Santa Cruz Province, Argentina

Santa Cruz Provincia de Santa Cruz (Spanish)
Province
Province of Santa Cruz
View of Mount Fitz Roy
Flag Coat of arms
Location of Santa Cruz within Argentina
Coordinates: 48°37′S 70°01′W / 48.62°S 70.01°W / -48.62; -70.01
Country	Argentina
Departments	7
Municipalities	27
Capital	Río Gallegos
Government
• Governor	Claudio Vidal (SER)
• Vice Governor	Fabián Leguizamón (PJ)
• Legislature	24
• National Deputies	5
• National Senators	José M. Carambia (SER) Natalia Gadano (SER) Alicia Kirchner (UP)
Area Ranked 2nd
• Total	243,943 km2 (94,187 sq mi)
Population  (2022 census[1])
• Total	333,473
• Rank	23rd
• Density	1.4/km2 (3.5/sq mi)
Demonym	santacruceño
GDP [2]
• Total	US$ 5.2 billion
• Per capita	US$ 13,800
Time zone	UTC−3 (ART)
ISO 3166 code	AR-Z
HDI (2021)	0.854 very high (5th)[3]
Website	www.santacruz.gov.ar

Santa Cruz Province (Spanish: Provincia de Santa Cruz, Spanish pronunciation: [ˈsanta ˈkɾus], "Holy Cross") is a province of Argentina, located in the southern part of the country, in Patagonia. It borders Chubut Province to the north, and Chile to the west and south, with an Atlantic coast on its east. Santa Cruz is the second-largest province of the country (after Buenos Aires Province), and the least densely populated in mainland Argentina.

The indigenous people of the province are the Tehuelches, who despite European exploration from the 16th century onwards, retained independence until the late 19th century. Soon after the Conquest of the Desert in the 1870s, the area was organised as the Territory of Santa Cruz, named after its original capital in Puerto Santa Cruz. The capital moved to Rio Gallegos in 1888 and has remained there ever since. Immigrants from various European countries came to the territory in the late 19th and early 20th century during a gold rush. Santa Cruz became a province of Argentina in 1957.