CATAMARCA (San Fernando de Catamarca), capital of province of same name on Rio del Valle de Catamarca, Argentina, 230 m. (318 nI. by rail) N.N.W. of Cordoba. Pop. (1914) 13,262, with a large percentage of mestizos. Catamarca is connected by railways with Rioja and Patquia and with Cordoba. The city stands in a narrow, picturesque valley at the foot of the Sierra de Ambato, 1,772 ft. above sea-level. The valley is highly fertile, partially wooded, and produces fruit in abundance, wine and some cereals. In the city are flour mills and tanneries, and among its exports are leather, fruit, wine, flour and a curious embroidery for which the women of Catamarca have long been famous. There is a fine church and a national college occupies the old Merced convent. The alameda is one of the prettiest in the Argentine Republic, having a reservoir of 2 ac. surrounded by shrubbery and walks. Catamarca was founded in 1685 by Fernando de Mendoza because the town of Chacra, the former provincial capital, a few miles north of Catamarca, had been found unhealthful and subject to inundations. Previous to the selection of Chacra as the provin cial capital, the seat of government was at San Juan de Londres, founded in 1558 and named after the capital of England by order of Philip II. in honour of his marriage with Queen Mary. The arid surroundings of Londres led to its partial abandonment and it is now a mere village. Cholla, a suburb of Catamarca, is inhabited wholly by Calchaqui Indians, a remnant of the original inhabitants of this region.