Talking about my beloved city, it makes me very happy, in all this time that I have been in Connect, I did not write anything about it, only small posts about specific events, but to tell about its origin, that there is in it, because I like it and all those questions, that several can be made of a person like me, who is always writing about Tierra del Fuego.
I guess I assumed that Rio Grande is known, but a question almost in passing and without many demands of Inga (I would like to ask - Why the area in Brazil name — Tierra Del Fuego?), Makes me fall in the account of this thought.
The question can be answered quickly, just by indicating that the name of the city, is one of several that had its origins and that refers specifically to the size of the mouth of the Rio Grande (namesake of the city) in the Atlantic. But this is a very simple answer and does not give rise to the story of Rio Grande, its name and other characteristics.
To begin I have to mention that Tierra del Fuego, Antarctica and South Atlantic Islands are divided into three cities, to the north the city of Rio Grande, for me the most beautiful (they do not read this the ones from Ushuaia), to the middle the city of Tolhuin (the heart of the island) and to the south, at the end of the world Ushuaia, the city of the bay surrounded by mountains, the city where you can enjoy the four seasons in a day , to snow in the morning the sun at noon, the wind in the afternoon and the rain at night.
But if we talk about names we also have to talk about the origin of the name of Tierra del Fuego, the first reference that comes to my mind is the one we are taught in high school, his name is coming from the Spanish navigators who circumnavigated these lands in their beginnings back in 1520, and when they traveled along the coasts of this land they saw many bonfires, then over time when they came in contact with the original peoples of that time, the Onas or Selknam that lived by the north of the big island, in the south by the channel of Beagle the Yámanas or Yaganes and bordering with them by the peninsula Miter the Haush or Manekenk. The Spanish navigators just realized that they were bonfires carried out by these people to take shelter from the Antarctic cold of the time. For that reason, the name “remained Tierra del Fuego”.
Returning to the city of Rio Grande, we can say that its existence became relevant only with the arrival of Julio Popper, Romanian engineer and entrepreneur, gold prospector. As David Nelson F. Guevara would say in his book “Julio Popper the alchemist of the páramo”, he tells us that the first names that this city had, “Ex colony Popper”, consider the year that was running at that time 1892, the first denomination of this city is the one of Juárez River Celman later Ramón List denominates to the city like Pellegrini, later, as it was a mining district River Popper, but in the end by the use and customs of its inhabitants, it was the current name, of Rio Grande.
As a summary of that historic moment, it can be said that the indigenous peoples were the most affected, they exterminated them. The first cultural shock suffered, are the Western diseases, such as syphilis and tuberculosis, to end up being hunted and eliminated by the ranchers of those times, to this day, there are no descendants of any of the original ethnic groups, if some very distant in the lineage, another thing that also influenced the continuous migrations of the continent to the island.
But leaving aside the historical part of the city, we can get a little closer to the current dates and say that this city is a distinctly industrial city, unlike Ushuaia, which is touristy. The umbrella that gives the category of industrial city is a law of 1972, the National Law 19640, very important for geopolitical issues, settlement of the Patagonia, the law roughly is homonymous of one that exists in the city of Manaus Brazil , for the same geopolitical reason, to populate the Amazon in the case of Brazil. The law provides certain tax and tariff benefits to factories located in this area. But this industrial area took off only in 1986, previously it was an agricultural area dedicated only to the meat and meat exploitation of sheep meat for direct export to Europe in the beginning and middle of the 20th century.
Today the city is in good health, since the majority of the population is young, it should be reaching approximately 85,000 inhabitants or more in the city of Rio Grande, on the other hand it should be considered that 63% of the population of all Tierra del Fuego has an age between 0 and 34 years, this augurs a bright future, with many challenges. There is no doubt that everything is just being written.
And those who choose to live here with their inclement weather or lack of infrastructure and other things, such as green trees except for those of the lengas and ñires forests, close to the mountains.
