
'I'd go to Patagonia, but it's harder there' - Ready For Drowning
PATAGONIA.
Patagonia averages less than 10 inches (25 centimeters) of rainfall annually. Vegetation in the area includes small bushes and scrub grass but few trees grow here. Sparsely settled, it is basically a sheep-raising region. Irrigated crops are grown in the northern semiarid region. The
southern zone has a dry and cold climate. Petroleum is the chief natural resource. There are also considerable deposits of iron ore, copper, uranium, and manganese. The Portuguese explorer
Ferdinand Magellan explored the region in 1520, but it was not settled until after the middle of the 19th century.
A vast semiarid plateau in southern South America, Patagonia is approximately 260,000 square miles (673,000 square kilometers) in area. It is located between the Rio Colorado in the north, the Strait of Magellan in the south, the Andes mountain chain in the west, and the Atlantic Ocean in the east. Major rivers flowing through the region are the Chico, Chubut, Negro, and Santa Cruz.