Precordillera

{{Short description|Spanish geographical term}}

File:Precordillera_Mendoza.jpg

Precordillera is a Spanish geographical term for hills and mountains lying before a greater range, similar to foothills. The term is derived from cordillera (mountain range)—literally "pre-mountain range"—and applied usually to the Andes.{{cite web |url=http://dle.rae.es/?id=TwlfV9m |title=precordillera|language=Spanish|website=Diccionario de la lengua española - Edición del Tricentenario |date= |author= |accessdate= 6 February 2017}}

Some places usually called precordillera are:

• Andean mountains east of the main ranges of Andes in Argentina. It is separated from the much higher Frontal Cordillera to the west by Uspallata Valley in Argentina. Precordillera mountains reach around 3,000 m a.s.l. in Sierras de Villavicencio.{{cite web |url=http://elportaldemendoza.com/blog/orografia-de-mendoza/ |title=Orografía de Mendoza|language=Spanish |last= |first= |date= 13 March 2014|website=El Portal de Mendoza |publisher=Cámara de Turismo de Mendoza and Cooperativa El Portal de Mendoza |access-date=June 29, 2019|quote=}}
• Used all over Chile from north to south as a morphological unit lying just between the Andes and the Intermediate Depression.