latin American erotic cinema until the 1980s. Other actors from the province are Luis Albornoz, Domingo Alzugaray, Alberto Anchart (father), Tono Andreu, Beatriz Bonnet, Guillermo Bredeston, Evangelina Massoni, Camila Quiroga, Osvaldo Terranova, Tilda Thamar, Flavio Mendoza and Julián Serrano. On the film side, one can mention the directors Fernando Ayala, Andrea Abdala, José María Fernández Unsáin, Claudio Martínez Paiva and Celina Murga, and the art director Abel Facello.

Museums

Arruabarrena Palace, former seat of an Argentine Army command, is now a museum.

The Province of Entre Ríos has several provincial museums devoted to specific areas. The history of the province is reflected in the Martiniano Leguizamón Historical Museum, created in 1923 in the City of Paraná. It has a library of more than 40,000 books and a large number of pieces of great historical, testimonial, bibliographic and documentary value, such as objects of criollo silverwork, bladed weapons and firearms, and numismatics. The visual arts are honored in the Dr. Pedro E. Martínez Museum of Fine Arts, which holds 1,400 works and has been declared heritage of the City of Paraná. The natural sciences are the main theme of the first museum founded in the province, which currently bears the name Prof. Antonio Serrano Museum of Natural and Anthropological Sciences. For their part, the provincial handicrafts have their place in the Museum and Handicrafts Market, also located in the City of Paraná. Also worth mentioning is the General Archive of the Province of Entre Ríos, where the administrative and historical documents of the Province are kept, and which was originally created as the General Archive of the Confederation in 1856, when Entre Ríos was the seat of government of the Argentine Confederation.

The San José Palace, which was Urquiza's residence, is the most visited museum in the province and one of the five most visited in the country. The Regional Museum of Colonia San José, the Jewish Museum of Entre Ríos in Concordia and the Rice Museum in San Salvador are some of the most important museums in the interior of the province.

In 2018 the Gualeguaychú Museum of Popular Memory was created in the former General Urquiza Railway station.

Education

Rectorate of the UNER in Concepción del Uruguay.

Among the population over 14 years of age, the majority have completed primary education or have incomplete secondary education; this group comprises some 145,880 people of Entre Ríos. They are followed by some 85,764 who have completed secondary studies or have incomplete university studies, while 52,694 have no education or did not finish primary studies. There are 29,684 and 19,087 who completed tertiary and university studies, respectively.

Entre Ríos has played a leading role in the history of education in Argentina. The first secular and free school in the country, the Colegio del Uruguay, was founded by Urquiza on July 28, 1849, in Concepción del Uruguay. The first two normal schools in the country were also inaugurated in the province, one in Paraná and the other in Concepción del Uruguay, during the presidency of Domingo Faustino Sarmiento.

The province has six universities with campuses in its territory: the National University of Entre Ríos (UNER), the Catholic University of Argentina (UCA), the River Plate Adventist University (UAP), the National Technological University (UTN), the University of Concepción del Uruguay (UCU) and the Autonomous University of Entre Ríos (UADER). In addition, there are several universities with blended-learning arrangements within distance education modalities that have academic units in the province; such is the case of the Catholic University of Salta (UCASAL), the Blas Pascal University (UBP) and the National University of the Littoral (UNL), among others.

The Faculty of Engineering of the National University of Entre Ríos (UNER), located in Oro Verde, has been the first institution in South America to offer the degree program in Bioengineering, since 1985. On July 3, 1992, the first graduation of Bioengineers took place, with 8 graduates, a date on which «Bioengineer's Day» has been celebrated in Argentina ever since.

The still small town of Puiggari stands out as one of the therapeutic seats of its Adventist university, the River Plate Adventist University (UAP), which is noted for its teaching and practice of naturopathic medicine.

