Misiones (Spanish pronunciation: [miˈsjones], Missions) is one of the 23 provinces of Argentina, located in the northeastern corner of the country in the Mesopotamia region.

The first European to visit the region, Sebastian Cabot, discovered Apipé Falls while navigating the Paraná River in December 1527.

In the 17th century, members of the Society of Jesus came to the region as missionaries, initially led by Diego de Torres Bello (1551-1638).

In 1759 the Portuguese government, at the insistence of its anti-Jesuit Secretary of State, the Marquis de Pombal, ordered all Reductions closed in its territory (which then included much of present-day Misiones Province).

After a long and harrowing war (1865–70), Argentina prised from a prostrate Paraguay territory in Misiones between the Paraná and the Uruguay and other land further west.

"[5] Scobie states that "the political status of Misiones remained vague" and that Argentina gained the region "as a by-product of the Paraguayan war in the 1860s".

[citation needed] In 1876 the Argentine President Nicolás Avellaneda, assisted by his close friend, General Pietro Canestro (an Italian nobleman who devoted much of his life and wealth to the achievement and sustainability of the peace in the region), proclaimed the Immigration and Colonization Law.

Its agricultural colonies and experimental farms, the orange- and grapefruit-tree plantations, and the cultivation of yerba mate, the mills and the dryers for such product are characteristic of this area.

On December 10, 1953, the "National Territory of Misiones" gained provincial status in accordance with Law 14.294, and its constitution was approved on April 21, 1958.

[9] Misiones received more attention from national policy-makers following a 1973 international agreement to construct the Yacyretá hydroelectric dam on a point in the Paraná River shared by Paraguay and Corrientes Province.

They flooded lands that the dam's authorities had failed to clear and condition adequately, resulting in the onset of mosquito-transmitted illnesses, such as leishmaniasis, yellow fever, dengue, and malaria.

As of 2016[update] Argentina was pursuing an agreement with Paraguay to expand the reservoir works in order to double the facility's electricity production.

[10] One of the main characteristic is the presence of hills in the central and northern parts of the province leading to lower temperatures as a result of the higher elevation.

[11] For example, during the winter of 1975, snowfall was observed and accumulated in Bernando de Irigoyen, one of the coldest towns in the province due to its high altitude 815 m (2,674 ft).

The ethnic groups who settled in Misiones after Spaniards are Italians, Germans, Poles, Ukrainians, Swiss, Russians, Swedes, Danes and a small number of Arabs, Japanese and, recently, Laotians (in the late 1970s) and Chinese (in the 2000s).

[14] Though its rainy, erosion-prone geography discourages intensive crop farming, agriculture makes an important contribution to the province's economy, adding about 10% to the total.

The principal exploited trees are the Paraná pine, Guatambú, Cedar, Petiribí, Incense, Cane water-pipe, Anchico, Eucalyptus and Gueycá.

Tea, citrus fruit and, in minor amounts, tobacco, sugar cane, rice, coffee, cocoa and coconut are also cultivated in Misiones.