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

Patagonia Patagonia () is a geographical region that includes parts of Argentina and Chile at the southern end of South America. The region includes the southern section of the Andes mountain chain with lakes, fjords, temperate rainforests, and glaciers ...

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 Santa Cruz in

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

. 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 enviro ...

south from the Argentine federal capital

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

. 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 Néstor Carlos Kirchner Ostoić (; 25 February 195027 October 2010) was an Argentine lawyer and politician who served as the president of Argentina from 2003 to 2007. A member of the Justicialist Party, he previously served as Governor of Sa ...

, later

President of Argentina The president of Argentina, officially known as the president of the Argentine Nation, is both head of state and head of government of Argentina. Under Constitution of Argentina, the national constitution, the president is also the Head of go ...

, 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 burial chamber of a deceased person or people. A mausoleum without the person's remains is called a cenotaph. A mausoleum may be considered a type o ...

in the city's cemetery.

History

In 1525 Spanish explorer

García Jofre de Loaísa García or Garcia may refer to: People * García (surname) * Kings of Pamplona/Navarre ** García Íñiguez of Pamplona, king of Pamplona 851/2–882 ** García Sánchez I of Pamplona, king of Pamplona 931–970 ** García Sánchez II of Pam ...

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 (; ), commonly referred to as The Falklands, 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 from Cape Dub ...

and southern

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

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

sheep Sheep (: sheep) or domestic sheep (''Ovis aries'') are a domesticated, ruminant mammal 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 d ...

-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 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 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 ...

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

Falklands War The Falklands War () was a ten-week undeclared war between Argentina and the United Kingdom in 1982 over two British Overseas Territories, British dependent territories in the South Atlantic: the Falkland Islands and Falkland Islands Dependenci ...

, the city airport was base of

Argentine Air Force The Argentine Air Force (, or simply ''FAA'') is the air force of Argentina and one of three branches of the Armed Forces of the Argentine Republic. In 2018, it had 13,837 military and 6,900 civilian personnel. FAA commander in chief is Brigadie ...

Mirage III interceptors and A-4 Skyhawks strike aircraft.

, 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. International airports are usually larger than domestic airports, and feature longer runways and have faciliti ...

. 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, 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 The Chilean flamingo (''Phoenicopterus chilensis'') is a species of large flamingo at a height of closely related to the American flamingo and the greater flamingo, with which it was previously considered a subspecies before being classified ...

, 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 The guanaco ( ; ''Lama guanicoe'') is a camelid native to South America, closely related to the llama. Guanacos are one of two wild South American camelids; the other species is the vicuña, which lives at higher elevations. Etymology The gua ...

. On the outskirts of Rio Gallegos there is a wide variety of native plants, including calafates, anartrofilos, oxalis, violets and pansies, 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 Mo ...

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 professional sports club based in La Boca, a neighbourhood of Buenos Aires. The club is best known for its men's professional Association football, football team which, since its promotion in 1913 ...

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 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

club are Boxing Club founded August 1920 and Hispano Americano founded 17 December 1925 .

Climate

Rio Gallegos has a cold steppe climate (''BSk'', under the

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...

). 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. The highest temperature recorded was on February 5, 2019 while the record low is on July 12, 1982.

Gallery

References