Mendoza Province

( Details)

( Details)

- Total - Percentage of Argentina

148,827 km ² 5.37

- Total 2001 - Density

1,579,651 inhabitants 10.6 inhabitants / km ²

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 lies south of the country Chile to the west.

Geography

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

The climate in the province territory 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, however, has an average population density, the population is concentrated in the three main oases. The largest cities are the provincial capital Mendoza (about 950,000 inhabitants), San Rafael ( 110,000 inhabitants) in the middle south and San Martín de Mendoza ( 85,000 inhabitants) in the east. The extreme south is very sparsely populated. The only place of importance is Malargüe with 10,000 inhabitants.

Administrative divisions

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

Economy

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

There are also oil production and processing ( refinery in Lujan de Cuyo ). In addition, Mendoza is considered the gateway to Chile with the nearby metropolitan area of Santiago de Chile and is therefore an important trading center. In Río Colorado mining group Vale is developing a potash mine. If this mine will be productive, it will make Argentina the third largest potassium carbonate exporter. As part of this project, a railway line is being built to Bahia Blanca. At present, however, not further worked on this project.

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

Viniculture

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

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

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

Using the example of Mendoza can the rise and fall of the Argentine wine documented. The vineyards knew in 1980 with almost 255,000 hectares today their largest dimension. The massive clearing of the variety Criolla Grande, the area went back to 141,000 hectares in 2000. Due to the success of the quality offensive by the government with the concomitant opening of the export market, the wine gradually recovered. The area grew by eight per cent since 2006.