Chaco Province - History

History

Chaco is a Quechua word for "hunting," which was the main source of food for the aboriginal people prior to the Spanish colonisation of the Americas. Several native tribes (Guaraní, Toba, Wichí and others) have persisted in the region and have important communities in this province as well as in Formosa.

The first city in Chaco province was Concepción de Buena Esperanza, which existed between 1585 and 1632. During its existence, it was one of the most important cities in its gobernation, but attacks from local Indians forced the residents to leave. In the 17th century, the San Fernando del Río Negro Jesuit mission was founded in the area of the modern-day city of Resistencia, but it was abandoned 15 years later.

At the end of the 19th century there were numerous confrontations between Argentina and Paraguay in the Gran Chaco area known as the War of the Triple Alliance, and San Fernando was reestablished, this time as a military outpost, and renamed to Resistencia in 1876.

In 1872, Territorio Nacional del Gran Chaco was created, this territory included current Formosa province and lands that now belong to Paraguay. In 1884, because of the split of this administrative division, Territorio Nacional del Chaco was instituted.

Between the end of the 19th century and the first decades of the 20th, the province received a variety of immigrants. Among them were Volga Germans and Mennonites from Russia, Germany, and Canada. They (along with the other immigrants) were able to transform the hostile geography of Chaco into a productive farming region known for its dairy and beef production. The territory became a province in 1951, changing its name to Provincia Eva Perón; the province recovered its historical name in 1955, when the army overthrew the government of President Juan Perón. Chaco voters, however, continued to support Peronist candidates in subsequent elections, notably Deolindo Bittel, whose three terms as governor in the 1960s and 1970s were each cut short by military intervention; he ran for Vice President in 1983 and later served as mayor of the provincial capital, Resistencia.

Underserved by paved highways and, therefore, very dependent on passenger rail, Chaco was adversely impacted by the national rail privatizations and line closures of the early 1990s. The province, in 1997, invested in SEFECHA, at the time the only publicly-owned commuter rail in Argentina. SEFECHA today carries nearly a million passengers a year and has contributed to the province's vigorous recovery from the 2002 crisis.