Zapala is a city and touristic destination in the Patagonian province of

Neuquén Neuquén (; ) is the capital city of the Argentine province of Neuquén and of the Confluencia Department, located in the east of the province. It occupies a strip of land west of the confluence of the Limay and Neuquén rivers which form t ...

, Argentina with about 32,000 inhabitants according to the . The city is located at the geographic center of the province at the confluence of national and provincial roads, on a route to the

Andes The Andes ( ), Andes Mountains or Andean Mountain Range (; ) are the List of longest mountain chains on Earth, longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range ...

and

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

. The city hosts a Loma Negra cement plant. Zapala is near the Laguna Blanca National Park and a ski resort and is situated in a steppe region, known as Pehuenia, which has small Araucaria forests and includes the nearby town of Aluminé and other towns.

History

Zapala was founded on 12 July 1913, and turned into a municipality in 1948. It was (and still is) located around a railway station built by the Buenos Aires Great Southern Railway, a British-owned company taken over by the Ferrocarril General Roca after railway nationalisation in 1948 and, since railway privatisation in 1993, in the hands of Ferrosur Roca. The city is split in two by the railways; on one side there is a commercial district with old buildings, and on the other a modern residential area. The station is a terminus at the end of the line from

Bahía Blanca Bahía Blanca (; English: ''White Bay''), colloquially referred to by its own local inhabitants as simply Bahía, is a city in the Buenos Aires Province, Buenos Aires province of Argentina, centered on the northwestern end of the eponymous Blanc ...

and

which was meant to continue across the Andes mountains into Chile. Construction was abandoned in the 1920s although resumption of construction was proposed in 2006. In 1918 Zapala was the starting point of the first flight by an airplane across the

, when Luis Candelaria flew to Cunco, Chile, on April 13. It is served by Zapala Airport.

Geography

Climate

The climate of Zapala is cold semi-arid (''BSk'', according tho 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 ...

), bordering on a cool-summer

Mediterranean climate A Mediterranean climate ( ), also called a dry summer climate, described by Köppen and Trewartha as ''Cs'', is a temperate climate type that occurs in the lower mid-latitudes (normally 30 to 44 north and south latitude). Such climates typic ...

(''Csb''). Winters are cold. The climate is also very windy during most of the year; Winds of have been registered. It may also snow an average of every year. It is very dry, with about of rain yearly. Summers can have high temperatures, up to , with sunny and stable days and cool nights.

References

External links

* {{Ar-mi-muni, NEU049
Patagonia.com.ar
- Portal of the Argentine Patagonia. Populated places in Neuquén Province Populated places established in 1913 1913 establishments in Argentina Cities in Argentina

History

Geography

Climate

See also

References

External links