Mendoza

Mendoza may refer to:

Places

People

Music

Other uses

Mendoza River

The Mendoza River is a river in the province of Mendoza, Argentina. It is formed in the Andes range between the Aconcagua and the Tupungato, by the confluence of the Vacas, the Cuevas and the Tupungato Rivers, the last being its major tributary.

The upper valley of the Mendoza begins at around 2,600 metres (8,500 ft) above mean sea level, and it is U-shaped, of glacial origin. The river reaches Uspallata, then crosses the Precordillera through the Potrerillos Valley, flows along the Cacheuta Canyon and reaches the plain. It forms an arc and turns northeast, finally emptying into the Bañados de Guanacache, which join the San Juan River, part of the system of the Desaguadero River.

The river has a mean flow of 50 cubic metres per second (1,800 cu ft/s), and supplies water for the main oasis in the otherwise arid province. Its course through Potrerillos, at about 1,350 metres (4,430 ft) above sea level, features rapids, which are employed for rafting (level III–IV on the International Scale of River Difficulty during the summer). In Potrerillos the river is also dammed, forming a reservoir, which feeds a hydroelectric power station.

Mendoza (name)

Mendoza is a Basque surname, also occurring as a place name.

The name Mendoza means "cold mountain", derived from the Basque words mendi (mountain) and (h)otz (cold) + definite article '-a' (Mendoza being mendi+(h)otza). The original Basque form with an affricate sibilant (/ts/, Basque spelling /tz/) evolved in Spanish to the current form.

Originally the noble family line bearing the surname was based in the castle of the same name, not far from Vitoria-Gasteiz, Basque Country, where it still stands out. However, one of the family branches comes from Laudio, 50 km away to the northwest from Vitoria-Gasteiz. The family got involved in the medieval bloody War of the Clans. Not only that, the house of Mendoza set up close ties with Castile since the High Middle Ages, with its members participating in their civil wars and the Castilian expansion south. They got wider renown after their involvement in the conquest of America after 1492.

In Erandio, a baserri exists with the same name. Its original name "mendotza" developed to "mendontze" in the 1890s, "mendoche" in the 1920s, "mendotxe" in the 1980s to the restored original of "mendotza" being the current.