Mendoza, Argentina
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Mendoza is a city in the west of Argentina, and the capital of Mendoza Province. As per the 2001 census [INDEC] it has about 111,000 inhabitants, plus 848,660 in its metropolitan area, making it the fourth-largest conurbation in Argentina.
Mendoza is on a major road between Argentina and Chile. It is a frequent stopover for climbers heading up Aconcagua (the highest mountain in the Western Hemisphere) or for other mountaineering, hiking, horseback riding, rafting, and outdoor activities. In the winter, skiers come to the city for its easy access to the Andes.
One of the main industries of the Mendoza area is wine making. Another large industry is olive oil production.
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[edit] History
Mendoza was founded in 1561 by Pedro del Castillo. Before this time it was populated by three indigenous tribes, the Huarpes, the Incas, and the Puelches. The Huarpes devised a system of irrigation, probably based upon Inca techniques, that was later developed by the Spanish. This allowed larger population increases in the area than would otherwise be possible due to the low annual rainfall. The system is still evident today in the wide trenches that run parallel to the city streets. After a slow start (it is estimated that less than 80 Spanish setllers lived in the area before 1600) prosperity increased, due to the use of indigenous and slave labour, and the application of the Jesuits present in the region. When the River Mendoza was tapped as a source or irrigaiton in 1788 agricultural production increased. The extra revenues generated from this, and the ensuing additional trade with Buenos Aires, no doubt led to the creation of the state of Cuyo in 1813 with José de San Martín as governor. From Mendoza San Martin would organize the army with which he won the independence of Chile and Peru. This culminated in the 1817 march across the Andes. A feat which has been compared to Hannibal's crossing of the Alps.
In 1861 a severe earthquake destroyed the city and killed at least 5,000 people. The city was rebuilt, and included new antiseismic urban designs, with large squares and wider streets and sidewalks than any other city in Argentina. San Martin street, and five main equidistant squares, are examples of that design. Tourism, wine production, and more recently the exploitation of hard commodities such as oil and uranium ensure Mendoza's status as a key regional centre.
[edit] Culture
The grape harvest is marked each year by the Vendimia festival, taking place in early March, in which 17 beauty queens (one for each provincial departament) are nominated, and one winner is selected by a panel of about 50 judges. The queen from Mendoza City cannot be chosen because she acts as host for all other queens. Mendoza City proper does not have vineyards.
Mendoza has an intense cultural activity, and the city is a main center for professional congresses and meetings. There are several museums, the main ones being the Museo Cornelio Moyano (a natural history museum) in the Gerneral San Martín Park and the Museo del Área Fundacional (Foundational Area Museum, historical) located in the Videla Castillo Square. In Maipú, 15 km southeast from Mendoza, there is the Museo Nacional del Vino (National Wine Museum), which focuses on the history of winemaking in the area. In Mayor Drummond, 14 km south from Mendoza, there is the Emiliano Guiñazú - Casa de Fader art museum, hosted in an 1890 mansion where many walls have paintings by the artist Fernando Fader.
[edit] Urban structure
Like most cities in Argentina, Mendoza's outdoor cafes, tree-lined walkable streets & avenues and many plazas attest to the city's European heritage. Unique to Mendoza however is the exposed stone ditches (small canals) which run alongside many of the roads supplying water to the many trees that provide welcome shade.
The city is centered around Independence Square “Plaza Independencia" with pedestrianized Sarmiento street running through its center. Other major streets, running perpendicular to Sarmiento, are 9 de Julio St., San Martín Avenue, and running parallel to Sarmiento are avenues Colón, Arístides Villanueva and Las Heras. Four additional plazas, San Martín, Chile, Italia, and España, are located 2 blocks off each corner of Independence Square.
Located West of the city is the Parque San Martín designed by the world renowned landscape architect Carlos Thays. On its premises you can find soccer stadiums, a zoo, the Universidad Nacional de Cuyo and a monument that commemorates the cross of the Andes by San Martin and his army. A view of the city is available from the top of the hill "Cerro de la Gloria".
