Jujuy

Jujuy, a northern province of the Argentine Republic, bounded N. and N.W. by Bolivia, N.E., E., S. and S.W. by Salta, and W. by the Los Andes territory. Pop. (1895), 49,713; (1905, estimate), 55,450, including many mestizos. Area, 18,977 sq. m., the greater part being mountainous. The province is traversed from N. to S. by three distinct ranges belonging to the great central Andean plateau: the Sierra de Santa Catalina, the Sierra de Humahuaca, and the Sierras de Zenta and Santa Victoria. In the S.E. angle of the province are the low, isolated ranges of Alumbre and Santa Barbara. Between the more eastern of these ranges are valleys of surpassing fertility, watered by the Rio Grande de Jujuy, a large tributary of the Bermejo. The western part, however, is a high plateau (parts of which are 11,500 ft. above sea-level), whose general characteristics are those of the puna regions farther west. The surface of this high plateau is broken, semi-arid and desolate, having a very scanty population and no important industry beyond the breeding of a few goats and the fur-bearing chinchilla. There are two large saline lagoons: Toro, or Pozuelos, in the N., and Casabindo, or Guayatayoc, in the S. The climate is cool, dry and healthy, with violent tempests in the summer season. (For a vivid description of this interesting region, see F. O’Driscoll, “A Journey to the North of the Argentine Republic,” Geogr. Jour. xxiv. 1904.) The agricultural productions of Jujuy include sugar cane, wheat, Indian corn, alfalfa and grapes. The breeding of cattle and mules for the Bolivian and Chilean markets is an old industry. Coffee has been grown in the department of Ledesma, but only to a limited extent. There are also valuable forest areas and undeveloped mineral deposits. Large borax deposits are worked in the northern part of the province, the output in 1901 having been 8000 tons. The province is traversed from S. to N. by the Central Northern railway, a national government line, which has been extended to the Bolivian frontier. It passes through the capital and up the picturesque Humahuaca valley, and promises, under capable management, to be an important international line, affording an outlet for southern Bolivia. The climate of the lower agricultural districts is tropical, and irrigation is employed in some places in the long dry season.

The capital, Jujuy (estimated pop. 1905, 5000), is situated on the Rio Grande at the lower end of the Humahuaca valley, 942 m. from Buenos Aires by rail. It was founded in 1593 and is 4035 ft. above sea-level. It has a mild, temperate climate and picturesque natural surroundings, and is situated on the old route between Bolivia and Tucuman, but its growth has been slow.