RIO NEGRO

provincia, south-central Argentina, lying within the region known as Patagonia and extending westward from the Atlantic to the Andes and the border with Neuqun provincia. It is crossed (northwest to southeast) by the Negro River. South of the Negro, most of the land consists of arid tablelands. To the west are the chains of lakes and the forested valleys of the Andes, the site of Nahuel Huap National Park. The Atlantic coastline has one deep indentation, the Gulf of San Matas, in the northern bend of which is the small port of San Antonio Oeste. The area was settled in 1782 by the explorer Basilio Villarino and was made a national territory in 1884. It became a provincia in 1955. A dam, built on the Negro River near Neuqun, made possible the irrigation of a large area between the Colorado (the provincia's northern boundary) and Negro rivers, where alfalfa is grown, pears and apples are produced for export, and sheep are raised. The Sierra Grande mining and industrial complex was developed during the 1970s. The provincial capital, Viedma (q.v.), is located near the mouth of the Negro River and on the railway that runs inland from San Antonio Oeste to San Carlos de Bariloche, a resort on the shore of Lake Nahuel Huap. Area 78,384 square miles (203,013 square km). Pop. (1991 prelim.) 506,314.