Negro, Río

Río Negro, stream at the southern edge of the Pampa, created by the confluence of the Limay and Neuquén rivers flowing out of the Argentine Andes. After a 400-mile course, the Río Negro empties into the Atlantic Ocean north of Viedma. Its flow is kept steady and regular by winter rains and by snowmelt in the spring. Several hydroelectric plants have been constructed along the river, and since 1908 numerous regulating channels have increased the area of the Río Negro valley under cultivation to include 232,500 acres of fruit orchards. Export-quality apples, pears, peaches, and almonds are grown in the valley. Río Negro is the northern boundary of Argentine Patagonia and constitutes the main artery of the Río Negro Province. Among its major population centers are the city of Neuquén and the towns of Cipolletti, General Sosa, General Conesa, and Viedma.

See alsoArgentina, Geographyxml .

BIBLIOGRAPHY

César A. Vapnarsky, La formación de un area metropolitana en la Patagonia: Población y asentamiento en el Alto Valle del Río Negro (Buenos Aires, 1987).

Additional Bibliography

Koon, Ricardo. Pioneros judíos en el desierto: Neuquén y Río Negro, 1879–1939: investigación histórica. Argentina: R. Koon, 2000.

Maida, Esther L. Inmigrantes en el Alto Valle del Río Negro. General Roca, Río Negro, Patagonia, Argentina: PubliFadecs, 2001.

Rafart, Gabriel, and Enrique Masés. El peronismo desde los territorios a la nación: Su historia en Neuquén y Río Negro (1943–1958). Neuquén, Argentina: Editorial de la Universidad Nacional del Comahue, 2003.

                                        CÉsar N. Caviedes