Federal is a city in the province of Entre Ríos, Argentina. It had 16,333 inhabitants per the 2001 census [INDEC], and is the head town of the Federal Department. It lies in the center-north of the province, by National Route 127, about 190 km northeast of the provincial capital Paraná.

The basis of the local economy is the production of citrus and crops of wheat and soybean. The city has hosted the annual National Festival of Chamamé since 1976.

The town was officially founded on 7 September 1880 by provincial governor José Francisco Antelo. The creation and shaping of the first institutions of this settlement was due to a Spanish immigrant, Antonio Flores.

Entre Ríos (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈentɾe ˈri.os], Between Rivers) is a northeastern province of Argentina, located in the Mesopotamia region. It borders the provinces of Buenos Aires (south), Corrientes (north) and Santa Fe (west), and Uruguay in the east.

Its capital is Paraná (250,000 inhabitants), which lies on the Paraná River, opposite the city of Santa Fe.

Together with Córdoba and Santa Fe, since 1999, the province is part of the economic-political association known as the Center Region.

The first inhabitants of the area that is now Entre Ríos were the Guaraní, Charrúa and Chaná, who each occupied separate parts of the region. Spaniards entered in 1520, when Rodríguez Serrano ventured up the Uruguay River searching for the Pacific Ocean.

The first permanent Spanish settlement was erected in the current La Paz Department at the end of the 16th century. As governor of Asunción first and then of Buenos Aires, Hernandarias conducted expeditions to Entre Ríos unexplored lands. Juan de Garay, after founding Santa Fe, explored this area, which he called la otra banda ("the other bank").