Colonia Catriel
Encyclopedia
Colonia Catriel, or simply Catriel, is a town in the northern tip of the province
of Río Negro
, Argentina
, near the border with La Pampa Province
. It has a population of about 18,000, with postal code
8307 and telephone prefix
0299.
Catriel was named after Cacique
Catriel, a Native American
who according to several stories participated in the defence of Argentine government interests against aborigines.
The town has a dry and temperate climate, with hot summers and winters which barely see snow. A characteristic dry strong wind is also common.
The main economic activity in and around the town is oil extraction, which started in 1959 and made the city grow fast, as state owned YPF
set extraction points nearby.However, nowadays the main oil company in the city is Petrobras
, which has made several investments in the city.
Provinces of Argentina
Argentina is subdivided into twenty-three provinces and one autonomous city...
of Río Negro
Río Negro Province
Río Negro is a province of Argentina, located at the northern edge of Patagonia. Neighboring provinces are from the south clockwise Chubut, Neuquén, Mendoza, La Pampa and Buenos Aires. To the east lies the Atlantic Ocean.Its capital is Viedma...
, Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
, near the border with La Pampa Province
La Pampa Province
La Pampa is a sparsely populated province of Argentina, located in the Pampas in the center of the country. Neighboring provinces are from the north clockwise San Luis, Córdoba, Buenos Aires, Río Negro, Neuquén and Mendoza.-History:...
. It has a population of about 18,000, with postal code
Argentine postal code
Postal codes in Argentina are called códigos postales. Until 1998 Argentina employed a four-digit postal code for each municipality, with the first digit representing a region in the country, except in the case of the city of Buenos Aires...
8307 and telephone prefix
Argentine telephone numbering plan
Phone numbers in Argentina have ten digits, if both the area code and the subscriber's code are included. The area code may have 2, 3 or 4 digits, with the remaining 8, 7 or 6 digits being the subscriber's number...
0299.
Catriel was named after Cacique
Cacique
Cacique is a title derived from the Taíno word for the pre-Columbian chiefs or leaders of tribes in the Bahamas, Greater Antilles, and the northern Lesser Antilles...
Catriel, a Native American
Indigenous peoples of the Americas
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...
who according to several stories participated in the defence of Argentine government interests against aborigines.
The town has a dry and temperate climate, with hot summers and winters which barely see snow. A characteristic dry strong wind is also common.
The main economic activity in and around the town is oil extraction, which started in 1959 and made the city grow fast, as state owned YPF
Yacimientos Petrolíferos Fiscales
Yacimientos Petrolíferos Fiscales is an Argentine oil company.Founded in 1922 under President Hipólito Yrigoyen's administration, it was privatized in 1993 by Carlos Menem, and bought by the Spanish firm Repsol; the resulting merger in 1999 produced Repsol YPF...
set extraction points nearby.However, nowadays the main oil company in the city is Petrobras
Petrobras
Petróleo Brasileiro or Petrobras is a semi-public Brazilian multinational energy corporation headquartered in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is the largest company in Latin America by market capitalization and revenue, and the largest company headquartered in the Southern Hemisphere by market...
, which has made several investments in the city.