There are many Internet cafes and other establishments that offer wi-fi technology. Restaurants and wine bars on Aristídes Villanueva Avenue become very active day and night during weekends and various types of accommodations are available including luxurious “five star” Park Hyatt Mendoza, facing Plaza Independencia.
[edit] Climate
Mendoza has very dry summers with wetter winters. Average temperatures for January (summer) are 35 °C (95 °F) during daytime, and 23 °C (73 °F) at night. For July (winter), the average temperatures are 12 °C (53 °F) and 3 °C (38 °F), respectively. Despite the intensity of agriculture possible due to irrigation from major rivers, Mendoza is classfied as semi-desert. Annual rainfall is 250mm.
[edit] Transportation
Mendoza is 1,037 kilometres from Buenos Aires (13 hours by bus) and 380 kilometres from Santiago, Chile (6-7 hours by bus). Mendoza also has an International Airport. It takes less than 2 hours to fly from Buenos Aires and less than 1 hour from Santiago, Chile.
The Mendoza public transport system includes buses, trolleybuses and taxi-cabs. The trolleybuses are more comfortable than the city buses, but are slower and not as numerous nor is the system as extensive as that for the buses.
A heritage railway or tourist railroad, "The Wine Train" (Tren del Vino) is being planned which will also provide local transportation, it will run along wine producing districts of Mendoza. [1]
[edit] Transandine Railway
Mendoza developed partly because of its position at the beginning of the Transandine Railway linking it to Los Andes in Chile. This line is currently out of use, but there were plans to restore it in the summer of 2007. Due to the lack of concrete actions to restore this link, the most recent estimations are that the line could be restored around October, 2009. [1] However, as of October 2007, there is no indication of any restorative work underway.
The Transandine Railway is a metre gauge line, with sections of rack, whilst the railways it links with are both broad gauge. A journey from Buenos Aires to Chile involved two breaks-of-gauge, and therefore two changes of train, one at Mendoza, and the other at Los Andes in Chile.
[edit] People
[edit] Twin cities
[edit] In Film
Mendoza is referenced in the 2006 acclaimed film Children of Men in which it is reported that the parents of the youngest person on the planet hail from the city of Mendoza in a bleak 2027.
Throughout his career, the French director Jean-Jacques Annaud has prided himself on ambitious films that focus on the human heart in conflict with itself. But none compares to the scope and challenge of his 1997 film Seven Years In Tibet.To re-capture the experience, Annaud literally rebuilt Tibet in Argentina. The dozens of spectacular sets ranged from a 220-yard long re-creation of the capital city of Lhasa (built in the foothills of the Andes), to a 9000-square-foot re-creation of the legendary Hall of Good Deeds in the Potala, the ancient palace of the Dalai Lama. (It was built in an abandoned garlic warehouse outside the city of Mendoza.)
[edit] References
[edit] Publications
- V. Letelier, Apuntes sobre el terremoto de Mendoza (Santiago de Chile, 1907)
- V. Blasco Ibánez, Argentina y sus Grandezas (Madrid, 1910)
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- (Spanish) Municipality of Mendoza - Official website.
- (Spanish) Tourism office
- (Spanish) Municipal information — Municipal Affairs Federal Institute (IFAM), Municipal Affairs Secretariat, Ministry of Interior, Argentina.
- Photos of Mendoza and surroundings
- Los Andes newspaper online edition
- Diario Uno, newspaper online edition, in Spanish
- (Spanish) Ciudadano Diario, newspaper online edition
- (Spanish) Diario Jornada, newspaper online edition
- El Sol newspaper (5 issues every week, Monday to Friday)
- Universidad Nacional de Cuyo
- Discover Mendoza - Tourism in Mendoza
- CuyoNoticias digital newspaper
Provincial Capitals of Argentina |
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| (by Province) |
| Buenos Aires · Catamarca · Chaco · Chubut · Córdoba · Corrientes · Entre Ríos · Formosa · Jujuy · La Pampa · La Rioja · Mendoza · Misiones · Neuquén · Río Negro · Salta · San Juan · San Luis · Santa Cruz · Santa Fe · Santiago del Estero · Tierra del Fuego, Antarctica and The South Atlantic Islands · Tucumán |
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