Guentota

Güentota was the Huarpe valley in which the Spanish founded Mendoza, at the eastern foot of the Andes. Its inhabitants used channels to carry river water to their fields, growing maize and squash in a dry landscape. Indigenous leaders held authority over communities settled around the waterways of the valley, including a principal chief whom chroniclers described as lord of the valley.

Pedro del Castillo founded Mendoza here in 1561, after arriving from Chile. The new city occupied a landscape already shaped by Huarpe agriculture and irrigation. Spanish rule brought tribute and labour demands, and many Huarpes were taken across the mountains to serve in Chile. The channels of the valley nevertheless remained essential to the rapidly growing Spanish colonial settlement.

The later city of Mendoza lies here.