CATAMARCA, an Andean province of the Argentine Re public, lying between 26° and 3o° S. lat. and 65° and 69° 3o' W. longitude. It is bounded on the north by the territory Los Andes and the Province of Salta, east by the provinces of Tucuman and Santiago del Estero, south by the provinces of Cordoba and La Riojo and west by Chile from which it is separated by the Andes. Its total area is approximately 30,178 square miles.
The surface of the province is extremely broken, the Andes forming its western boundary, and the Aconquija, Ancaste, Am bato, Gulampaja and other ranges traversing it from north to south. It is composed very largely of high plateaux with a general slope southward broken by a few fertile valleys. The greater part of the province is arid and barren ; an exception being the western slopes which are covered with forests. The rivers are small, and some of them are lost in the barren, sandy wastes. Others, in the foot-hills of the high Sierras, are utilized to irrigate the valleys. The only lakes of any considerable size are the two fresh water bodies Tesoro and Tejas and the two salt lakes, Blanca and Colo rado. There are also extensive salt flats. The climate varies with altitude, some of the sheltered valleys are extremely hot, while on the open plateaux the air is cool and bracing.
The mineral resources of the province include gold, silver, cop per, lead, iron, tin, salt, nitrate of soda, gypsum and clay, but of these only copper is mined extensively, and this chiefly in the Capillitas district. Agriculture is confined to the limited amount of land under irrigation. Cereals, alfalfa and fruit are the chief crops. Wine of an excellent quality is produced and exported. The live stock industry has always been handicapped by poor vegetation and prolonged droughts; however, a considerable num ber of cattle and sheep are fattened in the alfalfa fields and then driven into northern Chile across the San Francisco pass. Weaving cloth from Vicuña wool and the tanning of leather are the chief manufacturing industries. The province is traversed by the west ern division of the Northern Central Argentine railway between Cordoba and the city of Catamarca, its capital. This route passes around the southern extremity of the Sierra de Ancaste and makes a long detour to Chumbicha, near the Rioja frontier; only few roads exist, and they are extremely bad.
Catamarca had according to the census of 1914, a population of 100,391, of whom only 2,281 were foreign. An official estimate made in 1934 put the total population at 138,035. The majority of the inhabitants are largely mixed with Indian blood. The chief city of the province is Catamarca (15,000), the capital, situated on a fertile table-land and picturesquely enclosed by hills. Other centres of population are Chumbicha, Andalgala, Tinogasta and Poman. Belen, founded in 1550, is the oldest Spanish settle ment in the province, it being called Barco at first.