SALTA, a north-western province of Argentina. Area, 48,872 sq.m.; pop. (1914) 1934 (estimate) 189,373. The west ern part of the province is mountainous, being traversed from north to south by the eastern chains of the Andes. Indenting these, however, are large valleys or basins, of highly fertile and com paratively level land, like that in which the city of Salta is situ ated. The eastern part of the province is chiefly composed of extensive areas of alluvial plains belonging to the Chaco forma tion, whose deep, fertile soils are among the best in Argentina. This part of the province is well wooded with valuable con struction timbers and furniture woods. The drainage to the Paraguay is through the Bermejo, whose tributaries cover the northern part of the province; and through the Pasage or Jura mento, called Salado on its lower course, whose tributaries cover the southern part of the province and whose waters are dis charged into the Parana. The climate is hot in summer but mild in winter, and the year is divided into a wet and a dry season. Irrigation is necessary in a great part of the province, though the rainfall is abundant in the wet season, about 21 inches. Fever
and ague, locally called chucho, is prevalent on the lowlands, but in the mountain districts the climate is healthy. There is consider able undeveloped mineral wealth, but its inhabitants are almost exclusively agriculturists. Its principal products are sugar, rum (aguardiente), wine, wheat, Indian corn, barley, tobacco, various tropical fruits, alfalfa and coffee. Stock-raising is carried on to a limited extent for the home and Bolivian markets. The province is traversed by a Government railway (the Central Northern) running northward from Tucuman to the Bolivian frontier, with a branch from General Gilemes westward to the city of Salta (q.v.), the provincial capital.
The principal towns are Oran (pop. about 3,000) in the north ern part of the province; Rosario de Lerma (pop. 2,50o), 3o m. N.W. of Salta; and Rosario de la Frontera (pop. 1,20o) near the Tucuman frontier.
Salta was at one time a part of the great Inca empire, which extended southward into Tucuman and Rioja. The first Spanish settlement was made by Hernando de Lerma in 1582.