Victoria

The site of a 1750 defeat of a native uprising and an 1810 oratory to the Virgin of Aranzazú, a Marian apparition and the city's patron saint, Cerro La Matanza was granted Village status by the Provincial Legislature, in 1826. An 1829 edict renamed the hamlet Victoria. The church (started in 1872) is dedicated to this patron. Designated a "city" in 1851, Victoria also features an abbey (Abadía Los Monjes del Niño Dios), founded by Benedictine monks who arrived in 1899.

The Victoria region is at the core of the fishing industry of commercially important species like sábalo (Prochilodus lineatus) and surubí (Pseudoplatystoma spp.); it produces 95% of the annual 27,000 tonnes of sábalo captured in the province. Concerns about over-exploitation of this resource have been raised lately.

The city has a beach resort, and the river at this point is appropriate for the practice of sports such as kayak sailing and windsurf. The municipality claims jurisdiction over 3,700 km2 of islands and islets on the Paraná.