Zapala is a city and touristic destination in the Patagonian province of Neuquén, Argentina with about 32,000 inhabitants according to the . The city is located at the geographic center of the province at the confluence of national and provincial roads, on a route to the

Andes The Andes, Andes Mountains or Andean Mountains (; ) are the longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range is long, wide (widest between 18°S – 20°S ...

and

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

. The city hosts a

Loma Negra Loma Negra Companía Industrial Argentina S.A. is an Argentine manufacturer and the country's leading maker of cement, concrete, and lime. The company, established by businessman Alfredo Fortabat, also founded its own sports club, C.S.yD. Loma N ...

cement plant. Zapala is near the

Laguna Blanca National Park Laguna Blanca National Park ( es, Parque Nacional Laguna Blanca) is a National Park in the west of the , close to the town of Zapala. The park around the lagoon was created in 1940 to protect the lagoon and particularly the population of black-nec ...

and a

ski A ski is a narrow strip of semi-rigid material worn underfoot to glide over snow. Substantially longer than wide and characteristically employed in pairs, skis are attached to ski boots with ski bindings, with either a free, lockable, or partial ...

resort and is situated in a

steppe In physical geography, a steppe () is an ecoregion characterized by grassland plains without trees apart from those near rivers and lakes. Steppe biomes may include: * the montane grasslands and shrublands biome * the temperate grasslands, ...

region, known as Pehuenia, which has small

Araucaria ''Araucaria'' (; original pronunciation: .ɾawˈka. ɾja is a genus of evergreen Conifer, coniferous trees in the family Araucariaceae. There are 20 extant taxon, extant species in New Caledonia (where 14 species are endemism, ende ...

forests and includes the nearby town of Aluminé and other towns.

History

Zapala was founded on 12 July 1913, and turned into a municipality in 1948. It was (and still is) located around a railway station built by the

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

, a British-owned company taken over by the Ferrocarril General Roca after railway nationalisation in 1948 and, since railway privatisation in 1993, in the hands of

Ferrosur Roca Ferrosur Roca S.A. (FR) is a private company which operates freight services over part of the broad gauge that belongs to General Roca Railway. Some of the products transported by Ferrosur Roca include salt, clincker, plaster, cement, lime, ...

. The city is split in two by the railways; on one side there is a commercial district with old buildings, and on the other a modern residential area. The station is a terminus at the end of the line from

Bahía Blanca Bahía Blanca (; English: White Bay) is a city in the southwest of the provinces of Argentina, province of Buenos Aires Province, Buenos Aires, Argentina, by the Atlantic Ocean, and is the seat of government of the Bahía Blanca Partido. It had 3 ...

and Neuquén which was meant to continue across the Andes mountains into Chile. Construction was abandoned in the 1920s although resumption of construction was proposed in

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

. In 1918 Zapala was the starting point of the first flight by an airplane across the

, when

Luis Candelaria Luis Candelaria (29 October 1892 - 23 December 1963), was an Argentine Army officer and military aviator who was the first to cross the Andes by aeroplane, in April 1918. First crossing of the Andes by aeroplane Though the Andes have been cro ...

flew to Cunco, Chile, on April 13. It is served by Zapala Airport.

Geography

Climate

The climate of Zapala is cold semi-arid (''BSk'', according tho the

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...

), bordering on a cool-summer

Mediterranean climate A Mediterranean climate (also called a dry summer temperate climate ''Cs'') is a temperate climate sub-type, generally characterized by warm, dry summers and mild, fairly wet winters; these weather conditions are typically experienced in the ...

(''Csb''). Winters are cold. The climate is also very windy during most of the year; Winds of have been registered. It may also snow an average of every year. It is very dry, with about of rain yearly. Summers can have high temperatures, up to , with sunny and stable days and cool nights.

References

External links

* {{Ar-mi-muni, NEU049
Patagonia.com.ar
- Portal of the Argentine Patagonia. Populated places in Neuquén Province Populated places established in 1913 1913 establishments in Argentina

History

Geography

Climate

See also

References

External links