The earliest sites of human occupation in Mendoza Province, Agua de la Cueva and Gruta del Indio, are 12,000–13,000 years old.

Following the development of the wine industry in the province around 1900, Mendoza began to grow quickly, attracting tens of thousands of European immigrants, particularly Spaniards.

Partly in reaction to President Juan Perón's populist policies, some of which taxed agriculture heavily to finance urban development and public works, Mendoza landowners formed the conservative Democratic Party, which secured the Vice Governor's post in 1958.

Increasing their presence in the Mendoza Legislature, the Democrats became an obstacle to progressive Governor Ernesto Ueltschi, an ally of president Arturo Frondizi's.

Gabrielli was deposed following the June 1966 coup against President Arturo Illia; but still benefiting from conservative credentials, he was appointed de facto governor by the same military regime in 1970.

In contrast to the pragmatism that had distinguished his 1963–66 term, Gabrielli governed with a hard line, freezing state salaries and ordering large utility rate increases, used the Mendoza police to repress dissent and took foreign policy prerogatives like collaborating with Chilean saboteurs opposed to their country's new Marxist president, Salvador Allende.

Quickly enacting needed labor and land reforms, Martínez Baca, however, made the mistake of appointing affiliates of the extreme-left Montoneros movement, an organization whose armed wing had perpetrated a string of violent crimes since 1970 (and would continue to do so).

Becoming more politically independent-minded following these two disappointments, Mendoza voters elected centrist Radical Civic Union as well as populist Justicialist Party lawmakers since Argentina's return to democracy in 1983.

Over the opposition of his party, Julio Cobos accepted the post of running mate to first lady Cristina Fernández de Kirchner of the ruling Front for Victory, in the presidential elections of October 2007.

On 16 July 2008, Vice President Cobos stunned observers by casting the tie-breaking vote against a presidentially-sponsored measure in the Senate that would have raised export taxes on an array of agricultural goods.

The arid soil due to the scant precipitation and the great temperature difference between day and night allows mainly xerophytes and few trees to grow.

The area around Malargue is located at higher elevation (1400 meters) and thus the weather is significantly colder: summers average 28 °C (82 °F) during the day, but only 11 °C (53F) at night, and winters range from 10 °C (50 °F) to −2 °C (28 °F).

The first slopes of the Andes are dry and sunny; however, precipitation increases as one approaches the border with Chile, especially toward the south, where some areas receive over 600 mm (24 in), falling exclusively in the winter, and mostly as snow.

Famed worldwide for its viticulture (with 70% of the 1.5 billion liters in Argentine wine production),[8] the Mendoza economy (Argentina's fifth largest) is, however, quite diversified.

Besides wine, other important crops (mainly for the Argentine market) are apples, pears, tomatoes, onions, plums, olives, cherries, peaches and quince.

[10] Mendoza's main industries are, of course, wine production with 1,200 wineries turning out 1.1 billion liters in 2005, followed by canned fruits, a large petroleum refinery (in Luján de Cuyo), cement and others.

The main attractions are the Las Leñas ski centre, the Aconcagua mountain, and the provincial parks of the Atuel Canyon, Puente del Inca and others.

In the wine-producing region, the Fiesta de la Vendimia (grape harvest festival) receives many visitors in late February or early March.