Brief Summary

In the period of the discovery of America, the Tucumán Region comprised about all current Argentine north-western provinces.

On May, 31, 1565, Don Diego de Villarroel founded the city of San Miguel de Tucumán.

This government included the current territory of seven Argentine provinces: Jujuy, Salta, Catamarca, La Rioja, Tucumán, Santiago del Estero and Córdoba: some 270,271 sq. mi. (700,000 km2) in all.

In 1685 it was transferred, at the order of the then Governor, Don Fernando de Mendoza y Mate de Luna, to 40 miles (65 km away) from the site of the present provincial capital.

Tucumán quickly managed to fit in the Alto Peru economy, especially through the cotton textiles output, and, already in the 17th century, through the sale of mules, wild cattle and tallow.

It also took part in the inter-regional trade with Chile, Potosí and Paraguay.

In the 19th century, more precisely on July, 9, 1816, the Argentine Independence was declared in the house of Doña Francisca Bazán de Laguna, in San Miguel de Tucumán.