Nahuel Huapí, Lake

Largest lake (210 sq mi [544 sq km]) and most popular resort area in Argentina's lake district, lying in the wooded eastern foothills of the Andes at an altitude of 2,516 ft (767 m). Nahuel Huapí (Araucanian Indian for “island of the jaguars”) was discovered in 1670 by the Jesuit priest Nicolás Mascardi, who built a chapel on the lake's Huemul Peninsula and established an Indian reducción (work mission).