Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
noise common to other South American cities,
making it all the more delightful.
Just like the wines the province is famous for,
Mendoza is a city to be savored. Not monumen-
tal in proportion, nor overwhelmingly historic,
you can use Mendoza as home base for trips
into the countryside and nearby ski resorts or
simply enjoy the city on its own terms.
History
As part of a campaign to create a line of settle-
ments linking Buenos Aires on the Atlantic
with Santiago de Chile on the Pacific,
Don
Pedro del Castillo
crossed into Argentina
from Chile and founded the city of Mendoza on
March 2, 1561, naming it for the then-governor
of Chile, Don Garcia Hurtado de Mendoza. For
reasons unknown, shortly thereafter the city
was moved to another location, only to be
refounded in 1562 by
Don Juan Jufré
, who
would christen her “La Resurrección.” Chile
would rule the region until the formation of the
Viceroyalty of the Rio de la Plata in 1776.
The first 250 years of Mendoza's history were
fairly uneventful. Most settlers were from
Chile, and trade with that country was key to
the region's economic development. Mendoza's
location just west of the
Uspallata Pass
(or the
Camino de los Andes
as it is more commonly
called), through which all trade with Chile
passed, made the city a natural link for com-
merce between the neighboring countries. Mod-
ifying and improving the irrigation methods
