The name
Bariloche comes from the
Mapudungun word
Vuriloche meaning "people from behind the mountain" ( = behind, = people). The
Poya people used the Vuriloche pass to cross the Andes, keeping it secret from the Spanish priests for a long time. There is evidence of the long existence of indigenous settlements on the banks of Lake Nahuel Huapi, in the area now occupied by the city of Bariloche. This was thousands of years before the European expeditionaries and settlers beginning in the colonial era of the 16th century. Human beings had arrived in this area during the
Neolithic era, as evidenced by artifacts. The archaeological and historical record speaks of the presence of tehuelches and puelches in the area. With the process of
araucanization and mainly since the 17th century, the culture of these groups was strongly affected by Mapuches. They increased their occupation in the area, affected by the settlement of Spaniards in Chile, and their continued push to the east. By the 19th century's end, only a few scattered indigenous families remained near the lake. People of Inacayal had been stripped of their lands, and were relocated to Tecka (Chubut) when their cacique was taken prisoner. Curruhinca had made an act of submission to Argentine government with his own. Some Nguillatun was still being celebrated. But the region was beginning a new stage in its history. Although incorporated into Argentine national sovereignty, the Nahuel Huapi area began to develop fundamentally linked to Chile. Before the 19th century's end, when the border was still in dispute, people from the south of the neighboring country were gradually arriving to settle in surroundings of the lake. Small farmers were most of them from the island of Chiloe, but German immigrants living in Chile also arrived.
Spanish explorations and missions in 1940 and was declared a national monument in 1987 Cathedral of San Carlos de Bariloche had its structure completed in 1947. Nahuel Huapi lake was known to Spaniards since the times of the
Conquest of Chile. Following the trails of the
Mapuche people across the Andes, in the summer of 1552–1553, the Spanish Governor of the Captaincy of Chile
Pedro de Valdivia sent
Francisco de Villagra to explore the area east of the Andes at the latitudes of the city of
Valdivia. Francisco de Villagra crossed the Andes through
Mamuil Malal Pass and headed south until reaching
Limay River in the vicinity of Nahuel Huapi Lake. In 1670, Jesuit priest
Nicolás Mascardi, based in
Chiloé Archipelago, entered the area through the
Reloncaví Estuary and
Todos los Santos Lake to found a mission at the Nahuel Huapi Lake, which lasted until 1673. Historians disagree if the mission belonged to the jurisdiction of
Valdivia or
Chiloé. The mission was destroyed in 1717 by Poyas following a disagreement with the missionaries; the superior of the mission had refused to give them a cow. Wiederhold established then a little shop called
La Alemana (The German) in 1895, and it is from this shop the modern settlement of Bariloche developed from. As Wiederhold was named consul of the
German Empire in Chile he left Bariloche for
Puerto Montt in the 1900s. In 1934 Ezequiel Bustillo, then director of the National Parks Direction, contracted his brother
Alejandro Bustillo to build several buildings in
Iguazú and
Nahuel Huapi National Park (Bariloche was the main settlement inside the park). In contrast to subtropical
Iguazú National Park, planners and developers thought that Nahuel Huapi National Park, because of its temperate climate, could compete with the tourism of Europe. Together with Bariloche, it was established for priority projects by national tourism development planners. That month, 68% of Americans polled thought Hitler was still alive. When asked at the
Potsdam Conference in July 1945 how Hitler had died, Stalin said he was living either "in Spain or Argentina." In his 2004 book
Bariloche nazi-guía turística, Argentine author Abel Basti claims that Adolf Hitler and
Eva Braun lived in the surroundings of Bariloche for many years after World War II. Basti said that the Argentine Nazis chose the estate of
Inalco as Hitler's refuge. Next he purportedly moved to
a Bavarian-style mansion at Inalco, a remote and barely accessible spot at the northwest end of Nahuel Huapi Lake, close to the
Chilean border. Supposedly, Eva Braun left Hitler around 1954 and moved to
Neuquén with their daughter Ursula ('Uschi'). Adolf Hitler died in February 1962 at age 73, and Eva Braun was alleged to be alive in the 2000s. These and similar accounts are disputed by most historians, who generally believe that Hitler and Braun committed suicide in the
Führerbunker during the last days of World War II. ==Tourism==