Comodoro Rivadavia
Comodoro Rivadavia is a major port and industrial city on the Atlantic coast of Chubut province in southern Argentina. It is the capital of the department of Escalante and with 177 038 inhabitants (2010, INDEC ) is the largest city in the province. Comodoro Rivadavia is after the Argentine Navy officer and Navy minister Martín Rivadavia (1852-1901) named a grandson of the first Argentine president Bernardino Rivadavia.
Location
The whole town is very extensive scale in several side bays of the Golfo San Jorge, one of up to 600 meters high mountains surrounding Gulf of the South Atlantic, and in some dry valleys in the area. North of the center on the seafront is the Cerro Chenque, a 212 -meter-high, pyramid-shaped mountain, which determines the townscape. The highest mountain in the urban area - and the region - however, the 615 meter high Pico Salamanca, located about 20 km north of the center.
The area belongs to the Patagonian steppe, which in this region, unlike in the rest of the region is heavily rutted, however, with numerous narrow valleys, where sometimes a little farming is done. The climate is generally mild and temperate, but windy: in summer there are an average of 19 ° C, in winter 7 ° C. For turbulent times often wind speeds up to 250 km / h measured, which places special demands on the erection of tall buildings. Thus the city is also known as the "Capital of the Wind" by the locals. With 300 millimeters, there is something more rainfall than on the Patagonian meseta, rain falls mainly during the winter months, while summer is very sunny.
History
Before the arrival of European immigrants, the settlement area of the region was the indigenous tehuelche ( proper name Aonikenk ) and Mapuche, who still live in the area and their culture ( weaving, silversmithing, music).
The city of Comodoro Rivadavia was founded in 1901 as a center for sheep farming area Zentralpatagoniens. However, when in 1907 in search of drinking water oil was discovered, the city began to grow rapidly. Oil production has led to the establishment of numerous industries and internal migration, especially from the north- western Argentina, but also from the neighboring country of Chile so that Comodoro Rivadavia today has a very mixed population.
Between 1944 and 1955, Comodoro Rivadavia capital of the so-called Zona Militar de Comodoro Rivadavia, an administrative unit with the provinces of comparable status, which had been founded with the aim to protect the oil production of a possible foreign invasion during the Second World War and of the had been provinces of Chubut and Santa Cruz split.
Attractions
The town is architecturally modern and has to have no more buildings worth seeing. However, of interest are the museums: the Museo del Petroleo in General Mosconi neighborhood is one of the most important in the world that deal with this topic. In addition, there is the Museo Regional Patagónico, which deals with various aspects such as geography and history of Patagonia, the Museo Paleontológico with fossils from the region and the Museo de Bellas Artes with art works by regional and national artists.
Education and Culture
Comodoro Rivadavia is the headquarters of the main University of Patagonia, the Universidad Nacional de la Patagonia San Juan Bosco, the more branches maintains in cities such as Trelew, Puerto Madryn and Esquel. The university is one of the centers of cultural activity of the city, another important institution is the largest theater in Teatro Centro. A number of small independent cultural centers complete the quite active cultural scene. The nightlife is also active, four large discotheques and some music bars are partially open the whole week and often offer live music.
Economy
Comodoro Rivadavia is now one of the most important centers of Argentina's oil production and has several industries that process the crude oil. In addition, it is the commercial capital of the entire south of Patagonia. During the boom, wind energy production is in the area; on the hills around the city is the largest wind farm in South America, which produces 15 percent of the electricity consumed in Comodoro electrical energy.
Overall, Comodoro Rivadavia is a rich city in innerargentinischen comparison, the wages are above the average, the poverty rate of agglomeration Comodoro Rivadavia - Rada Tilly significantly less. This is due largely to a boom in the local oil industry because of the high oil prices in the mid- 2000s. Also because of the relatively high cost of renting in the center, however, numerous small slums have formed at the edge of the town.
Sports
The main football club in the city is CAI Comodoro Rivadavia, which plays the only club from Patagonia at all in the second Argentine League (Nacional B). Comodoro Rivadavia also has two racetracks - in car racing has a long tradition - and a racecourse.
Tourism
South of the city is located in a very attractive bay of the cosmopolitan beach town Rada Tilly, the southernmost fully equipped seaside resort in the world. He is both a tourist destination as well as a dormitory town of Comodoro Rivadavia; its permanent population is growing very rapidly and was 2010 9.100 inhabitants.
Sons and daughters of the town
- Mario Alberto Santana, Argentine national football team
- Pablo Cesar Barrientos, Argentine footballer
- Rodrigo Gardella, Argentine intellectuals and writers
- Oscar Payaguala, singer / songwriter, folk singer
- Roque de Pedro, composer, pianist, musicologist and educator -
- Sixto Raimundo Peralta salso, Argentine footballer
- Erardo Cristoforo Rautenberg, Attorney General of the State of Brandenburg
Twinning
- Coyhaique, Chile