Allen is a city in the

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

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 (; ) 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 which form t ...

and Limay rivers, about west of General Roca 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. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

engineer Charles Allen, a local landowner and member of the Gran Ferrocarril Sur railway company, who managed the construction of the city's

train station A train station, railroad station, or railway station 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 ...

born in the Ingeniero Ballester Dam that brings water for

irrigation Irrigation (also referred to as watering of plants) is the practice of applying controlled amounts of water to land to help grow crops, landscape plants, and lawns. Irrigation has been a key aspect of agriculture for over 5,000 years and has bee ...

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 (angiosperms) that is formed from the ovary after flowering. Fruits are the means by which angiosperms disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in particular have long propaga ...

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 late summer into mid-autumn. The pear tree and shrub are a species of genus ''Pyrus'' , in the Family (biology), family Rosaceae, bearing the Pome, po ...

, 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