Villa Mercedes is a city in the

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

of San Luis, Argentina. It lies on the center-east of the province, on the left-hand banks of the Quinto River, 32 km from the border with Córdoba, on National Route 148, and near the intersection of National Routes 8 and 7. National Route 7 links the city to the provincial capital San Luis, 90 km to the north-west. It had 96,781 inhabitants during the . The city was founded by Governor Justo Daract on or around December 1, 1856, as ''Fortín Constitucional'', a mixed civilian-military

fort A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...

, to protect the territory against attacks by the

Ranquel The Ranquel or Rankülche are an indigenous tribe from the northern part of La Pampa Province, Argentina, in South America.Tapia, Alicia Haydée"Archaeological Perspectives on the Ranquel Chiefdoms in the North of the Dry Pampas, in the Eighteent ...

aboriginal tribes. The original name was changed in 1861 to Villa Mercedes by decision of the residents, who had adopted the Virgin of Mercy (''Virgen de las Mercedes'') as their patron. Villa Mercedes grew quickly after a railway line from

Villa María A villa is a type of house that was originally an ancient Roman upper class country house. Since its origins in the Roman villa, the idea and function of a villa have evolved considerably. After the fall of the Roman Republic, villas became sm ...

on the Central Argentine line between

Rosario Rosario () is the largest city in the central provinces of Argentina, Argentine province of Santa Fe Province, Santa Fe. The city is located northwest of Buenos Aires, on the west bank of the Paraná River. Rosario is the third-most populous ci ...

and Córdoba, reached the town in 1875. Built by the State-owned company

Ferrocarril Andino The Andean Railway (native name: Ferrocarril Andino) was a state-owned railway company in Argentina which, towards the end of the 19th century, built and operated a line connecting Villa María in Córdoba Province with the cities of Mendoza, ...

, the line was extended to San Juan in 1885 via San Luis and Mendoza. The line from Villa Mercedes to Mendoza would become the middle section of the route from

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

and was bought by the

Argentine Great Western Railway The Argentine Great Western Railway (AGWR) (in Spanish: Ferrocarril Gran Oeste Argentino) was a British-owned railway company, founded in 1887, that operated a broad gauge, , railway network in the Argentine provinces of San Luis, San Juan an ...

in 1887 and later became part of the

Buenos Aires and Pacific Railway The Buenos Aires and Pacific Railway (BA&P) (in Spanish: Ferrocarril Buenos Aires al Pacífico) was one of the ''Big Four'' broad gauge, , British-owned companies that built and operated railway networks in Argentina. The original concession wa ...

network. Villa Mercedes was officially declared a city in 1896. It is now the second largest in San Luis, and an industrial and educational center, hosting a branch of the

National University of San Luis The National University of San Luis (in Spanish, ''Universidad Nacional de San Luis'', UNSL) is a public university in Argentina, with its seat in the city of San Luis, capital of the province of the same name, in the Cuyo region. It was created ...

. It is served by

Villa Reynolds Airport Villa Reynolds Airport ( es, link=no, Aeropuerto de Villa Reynolds) is a joint military/general aviation airport serving Villa Mercedes, a city in the San Luis Province of Argentina. It is southeast of Villa Mercedes, in Villa Reynolds, a vill ...

Climate

Villa Mercedes has a dry winter

humid subtropical climate A humid subtropical climate is a zone of climate characterized by hot and humid summers, and cool to mild winters. These climates normally lie on the southeast side of all continents (except Antarctica), generally between latitudes 25° and 40° ...

(

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (born 1951), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author and ...

''Cwa''), typical from the geographic center of Argentina. Summer is warm to hot with frequent thunderstorms, whereas winter is dry and prone to heavy frosts. Snowfall is unusual but still more common than in Eastern Argentina, and occasionally it can stay on ground during a couple of days, as it happened during the July 2007 Argentine winter storm, when temperature hit -16.8 °C, the lowest on record for the city.

References

H.R.Stones, ''British Railways in Argentina 1860-1948'', P.E.Waters & Associates, Bromley, Kent, England, 1993. * *
Municipality of Villa Mercedes
(official website). {{Authority control Populated places in San Luis Province Populated places established in 1856 Cities in Argentina