Entre Ríos (, 'Between Rivers') is a central province of Argentina, located in the Mesopotamia region. It borders the provinces of Buenos Aires (south), Corrientes (north) and Santa Fe (west), and Uruguay in the east.

Its capital is Paraná (391,000 inhabitants), which lies on the Paraná River, opposite the city of Santa Fe.

Together with Córdoba and Santa Fe, since 1999, the province is part of the economic-political association known as the Center Region.

History

thumb|left|220px|[[Justo José de Urquiza, general and politician who governed the province and led the Federalist Party.]]

The first inhabitants of the area that is now Entre Ríos were the Charrúa and Chaná who each occupied separate parts of the region. Spaniards entered in 1520, when Juan Rodríguez Serrano ventured up the Uruguay River searching for the Pacific Ocean.

The first permanent Spanish settlement was erected in the current La Paz Department at the end of the 16th century. As governor of Asunción first and then of Buenos Aires, Hernandarias conducted expeditions to Entre Ríos unexplored lands. Juan de Garay, after founding Santa Fe, explored this area, which he called la otra banda ("the other bank").

However, the region remained entirely indigenous and uninhabited by Europeans until a group of colonists from neighbouring Santa Fe Province settled on the Bajada del Paraná in the late seventeenth century, now the site of the provincial capital. At the same time towns appear, which we now know as Nogoyá, Victoria, Gualeguay, Gualeguaychú, Concepción del Uruguay and Concordia.

Tomás de Rocamora further explored the area in 1783 under the threat of a Portuguese invasion from Brazil, and gave official status to many of the above-mentioned towns. He was also the first to refer to the region as Entre Ríos. At this stage, European settlement was minimal, though during the May Revolution, the few colonists in the cities along the Paraná shore supported Manuel Belgrano and his army on his way to Paraguay.

On September 29, 1820, the leader (caudillo) Francisco Ramírez declared the territory an autonomous entity, the Republic of Entre Ríos. This lasted until his assassination on July 10 of the next year.

thumb|left|Descendants of [[Spanish Argentines|Spaniards and Germans in Entre Ríos.]]

In 1853, in a meeting of all the provinces except Buenos Aires, Paraná was elected as the capital of the Argentine Confederation, and the Governor of Entre Ríos and leader (caudillo) Urquiza as its first president. The provincial capital was moved to Concepción del Uruguay. Later Urquiza, who had first won against Buenos Aires at the Battle of Cepeda in 1859, let his troops move back in the even Battle of Pavón in 1861, which allowed his rival Bartolomé Mitre from Buenos Aires to become president. At the time he was fulfilling his third term as governor of the province from 1860 to 1864 and after a voluntary interruption was reelected in 1868, but he was assassinated in 1870 after altogether 16 years of governing before finishing his mandate, which had probably been ordered by his supportor Ricardo López Jordán, not trusting him anymore.

Urquiza encouraged immigration through "colonization contracts", setting up many agricultural colonies with European (mainly Volga Germans, Russians (including Russian Jews and Poles), Italians, Swiss and French) settlers. According to data of the 1903 census, of the 425,373 inhabitants of the province, 153,067 were immigrants.

Economy

thumb|left|Institute of higher education.

Entre Rios' economy is the sixth largest in Argentina. Its output in 2006 was estimated at US$7.71 billion, or, US$6,710 per capita in 2006 (about a fourth less than the national average). In 2013, its output was estimated at $63.814 billion Pesos (about US$11.688 billion) or, 48,327 pesos (about US$8,851) per capita at current market prices. This was 21% below the average GDP per capita of 69,678 pesos (about US$12,762) for Argentina in 2013 at current market prices. The mean annual precipitation throughout the province is 1,000 mm or more.

Based on observational data from 1991-2020, across the entire province, the average seasonal mean maximum and minimum temperature across the summer months (December–February) are 31 °C (max) and 18 °C (min), with an average seasonal mean temperature of 24 °C. For the winter months (June–August), the average seasonal mean temperatures are 18 °C (max) and 7 °C (min) with an average seasonal mean temperature of 13 °C. Observed mean seasonal precipitation data for the same time period reports a mean seasonal precipitation of 371 mm in summer (December–February), 348 mm (March–May), 148 mm in winter (June–August) and 302 mm (September–November).

Differences exist within the climate of the province, with the northern parts being warmer than the central and southern parts, with the north experiencing more annual rainfall than the south, but with relatively dry winters, compared with southern parts of the province. but the south experiencing significantly more rainfall in the winter months particularly in the winter months (June–August). In the northern part of the province, towards the province of Corrientes, mean temperatures range from 13 °C in winter to 27 °C in summer, with a mean annual precipitation of 1,300 mm. In comparison, the climate of southern parts of the province, towards the province of Buenos Aires becomes slightly more temperate; mean temperatures range from 10 °C in winter to 26 °C in summer, with a mean annual precipitation of 1,000 mm with less variation in seasonal rainfall in winter.