Río Gallegos (Local ) is the capital and largest settlement of the

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 g ...

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

of Santa Cruz in

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest ...

. Located in the department of Güer Aike, it has a population of about 98,000, according to the , a 24% increase from the 79,000 in the . The city bears the name of the Gallegos River, and sits on its

estuary An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime environm ...

south from the Argentinian federal capital

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 ...

. Established on 19 December 1885 to increase Argentine power over southern Patagonia, Río Gallegos became the capital of the then Territory of Santa Cruz in 1888, retaining its status when the territory became a province in 1957. Néstor Kirchner, later

President of Argentina The president of Argentina ( es, Presidente de Argentina), officially known as the president of the Argentine Nation ( es, Presidente de la Nación Argentina), is both head of state and head of government of Argentina. Under the national cons ...

, served as the city's mayor from 1987 to 1991 and is interred in a

mausoleum A mausoleum is an external free-standing building constructed as a monument enclosing the interment space or burial chamber of a deceased person or people. A mausoleum without the person's remains is called a cenotaph. A mausoleum may be cons ...

in the city's cemetery.

History

In 1525 Spanish explorer García Jofre de Loaísa became the first European to reach the Gallegos River, and named it ''Río San Idelfonso''. Simón de Alcazaba y Sotomayor's 1535 expedition was the first to name the river ''"Río Gallegos"''. The area was not settled by Europeans until much later, with the settlement established 19 December 1885, when the Argentine government wished to better express its sovereignty over southern

– a naval base was created which increased the development of the town. Between 1912 and 1920, the government encouraged settlers from the

Falkland Islands The Falkland Islands (; es, Islas Malvinas, link=no ) is an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean on the Patagonian Shelf. The principal islands are about east of South America's southern Patagonian coast and about from Cape Dubouze ...

and southern

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 eas ...

with preferential farming conditions. Some 3,000 arrived and boosted the town. As

sheep Sheep or domestic sheep (''Ovis aries'') are domesticated, ruminant mammals typically kept as livestock. Although the term ''sheep'' can apply to other species in the genus '' Ovis'', in everyday usage it almost always refers to domesticate ...

-farming increased, Río Gallegos became the principal port for exporting sheep and their products. The Pioneers Museum is a preserved old Patagonian house exhibiting the life of the early settlers. Governor Ramón Lista decided to move the Territorial Capital from

Puerto Santa Cruz Puerto Santa Cruz is a town and municipality in Santa Cruz Province in southern Argentina.Ministerio del Interior
I ...

to Río Gallegos in 1888; official ratification of this decision came on 19 May 1904. The Cathedral of Our Lady of Luján was consecrated in 1900. The Territory of Santa Cruz was declared a

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

in 1957, with Mario Cástulo Paradelo as its first Governor. In the 1982

Falklands War The Falklands War ( es, link=no, Guerra de las Malvinas) was a ten-week undeclared war between Argentina and the United Kingdom in 1982 over two British dependent territories in the South Atlantic: the Falkland Islands and its territorial ...

, the city airport was base of Argentine Air Force Mirage III interceptors and

A-4 Skyhawk The Douglas A-4 Skyhawk is a single-seat subsonic carrier-capable light attack aircraft developed for the United States Navy and United States Marine Corps in the early 1950s. The delta-winged, single turbojet engined Skyhawk was designed ...

s strike aircraft. Néstor Kirchner, President of Argentina from 2003 to 2007, was mayor of Río Gallegos between 1987 and 1991. His mausoleum is in the city and a street bears his name. Today, Río Gallegos is an important city of the Argentine far south, with military bases and an

international airport An international airport is an airport with customs and border control facilities enabling passengers to travel between countries around the world. International airports are usually larger than domestic airports and they must feature longer r ...

. Flights between Chile and Mount Pleasant Airport on the Falkland Islands stop at Río Gallegos once a month.

Wildlife

Birds in the area include the

thrush ''The Man from U.N.C.L.E.'' is an American spy fiction television series produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Television and first broadcast on NBC. The series follows secret agents, played by Robert Vaughn and David McCallum, who work for a secret ...

, rhea, ''chingolo'' (

rufous-collared sparrow The rufous-collared sparrow or Andean sparrow (''Zonotrichia capensis'') is an American sparrow found in a wide range of habitats, often near humans, from the extreme south-east of Mexico to Tierra del Fuego, and the island of Hispaniola (split ...

), Chilean flamingo, upland goose and black-necked swan. Grey foxes are predators on the sheep ranched in the city. Other animals found in the area include the guanaco. On the outskirts of Rio Gallegos there is a wide variety of native plants, including calafates, anartrofilos,

oxalis ''Oxalis'' ( (American English) or (British English)) is a large genus of flowering plants in the wood-sorrel family Oxalidaceae, comprising over 550 species. The genus occurs throughout most of the world, except for the polar areas; species d ...

, violets and

pansies The garden pansy (''Viola'' × ''wittrockiana'') is a type of large-flowered hybrid plant cultivated as a garden flower. It is derived by hybridization from several species in the section ''Melanium'' ("the pansies") of the genus ''Viola'', p ...

, paper flowers, calceolarias, hipoqueris, leucerias, perezias,

senecio ''Senecio'' is a genus of flowering plants in the daisy family (Asteraceae) that includes ragworts and groundsels. Variously circumscribed taxonomically, the genus ''Senecio'' is one of the largest genera of flowering plants. Description Mor ...

s, mata arrears, senecio miser, amancay, lilies, lily of the field.

Sport

Rio Gallegos' main association football club is Boca Rio Gallegos of the

Torneo Argentino B Torneo Argentino B was one of two leagues that form the fourth level of the Argentine football league system, made up of 100+ teams playing within eight regional zones across Argentina. The other league at level four wasand still isthe Primera C ...

, the fourth tier of Argentine football. Founded 12 October 1945 by meat factory workers, the side share their crest and kit with

Boca Juniors Club Atlético Boca Juniors () is an Argentine sports club headquartered in La Boca, a neighbourhood of Buenos Aires. The club is mostly known for its professional football team which, since its promotion in 1913, has always played in th ...

of Buenos Aires, Argentina's most successful club, and have played in the national league system since 1988. Rio Gallegos' oldest

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

club are

Boxing Club Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing boxing glove, protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a ...

founded August 1920 and Hispano Americano founded 17 December 1925 .

Images

Climate

Rio Gallegos has a

cold 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 ...

(''BSk'', under 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, nota ...

). The climate is dry, windy and cold, with occasional snow during the winter. It is one of the windiest cities on earth, with winds above being commonplace, and over not exceptional. Winter temperatures average during the day and at night, but have dropped as low as . Summers are extremely windy and cloudy, with days reaching a cool and nights dropping to a relatively cold . Cold weather can occur at any time, and despite the very low precipitation, light drizzle and cloudy days are quite common, resulting in only 1441 hours of bright sunshine or 32.2% of possible sunshine. The highest temperature recorded was on February 5, 2019 while the record low is on July 12, 1982.

References