Chilecito

The city is located in the valley formed by the Sierras de Velazco to the east, and the Sierras de Famatina to the west. The city was founded in 1715 by Spanish colonizers. Chilecito still preserves the cable-car of La Mejicana mine built by Bleichert which is part of the city mining past that saw its peak at the end of the 19th century.

Chilecito is surrounded by an oasis of irrigation, which has been expanded by way of supplements from underground waters. A great part of agricultural land is used for the cultivation of vineyards because the most significant industrial activity is based in wine-cellars. Walnut and fruit trees are also cultivated and their product is locally processed.

By some accounts the locality got its name from a large number of Chilean artisan miners known as pirquineros who migrated to the area to work in gold field of Famatina.{{Cite web |title=Chilecito, La Rioja - OrbView-3 OHRIS - 8 de Abril de 2006 |url=https://www.argentina.gob.ar/ciencia/conae/educacion-y-formacion-masiva/materiales-educativos/chilecito-la-rioja-orbview-3-ohris-8-de-abril-de-2006 |access-date=2025-03-16 |website=Argentina.gob.ar |language=es}}

The Argentine educator, lawyer, senator, governor and historian Joaquín V. González was raised in the vicinity of Chilecito. He also used to spend his vacation in a home that he built here in his later years. The property, which he called Samay Huasi (Quechua

Samay Wasi, "rest house") was donated to the University of La Plata for use as an artists' retreat.

By the end of the 1990s, the university of Chilecito which was still part of the National University of La Rioja became the National University of Chilecito. This decision was highly criticized by different academic and political sectors, especially those concerning to the President of Argentina at the time, Carlos Menem.

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File:Samay Huasi patio.jpg

File:Museo Botánico Chirau Mita.jpg

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According to statistics, Chilecito has 58,798 inhabitants (data provided from the INDEC 2022 census).{{Cite web |date=2020-08-26 |title=Municipio de Chilecito |url=https://www.argentina.gob.ar/la-rioja/chilecito |access-date=2024-07-19 |website=Argentina.gob.ar |language=es}} This data includes facts from the localities of Anguinán, Malligasta, San Miguel, Los Sarmientos and La Puntilla.

{{Weather box

|location = Chilecito (1991–2000, extremes 1961–present)

