Neighbouring provinces are (clockwise, from the north): Salta, Tucumán, Santiago del Estero, Córdoba, and La Rioja.

Eighty percent of Catamarca's territory of 102,602 square kilometers (2.7% of the country total), is covered by mountains, which can be grouped into four clearly differentiated systems: the Pampean sierras, in the east and center; the Narváez-Cerro Negro-Famatina system, in the west; the cordilleran-Catamarca area of transition, in the western extreme; the Puna, an elevated portion, in the northwest.

The scarce water resources in Catamarca's arid and semi-arid climate zone determine the human settlement pattern.

[4][6]: 68  Within these valleys which includes the provincial capital, the climate is characterized by its extreme aridity, large thermal amplitudes (different between day and night temperatures) and strong northeastern winds.

[6]: 76 Before the arrival of the Spanish conquest, most of today's Catamarca was inhabited by the Diaguitas indigenous people, including the fierce Calchaquí tribe.

When the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata was created in 1776, Catamarca obtained the title of Subintendencia under the Salta intendency.

In 1990, however, close friends of the Saadis were involved in the brutal murder of a local teenager, Maria Soledad Morales; this cause cèlebre cost Gov.

Saadi much of his popularity and, in 1991, his office, when Catamarca (for the first time) voted in a Radical Civic Union (UCR) candidate, Arnoldo Castillo.

Elected to the Senate by his still considerable following, Saadi is today an ally of President Cristina Kirchner, though the governor's seat remains in the UCR's column.

[citation needed] Large numbers of cattle, fattened in the alfalfa fields of Pucara, Tinogasta and Copacabana, were historically driven into northern Chile across the San Francisco pass and mules were bred for the Bolivian market in the 1910s.

The mine employs over 1,000 people and contributes hundreds of millions of dollars in taxes and royalties to the federal and provincial governments.

The agriculture of Catamarca focuses on wood (walnut), vineyards, olive, citrus, cotton and tobacco, for which the government gives tax cuts to facilitate economic growth [citation needed], but so far with poor results and no oversight.

Mountains and geological formation are the main attraction, with sights such as Antofagasta de la Sierra, Balcones del Valle, the Snow-Covered Summits of Aconquija, and the San Francisco Pass.

The road over the San Francisco Pass, an endeavor developed during the Castillo Administrations (1991–2003) at a high cost in public funds [citation needed] has failed to bring trade and tourism to the underdeveloped Tinogasta county.

[citation needed] Cultural attractions include the city of Catamarca, the archaeological park Las Huellas del Inca, prehistoric petroglyphs, local music, handcrafts and wines.