Rosario is the largest city of the province of Santa Fe, Argentina, and the third most populous in the country, after Córdoba and Buenos Aires. It is located about 300 km (190 mi) north of Buenos Aires, on the Western shore of the Paraná River, and it has about 910,000 inhabitants. It is surrounded by smaller cities and towns that form a metropolitan area with a population of about 1.2 million according to the 2001 census [INDEC].