Pampas Pampas The Pampas (from the , meaning "plain") are fertile South American lowlands that cover more than and include the Argentine provinces of Buenos Aires, La Pampa, Santa Fe, Entre Ríos and Córdoba; all of Uruguay; and the southernmost Brazilian State, Rio Grande do Sul. The vast plains are a natural region, interrupted only by the low Ventana and Tandil hills, near Bahía Blanca and Tandil (Argentina), with a height of and , respectively. The climate is warm, with precipitation of that is more or less evenly distributed through the year, making the soils appropriate for agriculture. The area is
Geography of Uruguay the promotion of wheat production. One exception, rice, most of which was produced in the east, had become a major nontraditional export in recent years. Stretching west along the Río de la Plata from Montevideo, are the agricultural and dairying departments of San José and Colonia. To the north along the Río Uruguay lie the departments of Soriano, Río Negro, Paysandú and Salto. Their western halves form part of the litoral, a region that is somewhat more developed than the interior. Here soils are alluvial and more fertile, favoring crop production and farms of more modest size than in the