Esperanza, Santa Fe

Esperanza
City
Esperanza

Location of Esperanza in Argentina

Coordinates: 31°25′S 60°56′W / 31.417°S 60.933°W / -31.417; -60.933Coordinates: 31°25′S 60°56′W / 31.417°S 60.933°W / -31.417; -60.933
Country Argentina
Province Santa Fe
Department Las Colonias
Government
 • Mayor Ana Meiners (Justicialist Party)
Area
 • Total 289 km2 (112 sq mi)
Elevation 38 m (125 ft)
Population (2012)
 • Total 40,686
 • Density 140/km2 (360/sq mi)
Time zone ART (UTC-3)
CPA base S3080
Dialing code +54 3496
Website Official website

Esperanza is a city in the center of the province of Santa Fe, Argentina. It had about 36,000 inhabitants at the 2001 census [INDEC] and it is the head town of the Las Colonias Department.

Esperanza is at the heart of the most important dairy district of the country (milk production is based on the Holando-Argentino breed). Cattle farming is also a major activity. Additionally it hosts many small and medium industries in a variety of sectors (wood, metal mechanics, food products, book printing, editorials, textile, leather, etc.).

History

City Hall, Esperanza, Santa Fe.

Esperanza was the first formally organized agricultural colony in Argentina, formed by 200 families of immigrants from Switzerland, Germany, France, Italy, Belgium and Luxembourg who arrived during January and February 1856. The town was officially founded on 1856-09-08. The lands for each family in the colony had been set aside on 1853-06-15 by an agreement (the Agricultural Colonization Contract) between the government of Santa Fe and the entrepreneur Aarón Castellanos. The original name of the city was Colonia Esperanza, that is "Colony Hope".

The city was the third one in the province to have a Municipal Council, after Rosario and Santa Fe, on 1861-05-04. It was declared the head town of its department in 1884. In 1892 it hosted the first Agricultural Congress of the Republic.

In 1944 the national government decreed that September 8, the feast of the birth of the Virgin Mary (patron of Esperanza), was to be the National Day of the Agricultural Worker, and in 1979 Esperanza was declared permanent seat of the National Festival of Agriculture and National Agricultural Worker Day.

Notable natives

References

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