San Miguel de Tucuman

San Miguel de Tucumán is the largest city in northern Argentina, with a population of 527,607 per the 2001 census [INDEC]. The metropolitan area totals 830,000, making it the fifth-largest in the country. It is the capital of the province of Tucumán. It was founded in 1565 by Spanish Conquistador Diego de Villarroel during an expedition from Peru, and was moved to its present site in 1685. Tucumán Cathedral and Independence Square Provincial Government House The city is bordered on the north by Las Talitas (Tafí Viejo), on the east by Banda del Río Salí and Alderetes (Cruz Alta), on the west by the city of Yerba Buena, and on the south by Lules. The city sits on the slopes of the Aconquija mountains, the easternmost mountain range before the large Chaco-Pampean flats. It is the commercial center of an irrigated area that produces large quantities of sugarcane, rice, tobacco, and fruit, and provides the province with its nickname, the Garden of the Republic. The National University of Tucumán (1914) and the Saint Thomas Aquinas University of the North (1965) are in the city. On July 9, 1816 a congress gathered in Tucumán declared the independence from Spain, which did not officially recognize it until 1862. The meeting place of the congress, the House of Tucumán, has been reconstructed as a national monument. ( source Wikipedia )