Antofagasta de la Sierra is a village in Catamarca Province

Catamarca Province

Catamarca is a province of Argentina, located in the northwest of the country. The province has a population of 334,568 as per the , and covers an area of 102,602 km². Its literacy rate is 95.5%. Neighbouring provinces are : Salta, Tucumán, Santiago del Estero, Córdoba, and La Rioja...

, Argentina

Argentina

Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...

. It is the head town of the Antofagasta de la Sierra Department

Antofagasta de la Sierra Department

Antofagasta de la Sierra is the northernmost department of Catamarca Province in Argentina.The provincial subdivision has a population of about 1,300 inhabitants in an area of 28,097km², and its capital city is Antofagasta de la Sierra.-Volcanos:...

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Antofagasta de la Sierra is a high altitude settlement, the majority of its inhabitants are descended from the Diaguita

Diaguita

The Diaguita, also called Diaguita-Calchaquí, are a group of South American indigenous peoples. The Diaguita culture developed between the 8th and 16th centuries in what are now the provinces of Salta, Catamarca, La Rioja and Tucumán in northwestern Argentina, and in the Atacama and Coquimbo...

s and Atacameño

Atacameño

The Atacameños are a Native American people who inhabited the Andean portion of the Atacama Desert, mainly in what is today Chile's Antofagasta Region. Their language is known as Kunza....

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Economy

The local economy is based on agriculture and farming, the residents keep sheep and llama and grow vegetables. Tourism plays an important part in the local economy as many tourists come to see the nearby mountains volcanoes and caldera

Caldera

A caldera is a cauldron-like volcanic feature usually formed by the collapse of land following a volcanic eruption, such as the one at Yellowstone National Park in the US. They are sometimes confused with volcanic craters...

s including Galán caldera

Galán

Cerro Galán is a caldera in Catamarca Province, Argentina, considered to be the best exposed large caldera in the world. It was formed 2.2 million years ago when 1,050 km3 of material was erupted, producing ignimbrite deposits stretching up to 100 km away...

 and the Antofagasta de la Sierra mountain

Antofagasta de la Sierra

Antofagasta de la Sierra is a volcanic field in Argentina. The main type of volcanic edifice in the area are scoria cones. The area contains the youngest vents in the whole of the Puna region of Argentina. It is considered by many authors that the cones in the field are only a few thousand years...

. The village holds an annual Festival of the dead

Festival of the Dead

Festival of the Dead is held by many cultures throughout the world in honor or recognition of deceased members of the community, generally occurring after the harvest in August, September, October, or November. In Japanese Buddhist custom the festival honoring the departed spirits of one's...

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External links

Catamarca Guide