Template:Wp-Catamarca Province-History

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Before the arrival of the Spanish conquest, most of today's Catamarca was inhabited by the Diaguitas indigenous people, including the fierce Calchaquí tribe. In 1558 Juan Pérez de Zurita founded San Juan de la Ribera de Londres, but since it was constantly under attack by indigenous people its population remained small; it was re-founded several times at new sites with new names. The sixth foundation was by Fernando de Mendoza Mate de Luna on July 5, 1683, with the name San Fernando del Valle de Catamarca.

When the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata was created in 1776, Catamarca obtained the title of Subintendencia under the Salta intendency. In 1821, the province claimed its autonomy, and Nicolás Avellaneda y Tula (grandfather of Nicolás Avellaneda) was elected as the first governor of the province.

The name is believed to come either from Quechua cata 'slope' and marca 'fortress', or from Aymara catán 'small' and marca 'town'.

Catamarca remained isolated from the rest of Argentina by its mountains until 1888, when the rapidly expanding railways first appeared in the province. Attracting immigrants with its spacious, fertile valleys and dry, agreeable weather, Catamarca was soon favored by immigrants from Lebanon and Iran, who found Catamarca reminiscent of the fertile, orchard-lined mountain valleys of the homes they left behind.

One such family, the Saadis, became prominent in local commerce and politics (much as the Syrian Menems in neighbouring La Rioja). In 1949, the newly designated province elected Vicente Saadi as governor. Eventually, Saadi, a Peronist, would become indispensable to local politics (a Caudillo), exerting influence mostly by proxy. Passing away in 1988, he was succeeded by his son Ramon. In 1990, however, close friends of the Saadis were involved in the brutal murder of a local teenager, ; this cause cèlebre cost Gov. Saadi much of his popularity and, in 1991, his office, when Catamarca (for the first time) voted in a Radical Civic Union (UCR) candidate, . Elected to the Senate by his still considerable following, Saadi is today an ally of President Cristina Kirchner, though the governor's seat remains in the UCR's column.