Monteros is the head town of the Monteros Department in

Tucumán Province Tucumán () is the most densely populated, and the second-smallest by land area, of the provinces of Argentina. Located in the northwest of the country, the province has the capital of San Miguel de Tucumán, often shortened to Tucumán. Neighb ...

, Argentina. It is south-west of the provincial capital

San Miguel de Tucumán San Miguel de Tucumán (), usually called simply Tucumán, is the capital and largest city of Tucumán Province, located in northern Argentina from Buenos Aires. It is the fifth-largest city of Argentina after Buenos Aires, Córdoba, Argentin ...

, at an altitude of , and is surrounded by four rivers. It had 23,771 inhabitants at the . The average temperature is in summer and in winter, with a high of and a low of .

History

The small village of Monteros was in an area acquired the military governor Don Felipe Antonio de Alurralde in 1754. In 1867 Monteros was declared a ''

municipio A ' () or ' () is an administrative division in several Hispanophone and Lusophone nations, respectively. It is often translated as "municipality." It comes from ''mūnicipium'' (), meaning a township. In English, a municipality often is define ...

'' and Don Domingo Segundo Aráoz appointed as its first mayor. Monteros subsequently grew in importance within the southern Tucumán region.

Toponymy

There have been several versions about the origin of the town's name. One version suggests that some inhabitants of the old

, which used to be on a place currently known as Ibatín, refused to move to the new location and declared in rebellion, taking refuge in the nearby hills. The name may have derived from "people of the ''hill''" (''Monte'' in Spanish). Another version says that the remaining inhabitants of the old

founded ''Monteros'' on October 4, 1865, naming it ''the Town of the Holy Rosary of Monteros''. There were three attempts to rename the town. In 1828 and 1832 Villa Belgrano was the name proposed, in honor of

Manuel Belgrano Manuel José Joaquín del Corazón de Jesús Belgrano (3 June 1770 – 20 June 1820), usually referred to as Manuel Belgrano (), was an Argentina, Argentine public servant, economist, lawyer, politician, journalist, and military leader. He to ...

but it did not succeed. The strangest case was in 1932 when the then provincial governor,

Alejandro Heredia Alejandro Heredia (1788 – 12 November 1838) was an Argentine soldier and politician. He fought in the war of independence, and in the subsequent civil war. He was governor and ''caudillo'' of Tucumán Province. Early career Alejandro Heredia ...

, attempted to rename it to Alexandria, in his own honor.

Economy

The main use of agriculture in the local economy is the sugar industry. The Ñuñorco plant (founded in 1926) is the main industrial plant in the town. The rural areas nearby the town are suited to growing

sugar cane Sugarcane or sugar cane is a species of tall, Perennial plant, perennial grass (in the genus ''Saccharum'', tribe Andropogoneae) that is used for sugar Sugar industry, production. The plants are 2–6 m (6–20 ft) tall with stout, jointed, fib ...

lemon The lemon (''Citrus'' × ''limon'') is a species of small evergreen tree in the ''Citrus'' genus of the flowering plant family Rutaceae. A true lemon is a hybrid of the citron and the bitter orange. Its origins are uncertain, but some ...

blueberries Blueberries are a widely distributed and widespread group of perennial flowering plants with blue or purple berries. They are classified in the section ''Cyanococcus'' with the genus ''Vaccinium''. Commercial blueberries—both wild (lowbush) ...

and

strawberries The garden strawberry (or simply strawberry; ''Fragaria × ananassa'') is a widely grown hybrid plant cultivated worldwide for its fruit. The genus ''Fragaria'', the strawberries, is in the rose family, Rosaceae. The fruit is appreciated f ...

Sports

Club Atlético Ñuñorco is a football club within the town and plays in the regional league '' Liga Tucumana de Fútbol''. The town's volleyball club, Club Social Monteros was founded in 1950 and was champion of the top tier of the Argentine Volleyball League in the 2004-5 season.

References

* * Information based on ''"Breve Historia de Monteros"'' (''short history of Monteros'') from local historian Tulio Ottonello.

External links

Monteros Government official website

Federal website

Main Monteros city site

Monteros city site

3D Church of Monteros - Nuestra Señora del Rosario

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{{Authority control Populated places in Tucumán Province Cities in Argentina