San Rafael is a city in the southern region of the

Mendoza Province Mendoza, officially Province of Mendoza, is a province of Argentina, in the western central part of the country in the Cuyo region. It borders San Juan to the north, La Pampa and Neuquén to the south, San Luis to the east, and the republic o ...

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 ...

. With more than 118,000 inhabitants (), it is the largest city in and the seat of San Rafael Department. The city is located 240 km from the provincial capital and 990 km from the federal capital. Natural attractions in the area include the

Diamante River The Diamante River is a river in the Argentine province of Mendoza. It is born from glaciers on the Maipo, a volcano in the Andes range in the Argentine–Chilean border, and flows east until emptying in the Desaguadero River. Its drainage ...

, which flows through the city, the rapids-strewn

Atuel River The Atuel River is a river located mainly in the south of the Argentine province of Mendoza, with its last part in La Pampa. It is a tributary of the Desaguadero River. The Atuel is the longest river in Mendoza. It is born in the Andes range, ...

just south and Lake Los Reyunos, 20 km (12 mi) west of San Rafael.

History

Spanish expeditions led by Francisco de Villagra from what today is

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 ...

first surveyed the area in 1551 and, finding a well-established agricultural

Coquimbo Coquimbo is a port city, commune and capital of the Elqui Province, located on the Pan-American Highway, in the Coquimbo Region of Chile. Coquimbo is situated in a valley south of La Serena, with which it forms Greater La Serena with more than ...

and

Diaguita The Diaguita people are a group of South American indigenous people native to the Chilean Norte Chico and the Argentine Northwest. Western or Chilean Diaguitas lived mainly in the Transverse Valleys which incised in a semi-arid environment. E ...

cultures, they rapidly subdued the existing peoples and expropriated the land. Displaced

Pehuenche Pehuenche (or ''Pewenche'', people of the "pehuen" or "pewen" in Mapudungun) are an indigenous people of South America. They live in the Andes, primarily in present-day south central Chile and adjacent Argentina. Their name derives from their de ...

s revolted, however, and repeated attacks led to an 1804 treaty signed by Viceroy Rafael de Sobremonte whereby the Pehuenches ceded land to colonial authorities. The construction of Fort San Rafael del Diamante and its completion on 2 April 1805 marked the formal establishment of San Rafael. San Rafael remained relatively isolated from the rest of the country, long after independence in 1816. The area's agricultural potential and strategic location were eventually brought to the federal government's attention. In 1871, civil engineer Julio Balloffet was commissioned to oversee the development of San Rafael. His efforts were centered around needed public works, among which were civic buildings, schools, plazas, a hospital, cathedral and irrigation works. The irrigation canals were accompanied by an agricultural laboratory and a panel of agronomists and, by 1900, the San Rafael area fruit orchards had attracted a sizable contingent of Italian and French immigrants. This sudden prosperity led to San Rafael's formal designation as department seat in 1903 and, that November, the expanding

railways Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a prep ...

reach the city. The railways led to the local development of

food processing Food processing is the transformation of agricultural products into food, or of one form of food into other forms. Food processing includes many forms of processing foods, from grinding grain to make raw flour to home cooking to complex in ...

industries, as well as to the town's designation as a "city" in 1922. The torrential Atuel and

s facilitated the construction of a number of important hydroelectric dams in the area, bringing further prominence to San Rafael as an economic and tourist hub within southern Mendoza Province. The first, the Nihuiles Hydroelectric Dam, was inaugurated in 1953 on the Atuel River. The facility, which generates around 1000 MWh annually (today nearly 1% of the entire nation's), also resulted in the creation of a 9000 hectare (35 mi²) reservoir, bringing with it growing recreational tourism into the area. A similarly important work,

Los Reyunos Dam The Los Reyunos Dam is an embankment dam on the Diamante River, in central Mendoza Province, Argentina, some twenty-two miles (thirty-five kilometers) from the city of San Rafael. The dam, built of stone and compacted clay to minimize execution ...

, was built on the Diamante River, south of San Rafael, and inaugurated in 1984www.losandes.com.ar
Los Andes The city, since 1968, has also hosted auto racing competitions at its La Paredes Autodrome, including numerous ones for Argentina's prestigious

TC 2000 The TC2000 (''Turismo Competición 2000'', formerly ''Súper TC2000'') is a touring car racing series held in Argentina since 1979. Rules Prior to 2012, engines of up to were allowed, with only limited modifications from standard engines. ...

touring car racing Touring car racing is a motorsport road racing competition with heavily modified road-going cars. It has both similarities to and significant differences from stock car racing, which is popular in the United States. While the cars do not mov ...

competitions.

Distances to other parts of the country

*Federal Capital 990 km *Cordoba (Capital) 705 km *Neuquén (Capital) 605 km *Mar del Plata (Buenos Aires) 1205 km *Mendoza (Capital) 236 km *Rosario (Santa Fe) 860 km *San Luis (Capital) 273 km *Tucumán (Capital) 1290 km *Bariloche (Rio Negro) 1060 km

Climate

Gallery

File:San Rafael de noche..jpg, San Rafael's Downtown File:San Rafael's Cathedral.jpg, San Rafael's Cathedral File:Rio En Valle Grande San Rafael.jpg, Atuel's River on Valle Grande File:Plaza San Martin 2012.jpg, Plaza San Martin

References

External links