Choele Choel is the capital of the

department Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military *Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...

Avellaneda Avellaneda (, ) is a port city in the province of Buenos Aires, Argentina, and the seat of the Avellaneda Partido, whose population was 342,677 as per the . Avellaneda is located within the Greater Buenos Aires metropolitan area, and is connected ...

in the

Argentine Argentines (mistakenly translated Argentineans in the past; in Spanish (masculine) or (feminine)) are people identified with the country of Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Argentines, s ...

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, and the most important settlement within the ''Valle Medio'' ("Middle Valley") agricultural area of the Río Negro River in

Patagonia Patagonia () refers to a geographical region that encompasses the southern end of South America, governed by Argentina and Chile. The region comprises the southern section of the Andes Mountains with lakes, fjords, temperate rainforests, and gl ...

Overview

Choele Choel is located at the intersection of National Routes #22 and #250, around 1000 kilometres from

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

, 180 from

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 ...

, 193 from the

Las Grutas Las Grutas is a beach resort town located in the Argentine province of Río Negro, in the department of San Antonio, with a stable population of 8,000 inhabitants. It's located 15 kilometers south of San Antonio Oeste, and is visited by over ...

beach resort, and 460 from

Puerto Madryn Puerto Madryn (; cy, Porth Madryn), also known as ''Madryn'', is a city in the province of Chubut in Argentine Patagonia. It is the capital of the Viedma Department, and has about 93,995 inhabitants according to the last census in 2010. Puer ...

. It has a population of 10,642 (). Its long distance bus terminal is a common stop for buses going to both sea-side Patagonia (Puerto Madryn,

Río Gallegos Rio or Río is the Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, and Maltese word for "river". When spoken on its own, the word often means Rio de Janeiro, a major city in Brazil. Rio or Río may also refer to: Geography Brazil * Rio de Janeiro * Rio do Sul, a ...

Ushuaia Ushuaia ( , ) is the capital of Tierra del Fuego, Antártida e Islas del Atlántico Sur Province, Argentina. With a population of nearly 75,000 and a location below the 54th parallel south latitude, Ushuaia claims the title of world's southern ...

) and North-Andean Patagonia (

Bariloche San Carlos de Bariloche, usually known as Bariloche (), is a city in the province of Río Negro Province, Río Negro, Argentina, situated in the foothills of the Andes on the southern shores of Nahuel Huapi Lake. It is located within the Nahuel ...

, El Bolsón). During the 1990s, the airport used to serve regular flights to

, but currently serves only infrequent private charters.

History

Originally named ''

Nicolás Avellaneda Nicolás Remigio Aurelio Avellaneda Silva (3 October 1837 – 24 November 1885) was an Argentine politician and journalist, and President of Argentina from 1874 to 1880. Avellaneda's main projects while in office were banking and education ...

'', it was founded on July 9, 1879 by General

Conrado Villegas Conrado Villegas (February 3, 1841 – April 26, 1884) was an Argentine general in the 1880s during the presidency of Julio Argentino Roca. He is famous for his campaigns in Neuquén and Río Negro during the Conquest of the Desert to subdu ...

. After a flood, the inhabitants moved to a place known as ''Pampa de los Molinos''. They would stay there until March 18, 1882, when the settlement was moved to its current location. The town acquired special importance during the

Conquest of the Desert The Conquest of the Desert ( es, Conquista del desierto) was an Argentine military campaign directed mainly by General Julio Argentino Roca in the 1870s with the intention of establishing dominance over the Patagonian Desert, inhabited primari ...

, when the border between the white man and the Native Americans was pushed south the shore of the Río Negro River. In 1883, a post office was installed in the town.

Salesians , image = File:Stemma big.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms , abbreviation = SDB , formation = , founder = John Bosco , founding_location = Valdocco, Turin ...

arrived in 1890. The Provincial School #10 was created in 1904, and in 1917 the Library.

Irish Argentine Irish Argentines are Argentine citizens who are fully or partially of Irish descent. Irish emigrants from the Midlands, Wexford and many counties of Ireland arrived in Argentina mainly from 1830 to 1930, with the largest wave taking place in 1 ...

writer

Rodolfo Walsh Rodolfo Jorge Walsh (January 9, 1927 – March 25, 1977) was an Argentine writer and journalist of Irish Argentine, Irish descent, considered the founder of investigative journalism. He is most famous for his ''Carta Abierta de un Escritor a la Ju ...

was born in the town in 1927. In the 1900s a group of Welsh settlers who were considering leaving Argentina were granted land in Choele Choel. Choele Choel is home to a sizable

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

community; besides the European

immigrant Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not natives or where they do not possess citizenship in order to settle as permanent residents or naturalized citizens. Commuters, tourists, and ...

communities common to most of Argentina, the town received refugees from

Laos Laos (, ''Lāo'' )), officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic ( Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ, French: République démocratique populaire lao), is a socialist ...

in the 1970s.

Etymology

There are several versions regarding the meaning of ''Choele Choel'': it might be from the

Mapuche language Mapuche (, Mapuche & Spanish: , or Mapudungun; from ' 'land' and ' 'speak, speech') is an Araucanian language related to Huilliche spoken in south-central Chile and west-central Argentina by the Mapuche people (from ''mapu'' 'land' and ''che ...

, translated as "yellow flower race," or from the

Tehuelche language Tehuelche (''Aoniken, Inaquen, Gunua-Kena, Gununa-Kena'') is one of the Chonan languages of Patagonia. Its speakers were nomadic hunters who occupied territory in present-day Chile, north of Tierra del Fuego and south of the Mapuche people. It is ...

("small river rolling-stones"). Another version translates it as "bark scarecrows."

Climate

Choele Choel has a

semi-arid climate A semi-arid climate, semi-desert climate, or steppe climate is a dry climate sub-type. It is located on regions that receive precipitation below potential evapotranspiration, but not as low as a desert climate. There are different kinds of semi-ar ...

(

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 ...

''BSk''). ''(direct
Final Revised Paper
'' Winters are cool with a July mean of , with nighttime temperatures that frequently drop below and occasionally below on the coldest nights. Cloudy days are common during winter, averaging 7–9 days from June to August, although sunny days can occur as well. Spring and fall are transition seasons that feature warm days, averaging and cool nights, averaging although temperatures can reach as high as and low as during these seasons. Summers are hot, dry and sunny, with daytime temperatures averaging and cool nighttime temperatures, averaging . Precipitation is low, averaging which is fairly evenly distributed throughout the year.

Access

The points of access are through National Routes and . Choele Choel also has an authorised airport for small private planes and helicopter arrivals.

Activities

The most developed activities in this location are cattle breeding, agriculture, and manufacturing of raw materials such as tomatoes, apples, pears, strawberries, etc. into sauces and jellies.

References

{{reflist Populated places in Río Negro Province Populated places established in 1879