Carlos Casares is a town in Buenos Aires Province

Buenos Aires Province

The Province of Buenos Aires is the largest and most populous province of Argentina. It takes the name from the city of Buenos Aires, which used to be the provincial capital until it was federalized in 1880...

, 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 Carlos Casares Partido

Carlos Casares Partido

Carlos Casares Partido is a partido of Buenos Aires Province in Argentina.The provincial subdivision has a population of about 21,000 inhabitants in an area of 2,520 km², and its capital city is Carlos Casares, which is located around 257 km from Buenos Aires.-Settlements:*Carlos...

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History

The settlement gradually developed around a station on the Buenos Aires Western Railway

Buenos Aires Western Railway

The Buenos Aires Western Railway was one of the Big Four broad gauge British-owned companies that built and operated railway networks in Argentina...

, opened in 1889. The station was named after Carlos Casares

Carlos Casares

Carlos Casares was an Argentine rancher, executive, and politician.-Life and times:Carlos Gumersindo Casares was born to Gervasia Rodríguez Rojo and Vicente Casares, in 1830. His father, born in Vizcaya, Spain, served as the first Spanish Consul to Argentina...

, Governor of Buenos Aires between 1875 and 1878. The town and Partido

Partido

A partido is an administrative subdivision of the . They are formally considered to be a single municipality, and usually contain one or more population centers...

 were founded on January 8, 1907, from territory taken from Nueve de Julio Partido

Nueve de Julio Partido

Nueve de Julio Partido is a partido located in the central north of Buenos Aires Province in Argentina.The provincial subdivision has a population of about 46,000 inhabitants in an area of 4,230 km², and its capital city is 9 de Julio, which is located around 262 km from Buenos...

 and Pehuajó Partido

Pehuajó Partido

Pehuajó Partido is a partido located in the north east of Buenos Aires Province in Argentina.The provincial subdivision has a population of about 40,000 inhabitants in an area of 4,531 km², and its capital city is Pehuajó, which is located around 389 km from Buenos...

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Leading local institutions include the Verdi Theatre (maintained by the Italian Society

Italian Argentine

An Italian Argentine is a person born in Argentina of Italian ancestry. It is estimated up to 25 million Argentines have some degree of Italian descent...

), the Bristol Theatre (maintained by the Hebrew Society), the Church of Our Lady of Carmen (1941), the José Ingenieros

José Ingenieros

José Ingenieros was an Argentine physician, pharmaceutic, positivist philosopher and essayist.He was born Giuseppe Ingegneri in Palermo , and graduated from the University of Buenos Aires School of Medicine in 1900...

 Cultural Center and Library, and El Bagual Traditionalist Center.

Economy

Carlos Casares figures prominently in Argentine agriculture. A leading center of sunflower seed

Sunflower seed

The sunflower seed is the fruit of the sunflower . The term "sunflower seed" is actually a misnomer when applied to the seed in its pericarp . Botanically speaking, it is more properly referred to as an achene. When dehulled, the edible remainder is called the sunflower kernel.There are three types...

 cultivation, as well as of maize

Maize

Maize known in many English-speaking countries as corn or mielie/mealie, is a grain domesticated by indigenous peoples in Mesoamerica in prehistoric times. The leafy stalk produces ears which contain seeds called kernels. Though technically a grain, maize kernels are used in cooking as a vegetable...

, sorghum

Sorghum

Sorghum is a genus of numerous species of grasses, one of which is raised for grain and many of which are used as fodder plants either cultivated or as part of pasture. The plants are cultivated in warmer climates worldwide. Species are native to tropical and subtropical regions of all continents...

, soy, and wheat

Wheat

Wheat is a cereal grain, originally from the Levant region of the Near East, but now cultivated worldwide. In 2007 world production of wheat was 607 million tons, making it the third most-produced cereal after maize and rice...

, the city's largest employer is the Grobocopatel Brothers Company, a major Argentine exporter. The National Sunflower Festival (Fiesta Nacional del Girasol), first organized in 1963, is held in Carlos Casares every November.

The town also attracts tourism as the center of the Trail of Forts (Huella de Fortínes), historically known as the "Western Frontier of Buenos Aires Province." The 100-km (62-mi) horse trail begins at Fort Paz, and includes guided tours of the remains of forts built during the 1870s to ward off indigenous raids

Malón

Malón or maloca was a military raiding tactic of the Mapuche peoples from the 17th to the 19th centuries.The "maloca" among the Mapuche is described as a means of obtaining justice, by Juan Ignacio Molina:...

.