Salta

Salta is a city in northwestern Argentina and the capital city of the Salta Province. With a population of 464,678 inhabitants as of the 2001 census [INDEC], it is Argentina's 8th largest city.

The weather is warm and dry, with annual averages of 756 mm of rainfall and an average temperature of 16.4 °C (20.4 °C in summer, 10.8 °C in winter). January and February are the months with greatest rainfall. During the spring, Salta is occasionally plagued by severe, week long dust storms.

Salta was founded on April 16, 1582 by the Spanish conquistador Hernando de Lerma, who intended the settlement to be an outpost between Lima (Peru) and Buenos Aires.

During the war of independence, the city became a commercial and military strategic point between Peru and the Argentine cities. Between 1816 and 1821, the city was led by local military leader General Martín Miguel de Güemes, who under the command of General José de San Martín, defended the city and surrounding area from Spanish forces coming from further north.

Saint Francis ChurchSalta emerged from the War of Independence politically in disarray and financially bankrupt, a condition that lingered throughout much of the 19th century. However, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the arrival of Italian, Spanish and Arab immigrants, particularly Syrians and Lebanese, revived trade and agriculture all over the area while further enhancing the city's multicultural.

The city center features a number of impressive buildings dating back to the 18th and 19th and early 20th centuries. Clockwise around the 9th July Square are the neoclassical Cathedral, the French style Museum of Contemporary Art, the Cabildo (in former times, the city's town hall, nowadays a historical museum) and the Museum of High Mountain Archeology, which houses artifacts from the Inca civilization including the magnifically preserved bodies of three Inca children.

Another particular feature of Salta is the way it has preserved its traditional Hispanic heritage. Folklore activities - cuisine, colonial architecture, music, dancing, and other customs - are widely spread and practised by its people.

One of the main activities in Salta is the April Culture Festival, which lasts the entire month and offers a wide variety of activities, such as culture display performances, handcrafts exposition, and live orchestra performances.