Covunco Centro is a village and municipality in the

Zapala Department Zapala is a department located in the center of Neuquén Province, Argentina. Geography The Department limits with Confluencia Department at the East, Añelo Department at the northeast, Picún Leufú Department at southeast, Catán Lil Departmen ...

Neuquén Province Neuquén () is a Provinces of Argentina, province of Argentina, located in the west of the country, at the northern end of Patagonia. It borders Mendoza Province to the north, Rio Negro Province to the southeast, and Chile to the west. It also me ...

, in southwestern

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 is located at the crossroads of provincial routes 3 and 14, 1.5 km from the center of

Mariano Moreno Mariano Moreno (; September 23, 1778March 4, 1811) was an Argentine lawyer, journalist, and politician. He played a decisive role in the Primera Junta, the first national government of Argentina, created after the May Revolution. Moreno was bor ...

, of which it is a suburb, between both towns they have 2,660 inhabitants (Indec, 2010).

History

In 1879, the fourth division of the

Argentine Army The Argentine Army () is the Army, land force branch of the Armed Forces of the Argentine Republic and the senior military service of Argentina. Under the Argentine Constitution, the president of Argentina is the commander-in-chief of the Armed For ...

was based at the confluence of the Covunco stream with the

Neuquén river The Neuquén River () is the second most important river of the province of Neuquén in the Argentine Patagonia, after the Limay River. Rocks of the Neuquén Basin are fossiliferous, and the basin hosts what may become important fields of ...

in the ''paraje'' called Covunco Centro, formerly called Fortín Covunco. Before the construction of the town, the soldiers lived in tents. The town was the first permanent military settlement in Patagonia, which was built in 1937; Its streets are paved and the houses of the officers and non-commissioned officers are distinguished by tile and stone coverings. Engineers of

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

origin presided over the construction that included a power plant and irrigation canals for the town; The town of

had its origin in this settlement, since many of its first settlers were personnel who arrived for the construction of the barracks.

References

Populated places in Neuquén Province {{Neuquén-geo-stub