Jujuy Province - History

History

Pre-Columbian inhabitants, who later mixed with the Incas during their expansion period, practiced agriculture and domesticated the guanaco. They had huts made of mud, and erected stone fortresses to protect their villages. An example of such fortresses is Pucará de Tilcara, Pucará meaning "fortress" (word also used for the Argentine combat aircraft Pucara).

In 1593, a small settlement was erected in the Jujuy valley by the effort of Francisco de Argañaraz y Murguía. In spite of the attacks of the Calchaquíes and Omaguacas aborigines, the population and activity of the village consolidated and grew.

At the end of the 17th century, the customs to the Viceroyalty of Peru was transferred from Córdoba to Jujuy.

With the separation from Peru and the creation of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata, Jujuy lost its importance and its population started to diminish.

During the May Revolution and the battles for the independence of the United provinces of the South, many confrontations took place in Jujuy because the Spanish concentrated their forces in Peru. The people of Jujuy had to endure the Jujuy Exodus, a massive evacuation with a scorched earth policy, led by General Manuel Belgrano. Finally the Spanish surrendered, but the war seriously affected the economy of the area.

After a series of internal conflicts, the province declared its autonomy from Tucumán and Salta Provinces on November 18, 1834. Jujuy started a gradual process of economic and social improvement, and at the end of the 19th century, the sugarcane industry arose. At the beginning of the following century, the railway already connected the province with Buenos Aires, and La Paz, Bolivia.

Heavy industry first arrived in Jujuy at the hand of General Manuel Savio, a presidential economic advisor who, in 1945, had Argentina's first modern steel mill installed in Jujuy. In 1969, Jujuy joined oil-rich neighboring Salta Province with the discovery of petroleum by the state-owned YPF.