Mendoza Province

Mendoza

Basic data
( Details )	( Details )
Capital:	Mendoza
Surface:  - Total  share in Argentina	Rank 7 of 24 148,827 km² 5.37%
Population :  - Total 2010  - density	Rank 5 of 24 1,738,929 inhabitants 11.7 inhabitants / km²
ISO 3166-2 code:	POOR
politics
Region :	Region del Nuevo Cuyo
Structure:	18 departments
Gobernador:	Alfredo Cornejo
Website of the province of Mendoza

Mendoza is a province in the central west of Argentina . Mendoza is surrounded by the province of San Juan in the north, the provinces of San Luis and La Pampa in the east, the provinces of Río Negro and Neuquén in the south and the country of Chile in the west.

geography

Most of the province is covered by a dry steppe, the Monte , which is partially interrupted by small sandy deserts; the largest is found in the Lavalle department in the northeast of the province. There are three large oases: the northern one around the provincial capital Mendoza, a middle one around the cities of San Rafael and General Alvear and a southern one around Malargüe . The western part of the province is determined by the Andes , which have their highest elevation here, the Aconcagua . There is also the natural phenomenon Puente del Inca (German: Bridge of the Inkas) - a bridge over the Río Mendoza that was created naturally through erosion .

Climate diagram Mendoza

The climate in the entire provincial territory is dry, sunny and continental, with warm summers and relatively cold winters and large temperature differences between day and night. The annual rainfall is between 100 and 350 millimeters.

population

The province has a medium population density, but the inhabitants are concentrated in the three main oases. The largest cities are in the Gran Mendoza agglomeration (approx. 940,000 inhabitants) around the provincial capital Mendoza (approx. 115,000 inhabitants), including Guaymallén (approx. 250,000 inhabitants), Las Heras and Godoy Cruz (each approx. 190,000 inhabitants); further regional centers are San Rafael (approx. 120,000 inhabitants) in the middle south, Tunuyán (approx. 50,000 inhabitants) in the middle and San Martín de Mendoza (approx. 50,000 inhabitants) in the east of the province. The extreme south is very sparsely populated. The only place of importance there is Malargüe with a good 27,000 inhabitants.

Administrative division

The province is subdivided into 18 departments, which in Mendoza, unlike most other provinces in Argentina, coincide with the municipalities ( municipios ). The departments in turn are divided into districts ( distritos ). The provincial constitution was adopted in 1916 and modified for the last time in 1985.

Mendoza, administrative division, borders and capital

Department	Capital	Area in km²	Population (2010)
Capital	Mendoza	00.054	115.041
General Alvear	General Alvear	14,448	046,429
Godoy Cruz	Godoy Cruz	00.075	191.903
Guaymallén	Villa Nueva	00.164	283,803
Junín	Junín	00.263	037,859
La Paz	La Paz	07.105	010,012
Las Heras	Las Heras	08,955	203,666
Lavalle	Villa Tulumaya	10,212	036,738
Lujan de Cuyo	Lujan de Cuyo	04,847	119,888
Maipu	Maipu	00.617	172.332
Malargüe	Malargüe	41,317	027,660
Rivadavia	Rivadavia	02.141	056,373
San Carlos	San Carlos	11,578	032,631
San Martín	San Martín	01,504	118.220
San Rafael	San Rafael	31,235	188.018
Santa Rosa	Santa Rosa	08,510	016,374
Tunuyan	Tunuyan	03,317	049,458
Tupungato	Tupungato	02,485	032,524

economy

Vineyard in front of the Andes in Mendoza

Mendoza lives mainly from agriculture and viticulture , see also the section Viticulture and the article Viticulture in Argentina .

There is also oil production and processing (refinery in Luján de Cuyo). In addition, Mendoza is considered the gateway to Chile with the nearby greater Santiago de Chile area and is therefore an important trading metropolis. Mining company Vale is developing a potash mine in Río Colorado . When this mine is productive, it will make Argentina the third largest potassium carbonate exporter in the world. A railway line to Bahía Blanca is also being built as part of this project . However, no further work is currently being carried out on this project.

Together with its neighboring provinces of San Juan and San Luis , the province of Mendoza forms the Cuyo region .

Viticulture

Mendoza is the largest wine-growing region in Argentina and a member of the Great Wine Capitals network . With 152,926 hectares (as of 2005), the province of Mendoza accounted for a little more than 70 percent of Argentina's wine production.

Climate diagram Mendoza

The success of viticulture in the province of Mendoza is due to the good climatic conditions and the nature of the soil. The climate in the entire provincial territory is dry, sunny and continental, with warm summers and relatively cold winters and large temperature differences between day and night. The continental climate is rather moderate due to the geographical location near the 33rd parallel. Despite clearly defined seasons, the differences between summer and winter are not very great.

The vineyards are on average at an altitude of 500 m to 800 m, in rare cases up to 1200 m.

The rise and decline of Argentine viticulture can be documented using Mendoza's example. The vineyards were in 1980 with almost 255,000 hectares, their largest extent to date. Due to the massive clearing of the Criolla Grande variety, the area fell to 141,000 hectares in 2000. Thanks to the success of the government's quality offensive and the associated opening of the export market, viticulture gradually recovered. The area has increased by eight percent since 2006.

Web links

Commons : Mendoza Province  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Official website of the province

proof

1. ↑ bloomberg.com: Vale Says Suspended Argentina Project to Cost $ 11 Billion (March 18, 2013) ; reuters.com: Exclusive: Brazil's Vale says signs accord to quit Argentine Potash project (April 26, 2013)

Coordinates: 34 ° 30 ′  S , 68 ° 30 ′  W