MENDOZA, a city of Argentina, capital of Mendoza prov ince, 632 m. by rail W.N.W. of Buenos Aires. Pop. (193o est.), 76,780. It stands on a plain near the foot of a secondary Andean range called the Sierra de los Paramillos, at an elevation of 2,32o feet. The surrounding district is completely arid, but has been irrigated and is covered with gardens, orchards and cultivated fields. The city is about I5 m. N. of the Mendoza, or Lujan river, whose waters are utilized for irrigation and for the requirements of the city by means of a channel which leaves the main river a little above the town of Lujan and runs to the Tulumaya river and the lagoons of Huanacache. This channel is called El Zanjon, and is believed to have been opened by Guaymallen, the chief of the Guarpes who inhabited this district at the time of the Spanish conquest, but it is more probably natural. The city is laid out in a regular manner with broad, well-paved streets and numerous public squares. The ZanjOn and another stream called the Guay mallen traverse the city, and the principal streets have water flowing through them and are shaded by poplars. The surround ing districts produce fruit, vegetables, alfalfa and cereals. The vineyard industry is first, with large exports of raisins and wine. A modern packing house has been established near the city and employs several hundred workmen. The position on the main route
of the Trans-Andean railway across the Andes into Chile, by way of the tunnel under the Uspallata or Cumbre pass (highest point 10,542 ft.), has given the city commercial importance. It has railway connection with the principal cities of the republic, in cluding the ports of Rosario, Buenos Aires and Bahia Blanca, and also with San Juan.
Mendoza was founded by Capt. Pedro del Castillo, who had been sent from Santiago across the Andes in 1559 by Garcia Hur tado de Mendoza, the governor of Chile, to conquer and annex the territory extending north-east to Tucuman. The city was named after Mendoza. It was made the capital of the province of Cuyo, and belonged to Chile down to 1776, when the province was transferred to the newly created viceroyalty of La Plata. It was the headquarters of Gen. San Martin while he was organizing an army for the liberation of Chile, and greatly assisted him with men and money. Under republican administration Mendoza suf fered much from revolutions. Moreover, on March 20, 1861, the city was destroyed by an earthquake and a fire which followed. Not a building was left standing, and the loss of life was estimated at I 0,000 to 12,000. The French geologist Bravard, who had predicted the catastrophe, was one of its victims.