Resistencia [key], city (1991 pop. 291,083), capital of Chaco prov., NE Argentina. It is the nucleus of an area of frontier settlements extending into the sparsely inhabited northwest. The city carries on a lively trade from its port, Barranqueras, on the Paraná River. Cotton, cattle, lumber, quebracho (for tannin extraction), and sugarcane are the city's chief products; the economy of the surrounding region is based on farming and cattle raising. Resistencia was originally the site of an 18th-century Jesuit mission and native settlement. In 1876 during the wars against the indigenous people, the name Resistencia was officially adopted, and the city became an important military outpost. It is connected to Corrientes by a bridge.
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