Sarmiento is a town 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 Chubut,

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 ...

. It has about 14,289 inhabitants as per the , and is the head town of the department of the same name. It is located on the so-called Central Corridor of Patagonia, in a fertile valley amidst an otherwise arid region, 140 km west from Comodoro Rivadavia, in the south of Chubut. It sits between two lakes, Lake Musters and Lake Colhue Huapi. Notable attractions are the Petrified Forest and caves with Aborigine hand paintings.

History

Sarmiento was born as a colony of immigrants, mainly from

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

(see y Wladfa). In the early 1900s it also experienced an influx of immigrants from

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

. In 1900, Argentine authority was locally established when the Swedish former sailor Oscar Lundqwist, who had been appointed police commissioner to Sarmiento, set up the first "comisaría" ever in Sarmiento. It was situated next to "Las Tres Casas" where the Jones families from Wales and the Briton Pryce lived. Boers_colonia_sarmeinto

In 1903, 600

Afrikaner Afrikaners () are a Southern African ethnic group descended from predominantly Dutch settlers who first arrived at the Cape of Good Hope in 1652.Entry: Cape Colony. ''Encyclopædia Britannica Volume 4 Part 2: Brain to Casting''. Encyclopæd ...

families arrived in Argentina following the loss of the

Second Boer War The Second Boer War (, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, Transvaal War, Anglo–Boer War, or South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer republics (the South African Republic and ...

. They settled in the region as it had access to water unlike the coastal city of Comodoro Rivadavia where they first settled. The descendants of these colonists make up a large portion of the population of Sarmiento and still speak

Afrikaans Afrikaans is a West Germanic languages, West Germanic language spoken in South Africa, Namibia and to a lesser extent Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe and also Argentina where there is a group in Sarmiento, Chubut, Sarmiento that speaks the Pat ...

and attend the

Nederduitse Gereformeerde Kerk The Dutch Reformed Church (, abbreviated NGK) is a Reformed Christian denomination in South Africa. It also has a presence in neighbouring countries, such as Namibia, Eswatini, and parts of Botswana, Zimbabwe and Zambia.

("Dutch Reformed Church") to this day. As recently as the 1960s Afrikaans was the most commonly spoken language however this has changed as the town's Afrikaans population has become more assimilated into Argentinian culture and society. In 2016, an important fossil dinosaur was discovered near the town. It is named '' Sarmientosaurus musacchio'' in honor of the town and of the late Dr. Eduardo Musacchio, a paleontologist and professor at the National University of Patagonia San Juan Bosco.

Climate

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 ...

, Sarmiento features a

cold desert climate The desert climate or arid climate (in the Köppen climate classification ''BWh'' and ''BWk'') is a dry climate sub-type in which there is a severe excess of evaporation over precipitation. The typically bald, rocky, or sandy surfaces in desert ...

(

: ''BWk''), with warm summers and cool winters. The coldest temperature at low elevation ever recorded in South America, , was recorded in Sarmiento on June 1, 1907. Precipitation is low, averaging only per year.

Notes

References

* {{Ar-mi-muni, CHU039
Colonia Sarmiento
— Official website (includes tourist information in English). Populated places in Chubut Province Populated places established in 1897 Cities in Argentina

History

Climate

See also

Notes

References