Cordoba Tourism

Location

The province of Córdoba is located in the centre of the continental territory of the Argentine Republic.Córdoba is bounded by the provinces of Santiago del Estero and Catamarca to the north, by La Rioja and San Luis to the west, by La Pampa and Buenos Aires to the south, and by Santa Fé to the east.The main access routes to the province are:National Route 9: on the southeast, it connects Córdoba city to Capital Federal, province of Buenos Aires, part of the province of Santa Fé and the City of Rosario; while on the north, it connects Córdoba to the provinces of Santiago del Estero, Tucumán, Salta and Jujuy.National Route 19: to arrive from the cities of Santa Fé, Paraná and the province of Entre Ríos.National Route 60: links Córdoba province with Catamarca's.National Route 38: connects Córdoba to the province of La Rioja.National Route 20: connects Córdoba to the provinces of San Juan and Mendoza.National Route 36 connects Córdoba to the south of the country, La Pampa, Río Negro, Chubut, and Santa Cruz; and together with the National Route 8, it connects this province to the province of Mendoza.

Aboriginal furnaces and Jesuit Legacy

Land of Comechingones (aboriginal tribe from Córdoba province) and legends, of thousand-year-old bonfires and aboriginal culture, Córdoba province was the cradle and the home of small independent towns, ruled by a chief, in charge of spreading the native culture and wisdom. Valle de Punilla, Calamuchita, Sierras del Sur, the present Ischilín district and Valle del Suquía or Río Primero were the ideal places to hunt, get relaxed and even to do agrotourism. Amid this scenario of thousand-year-old hills and mythological corners, the aboriginal culture kept their beliefs through the gift of the speech and the art. Caves in Cerro Colorado and other spots in the region were the places chosen to make pictographies, proof of the way in which aboriginal tribes saw the world. The arrival of the Spanish colonization to the lands of Córdoba found tall, thin and bearded men. They lived in semi-underground huts built in pits above ground level. They spoke a language different from most of the northern aboriginal tribes. Sanavirón and its corresponding dialects were the local language in contraposition to the Quechua language, so expanded throughout the rest of Argentina.The European expedition thorough the national territory was started by Francisco de Aguirre by the year 1556, 64 years after the arrival of Christopher Columbus to América. In 1573, Captain Lorenzo Suárez de Figueroa, leaves Jerónimo Luis de Cabrera both the testimony of his expedition through the grounds of Córdoba and a description of the aboriginal peoples. The reason for the expedition of the conquerors of Alto Perú was to find an access road to Río de la Plata; and that was the reason why Mr. Jerónimo Luis founded Córdoba de la Nueva Andalucía by Suquía River on July 6th 1573.After being founded, Córoba was a member of Gobernación del Tucumán (Government of the northern province Tucumán), politically dependant on Chile and then on Virreinato del Perú (Perú Viceroyalty). It was on August 1783 when, urged by the need to separate itself from Río de la Plata Viceroyalty, the city of Córdoba is declared capital of the city council, which by that time ruled the region of San Juan, San Luis and la Rioja. The first Governor Mayor of Córdoba was Marqués de Sobremonte.After having being deprived of their material belongings, the colonists were evangelized in the conquest of the faith; and it was the Jesuits who carried on this evangelization. They, torch-bearers of the ecclesiastical wisdom, built lost of farms in the outskirts of the city and the main temple called Compañía de Jesús in the downtown area of the city of Córdoba. From these farms it was established the cultural, religious, educational and political systems, which ruled the region of Córdoba for hundreds of years and laid the foundations for its growth.Between 1599, year of the arrival of the Jesuitical Order to Argentina to 1767, year in which it was expelled, the province of Córdoba was witness of the arrival of the western faith and its majestic constructions. Both "Camino de las Estancias", and "Manzana Jesuítica" circuits, were declared Patrimony of the Humanity by UNESCO in 2000 because of their historical and political importance. The native peoples, which had suffered the onslaught of the conquerors, were also victims of the European evangelization. It was in fact this conquest which prevented the native culture and language from continuing developing and subsequently caused the disappearance of the aborigines, who became totally extinct with the crossbreeding.