|metric first = yes

|single line = yes

|Jan record high C = 43.1

|Feb record high C = 42.0

|Mar record high C = 40.5

|Apr record high C = 38.5

|May record high C = 38.2

|Jun record high C = 35.5

|Jul record high C = 35.3

|Aug record high C = 38.5

|Sep record high C = 40.0

|Oct record high C = 41.5

|Nov record high C = 43.7

|Dec record high C = 44.3

|year record high C =

|Jan high C = 32.9

|Feb high C = 31.1

|Mar high C = 29.6

|Apr high C = 25.3

|May high C = 21.2

|Jun high C = 17.6

|Jul high C = 17.2

|Aug high C = 21.4

|Sep high C = 24.6

|Oct high C = 28.1

|Nov high C = 31.1

|Dec high C = 33.8

|year high C = 26.2

|Jan mean C = 24.9

|Feb mean C = 23.5

|Mar mean C = 22.3

|Apr mean C = 17.8

|May mean C = 13.9

|Jun mean C = 10.2

|Jul mean C = 9.1

|Aug mean C = 12.8

|Sep mean C = 16.5

|Oct mean C = 20.2

|Nov mean C = 22.6

|Dec mean C = 25.7

|year mean C = 18.3

|Jan low C = 18.7

|Feb low C = 16.9

|Mar low C = 16.3

|Apr low C = 11.1

|May low C = 7.1

|Jun low C = 2.5

|Jul low C = 0.6

|Aug low C = 3.6

|Sep low C = 7.3

|Oct low C = 11.9

|Nov low C = 15.5

|Dec low C = 18.4

|year low C = 10.9

|Jan record low C = 9.3

|Feb record low C = 8.5

|Mar record low C = 2.4

|Apr record low C = 0.4

|May record low C = -5.1

|Jun record low C = -7.7

|Jul record low C = -7.7

|Aug record low C = -6.9

|Sep record low C = -5.4

|Oct record low C = -2.0

|Nov record low C = 1.3

|Dec record low C = 6.8

|year record low C = -7.7

|precipitation colour = green

|Jan precipitation mm = 51.1

|Feb precipitation mm = 35.5

|Mar precipitation mm = 16.4

|Apr precipitation mm = 7.4

|May precipitation mm = 5.2

|Jun precipitation mm = 1.7

|Jul precipitation mm = 2.4

|Aug precipitation mm = 2.4

|Sep precipitation mm = 4.4

|Oct precipitation mm = 6.1

|Nov precipitation mm = 7.9

|Dec precipitation mm = 23.7

|year precipitation mm = 162.5

|unit precipitation days = 0.1 mm

|Jan precipitation days = 4.3

|Feb precipitation days = 4.6

|Mar precipitation days = 2.6

|Apr precipitation days = 1.8

|May precipitation days = 0.8

|Jun precipitation days = 0.9

|Jul precipitation days = 1.0

|Aug precipitation days = 0.5

|Sep precipitation days = 1.3

|Oct precipitation days = 1.3

|Nov precipitation days = 1.4

|Dec precipitation days = 3.8

|year precipitation days = 23.5

|Jan snow days = 0.0

|Feb snow days = 0.0

|Mar snow days = 0.0

|Apr snow days = 0.0

|May snow days = 0.0

|Jun snow days = 0.1

|Jul snow days = 0.1

|Aug snow days = 0.1

|Sep snow days = 0.0

|Oct snow days = 0.0

|Nov snow days = 0.0

|Dec snow days = 0.0

|year snow days = 0.3

|Jan humidity = 58.4

|Feb humidity = 60.7

|Mar humidity = 64.3

|Apr humidity = 64.7

|May humidity = 65.8

|Jun humidity = 67.2

|Jul humidity = 63.3

|Aug humidity = 55.7

|Sep humidity = 53.4

|Oct humidity = 51.7

|Nov humidity = 52.3

|Dec humidity = 53.2

|year humidity = 59.6

|Jan sun = 272.8

|Feb sun = 223.2

|Mar sun = 198.4

|Apr sun = 195.0

|May sun = 195.3

|Jun sun = 171.0

|Jul sun = 220.1

|Aug sun = 238.7

|Sep sun = 231.0

|Oct sun = 248.0

|Nov sun = 279.0

|Dec sun = 291.4

|year sun =

|Jan percentsun = 64.3

|Feb percentsun = 60.4

|Mar percentsun = 53.0

|Apr percentsun = 57.9

|May percentsun = 59.6

|Jun percentsun = 56.6

|Jul percentsun = 68.4

|Aug percentsun = 69.9

|Sep percentsun = 64.4

|Oct percentsun = 62.6

|Nov percentsun = 68.8

|Dec percentsun = 67.8

|year percentsun = 62.5

|source 1 = Servicio Meteorológico Nacional{{cite web

| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230509192820/http://sedici.unlp.edu.ar/bitstream/handle/10915/78367/Archivo_de_datos_climatol%C3%B3gicos.zip?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

| archive-date = 9 May 2023

| url = http://sedici.unlp.edu.ar/handle/10915/78367

| title = Estadística climatológica de la República Argentina Período 1991-2000

| publisher = Servicio Meteorológico Nacional

| language = es

| access-date = 16 May 2023}}{{cite web

| url = https://www.smn.gob.ar/estadisticas

| title = Clima en la Argentina: Guia Climática por Chilecito Aero

| work = Caracterización: Estadísticas de largo plazo

| publisher = Servicio Meteorológico Nacional

| language = Spanish

| accessdate = 16 May 2023

| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170904022616/https://www2.smn.gob.ar/caracterizaci%C3%B3n-estad%C3%ADsticas-de-largo-plazo

| archive-date = 4 September 2017

| url-status = dead

}}

}}