That’s why the feelings for this land is, of love (like me), or want to leave it hardly has opportunity. As they say vulgarly, they came to America and they left. Or another, a little more contemptuous, at least for me, they come to the island of fantasy, and when they have their pockets full of money, they return to their places of origin.
The truth is that it is not a place for anyone, the climate, the social uprooting and the lack of infrastructure can be very hard to bear.
Otherwise we think that it was of the 500 souls that lived in the muddy city of Ushuaia when it was decided to make that city, a prison city but that is another story, that in another moment we will expand.
As in its origins, those who come to these lands do so for work, as I did 30 years ago. But I like very much to be able to read about those men and women, almost unknown and others not so much that today they are in the daily memories in the names of the streets of the city. Those men and women, who arrived on European ships in the late nineteenth century fleeing from famine, with nothing but their clothes and a small handbag. The main destinations were the field, for sheep breeding and then later in time, with gold fever for a short period in the northern part of the island in Punta Páramo and south by Punta Miter, after that initial stage There was a period of calm and almost stagnation, where the population was almost 80 or 90% foreign European and Chilean, then change the priorities of the country and we begin to see again the arrival of entrepreneurs and new pioneers developing again the field. As a note of color, I mentioned that we had the Rio Grande as messenger Aeropostal to the creator of the famous book “The Little Prince” by Antoine de Saint-Exupery, and the years of the first quarter of the twentieth century were already running.
In this way we return again to the boom of electronicfactories, textile and others in Tierra del Fuego, but especially in Rio Grande, today we are in those periods of Argentine economic cycles where it is not important to encourage Argentine work, but that It also becomes part of more complex issues to develop.
Today Rio Grande has many streets with asphalt, there are some trees and several rooms before sheep, today they become vaccines or mixed, but old refrigerators famous until the late twentieth century as the CAP refrigerator ceased to exist. Another activity that some stays carry out is the sport fishing in the preserves, which they developed by the rivers that pass through their lands. There is also rural tourism to participate in the activities of the Patagonian countryside.
A separate chapter represents the gas oil activity of the north of the island of Tierra del Fuego, as an important fact one of the main suppliers of natural gas in the province of Buenos Aires countryside with several million inhabitants is fueguino, being one of the main resources by co-participation received by the province of Tierra del Fuego.
All this that I mention makes Rio Grande, a place so dear to me. Other factors such as children, grandchildren and friends, make you want to this beautiful dry and windy land, land of guanacos, daring pioneers who put all their effort to make it better and more livable.
Today it remains a land of internal migrants from Argentina and external from neighboring countries, but that’slesser extent, I think that if Popper, the Laserres (pioneers and founders) and otherssee this city today, I think we would be happy her.
For all this I mention, is that I am constantly adding places or commenting on existing sites or assessing the map of Tierra del Fuego, but fundamentally, sharing the photos of the beautiful places that I discover in my walks through the Fuegian forests or in my tours of the city, when I register a new neighborhood. My wish is that other Local Guides can be encouraged to do the same where they live.
But also and the most important thing is to spread and tell the four winds about Patagonia and my beloved Rio Grande, the city where I chose to live. I tell you something that does not happen in other parts of the country. In Rio Grande there are four large supermarkets where you buy everything from vegetables, meats to an appliance to clothes to wear, etc. In them always, it always happens that you come across an acquaintance. That familiarity is rare that happens in the north of Argentina or when you go to lunch or dinner, you will surely meet the usual customers, that for me is invaluable. Another thing that happens is that the supermarket cashier greet you because they already know you or in the bank they speak to you by your name is very valuable.
There are many more things to tell about Rio Grande, but let’s leave that for those who ask about this post, I also want to highlight with this post that there is no small or boring city. All the cities in the world have their things to tell, their past or their present, the secret is only to know how to pay attention to the little things that happen around you, to value how little or much you have, that your city is always the most cute of the world.
And you, would you tell me about your city or neighborhood, how is it and what do you like most about it?
Here I share the album of Rio Grande a great city
And more of Argentina in Argentina a place to go
Farid ?
