Resistencia is a city in northern Argentina, the capital of the Chaco Province, located on a tributary of the Paraná River. As of the 2001 census the population of the city proper is 274,490 inhabitants. The metropolitan area totals 359,590, the 11th largest in Argentina. Resistencia is a commercial and transportation center for the sparsely inhabited frontier region to the northwest. Major manufactures include processed food, textiles, refined metal, and wood and leather products. The river port of Barranqueras is nearby. Originally called San Fernando del Río Negro, the site was settled in the 17th century as a Jesuit mission and then abandoned in the late 18th century. Following Argentina's war with Paraguay (1864–1870), the site was reestablished as an important military outpost. Its present name was adopted in 1876.