Chimpay

Chimpay is in the Avellaneda department, on the left bank of the Negro River in the Middle Valley: a farming oasis watered by the river. It is reached from National Route 22. It has 4,721 residents (2022 census). Its name has two readings: the arch that rises over the baby’s head in a Tehuelche cradle, or “turn”, “bend”, after a nearby bend in the river.

Ceferino Namuncurá

Ceferino, son of chief Manuel Namuncurá, was born in Chimpay on 26 August 1886 and died on 11 May 1905, the date the town chose to commemorate its origins. His monument was unveiled in 1971. On 12 November 2007 Chimpay hosted his beatification, led by Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Holy See’s second-in-command: an estimated 100,000-plus people attended, and special trains ran from Buenos Aires.

History

Troops of the Conquest of the Desert reached Chimpay on 2 June 1879, and Colonel Manuel José Olascoaga described the area as thick with willows. In 1885 chief Namuncurá had to give up control of the land. The Bahía Blanca – Confluencia railway ran through from 1899, and the first local council was formed on 6 April 1934.

Distances: Middle Valley of the Negro River · National Route 22