Sports

One of the sports that attracts the most popular attention is football. At present there is one football team from Entre Ríos in the Argentine Primera División, Patronato, a situation that also occurred with the participation in the national tournaments of Club Atlético Uruguay in 1984 and of Patronato in 1978. The latter moved up to the second division of Argentine football in the 2009–2010 season, until 2015, when it was promoted to the first division, while Gimnasia y Esgrima of Concepción del Uruguay plays in the Torneo Argentino A, the third tier at the national level. Both are considered the most important teams in the province and face each other in the Entre Ríos derby. The 2016 Primera B Nacional includes the participation of Juventud Unida of Gualeguaychú and Atlético Paraná. The 2016 Torneo Federal B, for its part, includes the club Colegiales of Concordia. The province is also the birthplace of footballers who have succeeded at the professional level, notably Roberto Ayala, Gustavo Bou, Jorge Burruchaga, Alfredo Carricaberry, José Chamot, Enrique Guaita, Gabriel Heinze, Eduardo Luján Manera, Ramón Medina Bello, Roque Olsen, José Pékerman, Facundo Roncaglia, Alberto Zozaya, Roque Raúl Alfaro and Willy Caballero.

Basketball has also undergone significant development in the province. At the club level, the Centro Juventud Sionista of Paraná and Club Central Entrerriano of Gualeguaychú stand out, both participants in the Liga Nacional de Básquet (first division). Other renowned clubs in the province include Estudiantes de Concordia, Tomas de Rocamora of Concepción del Uruguay, La Unión of Colón, Sportivo of San Salvador, and Atlético Echagüe Club, the first to take part, in 1985, in the Liga Nacional de Básquet, among others. Furthermore, since 1986 the province has been national champion six times in the most Argentine of tournaments, the "Campeonato Argentino de Basquet", winning the final against Tucumán on that first occasion with a memorable three-pointer from nine meters made in the final seconds by the late Aníbal Sánchez.

Entre Ríos has three racetracks (Paraná, Concordia and Concepción del Uruguay), where Turismo Carretera, TC 2000, Top Race and Turismo Nacional, among other national motor racing championships, have competed.

In rugby, Estudiantes de Paraná, Tilcara, Álamo and Capibá stand out, participants in the Torneo Regional del Litoral.

Held annually since 1984, the La Paz International Triathlon has progressively gained importance. Today it is a continental event of the International Triathlon Union, awarding points for qualification for the Olympic Games and for the Pan American ranking. It is one of the province's emblematic sporting feats.

The open-water swimming marathon linking Villa Hernandarias with the provincial capital, with its 88 km course, is famous as the longest open-water competition in the world.

Softball holds a prominent place, especially in the City of Paraná, which is the National Capital of that sport. It has a stadium equipped to host international-level competitions, the "Nafaldo Cargniel", located a few meters from the entrance to the Subfluvial Tunnel.

Once a year the Entre Ríos Sports Games are held, the province's foremost multi-sport event.

Press

In addition to the presence of nationally distributed newspapers, the Province of Entre Ríos has numerous provincial newspapers in several of its cities. In Concordia El Sol and El Heraldo are distributed, and in Paraná there are El diario de Paraná and Diario Uno. Gualeguay has El Debate Pregón and El Día de Gualeguay, while Gualeguaychú has El Argentino and El Día de Gualeguaychú, and Concepción del Uruguay likewise has La Prensa Federal and La Calle. For its part, Villaguay publishes El Pueblo and El Semanario de la Ciudad, while Crespo publishes Paralelo 32.

As for television, there are local television channels with their own programming and others that retransmit, in whole or in part, the Buenos Aires channels, one of which is Canal 9 de Paraná, which retransmits part of the programming of El Trece.

There is also a channel in the City of Paraná with exclusively its own content, Canal Once.

Twinnings

• Jilin Province, China
• Altai Republic, Russia

See also

• Establishment of the boundaries of the Province of Entre Ríos
• History of the Catholic Church in Entre Ríos until 1810
• Territorial organization of Argentina

External links

• Portal:Entre Ríos Content related to the Province of Entre Ríos.
• Constitution of the Province of Entre Ríos
• Description of the provincial coat of arms
• Official Tourism Portal of Entre Ríos
• Newspapers of Entre Ríos