Sarmiento, Chubut

Sarmiento is a town in the province of Chubut, Argentina. It has about 8,000 inhabitants as per the census-ar|2001, and is the head town of the department of the same name.

Sarmiento was born as a colony of immigrants, mainly from Wales (see Welsh settlement in Argentina). In the early 1900s it also experienced an influx of immigrants from Lithuania. In 1908 120 Afrikaners arrived in Argentina following the loss of the Second Boer War. The descendants of these colonists make up a large portion of the population of Sarmiento and still speak Afrikaans and attend a Dutch Reformed Church to this day. It is located on the so-called Central Corridor of Patagonia, in a fertile valley amidst an otherwise arid region, 140 km west from Comodoro Rivadavia, in the south of Chubut. It sits between two lakes, Lake Musters and Lake Colhue Huapi. Notable attractions are the Petrified Forest and caves with Aborigine hand paintings.

The coldest temperature ever recorded in South America, -33°C (-27°F), was recorded in Sarmiento on June 1 1907. [cite web |url=http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0001377.html|title=Lowest Recorded Temperatures|accessdate=2007-02-20]

Notes

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References

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* [http://www.coloniasarmiento.gov.ar Colonia Sarmiento] — Official website (includes tourist information in English).