The City and Brief History of Mendoza…
First and foremost, please note that Mendoza is the most important wine region in Argentina because about 75% of all the wine produced comes from Mendoza…. Also, here is a nice picture of the fantastic Parque San Martin where you can jog, drink coffee, play soccer and much more.
Native Americans, including the Inca, Huarpe, and Puelche tribes, inhabited Mendoza before the Spanish conquistadors came in the 1560s. The first remnants of civilization in Mendoza are from 300 CE/AD. The native tribes developed irrigation systems to cultivate crops such as potatoes and corn. The Huarpe tribe, who are mostly responsible for the irrigation canals, arrived in Mendoza in the mid 1400s. In 1561, Pedro del Castillo—representing Spain—founded Mendoza. The conquest was rather uneventful (source http://www.mendozacuyo.com.ar/historia.html). The Spaniards copied this irrigation system throughout Mendoza and the surrounding provinces in order to sustain Spanish civilization in Mendoza’s desert climate. There were some difficulties in the beginning of colonizing Mendoza due to insufficient funds and labor to cultivate crops. The Spaniards employed the Native Americans work at first; however, they later pushed the tribes out of Argentina to Chile and used slaves (mostly of African descent) instead. Employing slave labor helped expand Mendoza’s agriculture and by the 1700s, Spaniards had built more than eighty-three canals and channels for irrigation to advance farming. As agriculture prospered, so did Mendoza’s ability to trade commodities such as wine, olive oil, dried fruits, and flour. Mendoza at this time had to give their commodities to the Spanish government to trade as it was illegal for the town to do so on their own. General Jose de San Martin based himself in Mendoza before crossing to Chile and Peru to liberate those countries after officially liberating Argentina in 1817.
In 1861, a major earthquake occurred killing over 5,000 people and leaving detrimental damage. Mendoza was later rebuilt with newer urban design (including big plazas and wide streets) making it look much different than other older, Spanish-conquered cities (such as Cordoba). Today, Mendoza sees many tourists who tour the wine vineyards and wineries in the area and wine is the province’s most important export (second is olive oil). Because of this, many of the wineries in Mendoza also offer wine tastings, but normally you need to go to the winery to do this.
Mendoza’s population today is 110,993 people in a 54 kilometer squared (21 miles squared) area. Five plazas (Plaza Independencia, Plaza San Martin, Plaza Chile, Plaza Italia, and Plaza Espana) and streets in a grid-like structure make up Mendoza’s simple and efficient urban design.