Río Negro
Río Negro
a province in Argentina, in Patagonia. Area, 203,000 sq km. Population, 262,600 (1970). The capital is Vied-ma. Iron ore is mined (the Sierra Grande deposit). Río Negro is one of the leading regions in Argentina in the growing and exporting of apples; the state accounts for more than 60 percent of the country’s total apple harvest. Irrigated farming was greatly aided by the construction of a hydroelectric energy complex with a capacity of approximately 2 gigawatts at El Chocón-Cerros Colorados at the confluence of the Neuquén and Limay rivers. There is also pasture livestock breeding in Río Negro.