Vuriloche

Vuriloche belongs to the country around Lake Nahuel Huapi, where forests and mountain passes connect the two sides of the Andes. The name was applied to Indigenous people of the eastern side of the mountains and survives in the name of a pass through the range.

Puelche and Poya communities lived near the lake before the arrival of Jesuit missionaries from Chiloé. Jesuit missionaries established a mission at Nahuel Huapi in 1670 and returned to the lake in 1703. Nicolás Mascardi founded the first establishment, and Felipe Laguna later headed the renewed mission. They sought routes toward Chiloé, including the Vuriloche passage known to Indigenous travellers. The mission was abandoned in 1717, but the lake and its mountain approaches remained part of an extensive Indigenous world of movement and exchange.