Choele Choel

Choele Choel lies in the middle Río Negro valley of northern Patagonia. The river and its islands form a corridor through a largely dry landscape. Long before any town existed, the island of Choele Choel was an important point on routes connecting Indigenous peoples of the Pampas, Andean Patagonia and Araucanía.

In 1833, during Juan Manuel de Rosas's campaign against Indigenous peoples, troops under Ángel Pacheco reached and occupied the island, displacing its inhabitants. This episode belongs to a longer history of conflict over the river corridor and its land.