Allen is a city in the

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''Roman province, provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire ...

of Río Negro, Argentina. It has 26,083 inhabitants as per the . It is located on the left-hand (northern) side of the Alto Valle of the Río Negro, near its beginning in the confluence of the

Neuquén Neuquén (; arn, Nehuenken) is the capital city of the Argentine province of Neuquén and of the Confluencia Department, located in the east of the province. It occupies a strip of land west of the confluence of the Limay and Neuquén rivers w ...

and

Limay Limay, officially the Municipality of Limay ( tl, Bayan ng Limay), is a 1st class municipality in the province of Bataan, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 78,272 people. Limay is accessible via the Bataan Provin ...

rivers, about west of

General Roca A general officer is an officer of high rank in the armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colonel."general, adj. and n.". OED O ...

and east of

. Allen was founded on 25 May 1910 by Patricio Piñeiro Sorondo. Its name was an homage to

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

engineer Charles Allen, a local landowner and member of the

Gran Ferrocarril Sur The Buenos Aires Great Southern Railway (BAGS) ( es, Ferrocarril del Sud) was one of the ''Big Four'' broad gauge, , British-owned companies that built and operated railway networks in Argentina. The company was founded by Edward Lumb in 1862 ...

railway company, who managed the construction of the city's

train station A train station, railway station, railroad station or depot is a railway facility where trains stop to load or unload passengers, freight or both. It generally consists of at least one platform, one track and a station building providing suc ...

. The city is divided in half by a

canal Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface flow un ...

born in the

Ingeniero Ballester Dam The Ingeniero Ballester Dam is a dam on the Neuquén River, in the Argentine Patagonia. The top of the dam doubles as a road bridge. The dam is located near the town of Barda del Medio, province of Río Negro, downstream from the El Chañar D ...

that brings water for

irrigation Irrigation (also referred to as watering) is the practice of applying controlled amounts of water to land to help grow Crop, crops, Landscape plant, landscape plants, and Lawn, lawns. Irrigation has been a key aspect of agriculture for over 5,00 ...

from the Neuquén River. Its main traditional economic activity, which continues to be the most important, is the

fruit In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants that is formed from the ovary after flowering. Fruits are the means by which flowering plants (also known as angiosperms) disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in particu ...

industry. Allen is the National Capital of the

Pear Pears are fruits produced and consumed around the world, growing on a tree and harvested in the Northern Hemisphere in late summer into October. The pear tree and shrub are a species of genus ''Pyrus'' , in the family Rosaceae, bearing the p ...

, hosting an annual National Festival of the Pear, and the seat of the Río Negro Fruit Market.

References

* * Official Web Site
www.allen.gob.ar
* Patagonia.com
Allen - General information
* Patagonia Argentina

Populated places in Río Negro Province Populated places established in 1910 {{RíoNegroAR-geo-stub