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Mendoza, Argentina
Mendoza is the capital city of Mendoza Province, Argentina. It is located in the nothern-central part of the province, in a region of foothills and high plains, to the west side of the Andes. As of the , Mendoza's population was 110,993. The metropolitan population was 848,660 in 2001, making Greater Mendoza the fourth largest census metropolitan area in the country.
A major road between Argentina and Chile runs by Mendoza. 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 other sports. In the winter, skiers come to the city for its easy access to the Andes.
Two of the main industries of the Mendoza area are wine making and olive oil production.
History
Mendoza was founded in 1561 by Pedro del Castillo. Before this time it was populated by three tribes, the Huarpes, the Puelches, and the Incas. The Huarpes devised a system of irrigation that was later developed by the Spanish. This allowed for an increase in population that might not have otherwise occurred. The system is still evident today in the wide trenches that run parallel to the city streets. It is estimated that less than 80 Spanish settlers lived in the area before 1600, but later prosperity increased due to the use of indigenous and slave labour, and the application of the Jesuits present in the region. When rivers were tapped as a source or irrigation 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 Jose de San Martin as governor. From Mendoza San Martin would organize the army with which he won the independence of Chile and Peru.
Mendoza suffered a severe earthquake in 1861 that killed at least 5,000 people. The city was rebuilt, incorporating innovative urban designs that would better tolerate such seismic activity. Mendoza was rebuilt 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.
Culture
The festival of the Vendimia represents the grape harvest in early March each year, where 17 beauty queens from each provincial district 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 has an intense cultural activity. There are several museums, including a natural history museum called Museo Cornelio Moyano in the Gerneral San Martin Park and a Historical Foundational Area Museum called Museo del Area Fundacional located in the Pedro del Castillo Square. In Maipu, 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 Guinazu - Casa de Fader art museum, hosted in an 1890 mansion where many walls have paintings by the artist Fernando Fader.
Urban structure
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 Martin Avenue, and running parallel to Sarmiento are avenues Colon, Aristides Villanueva and Las Heras. Four additional plazas, San Martin, Chile, Italia, and Espana, are located 2 blocks off each corner of Independence Square. Unique to Mendoza's streets are the exposed stone ditches (small canals) which run alongside many of the roads supplying water to the many trees that provide welcome shade.
The Parque San Martin was designed by Carlos Thays. On its premises you can find a zoo, football stadiums, and the Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. A view of the city is available from the top of the hill Cerro de la Glori.
There are many Internet cafes and other establishments that offer wi-fi technology. Restaurants and wine bars on Aristides 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.
Climate
Mendoza has very dry summers with wetter winters. Average temperatures for January (summer) are 35 C during daytime, and 23 C at night. For July (winter), the average temperatures are 12 C and 3 C , respectively. Despite the intensity of agriculture possible due to irrigation from major rivers, Mendoza is classfied as semi-desert. Annual rainfall is 250mm.
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.
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. 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.
People
See
Twin cities
Ramat Gan, Israel
Tacna, Peru
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 recapture the experience, Annaud literally rebuilt Tibet in Mendoza, 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.)
Publications
V. Letelier, Apuntes sobre el terremoto de Mendoza (Santiago de Chile - 1907)
V. Blasco Ibanez, Argentina y sus Grandezas (Madrid - 1910)
See also
1861 Mendoza earthquake
1985 Mendoza earthquake
2006 Mendoza earthquake
External links
Discover Mendoza - Tourism in Mendoza
Photos of Mendoza and surroundings
(Spanish) Municipality of Mendoza Official website
(Spanish) Tourism office
(Spanish)
Weather information from FallingRain
Newspapers
(Online editions)
(Spanish) Diario Los Andes
(Spanish) Diario Uno
(Spanish) Ciudadano Diario
(Spanish) Jornada
(Spanish) El Sol
(Spanish) Cuyo Noticias
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This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Mendoza, Argentina
