Argentina grew from 13 provinces to 23 over more than a century
Argentina did not start with its present map. Thirteen provinces emerged from town councils during the independence wars, and much of the south and north-east was governed directly from the capital as national territories. The last of those, Tierra del Fuego, only became a full province in 1990.
During the War of Independence, cities and their surrounding lands turned into provinces through their local councils, a process completed during the turmoil known as the Anarchy of the Year XX. Jujuy split from Salta in 1834, making fourteen. Buenos Aires Province stayed apart for a decade before accepting the national constitution of 1853 in 1861, and its capital city became federal territory in 1880.
An 1862 law placed lands under federal control beyond provincial borders into national territories, and in 1884 these became governorates such as Misiones, Chaco, La Pampa, Neuquén, Chubut and Santa Cruz. A 1900 border agreement with Chile created a territory called Los Andes, whose land three northern neighbours absorbed in 1943. Full provincial status arrived for La Pampa and Chaco in 1951, Misiones in 1953, and five more in 1955, leaving Tierra del Fuego as the final holdout.
The federation now counts 23 provinces plus the autonomous city of Buenos Aires. Each keeps every power it has not handed to the national government, writing its own constitution, running its own courts, police and supreme court, and owning its natural resources. Eight have two-chamber legislatures; the rest, like the capital, have one. Buenos Aires Province is split into partidos, while the others use departments and municipalities.
Congress can take over a province facing insurrection, invasion or similar threats, dissolving its government and letting the president appoint an intervenor; since 1983 this has happened in Catamarca, Corrientes, Santiago del Estero and Tucumán. Some provinces became family strongholds, notably San Luis, governed almost continuously by the Rodríguez Saá family from December 1983. In the capital, voting is compulsory and foreign residents may vote on the same terms as registered citizens.
Source: Provinces of Argentina
