BUENOS AIRES
The History of the City
The foundation of Buenos Aires took place in 1536, when the Spanish
conqueror Pedro de Mendoza built the first settlement in the southern
area of the city, today Lezama Park. In the next couple of years,
the settlement was attacked by the natives of the area, the Querandíes,
and the food begun to be scarce, so the first settlement was abandoned.
In 1580 the city was founded for the second time also by the Río
de la Plata, but a few kilometers further north, in the area we
call Plaza de Mayo today. The new foundation of the city found
the cattle abandoned by the previous settlers and that had found
a great environment to reproduce in the Pampas. The original abundance
of the village was fed by this wild cattle. Garay divided the
pieces of land surrounding the city in three categories, some
people near the downtown area, some others in the “Chacras”
further away, and the rest in the “Estancias”, even
further away from the city. The city and the port were called
Santa María del Buen Ayre. In early times, the city was
still only a small settlement. The houses were built in adobe
bricks, because of the lack of stones in the area of the settlement.
The city grew slowly until 1776, when it was declared the capital
city of the new Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata, something
that benefited the commerce of the city.
On May 25th 1810, there was a rebellion that intended to separate
from the Spanish domination. This goal was finally achieved in
1816, with the Declaration of the Independence. The Constitution
was passed in 1853, slavery was abolished and a new era opened
for the country. Buenos Aires became the Capital city of the country
in 1880. In those times, the immigration process started. Most
of the immigrants came from Spain and Italy, and the city grew
quickly. The first awakening of the astonishing architecture of
the country took place in the 1890, depending on the influence
of the Italian and the French styles. The marvelous mansions of
those times can still be admired in the city in our days.
Buenos Aires
Today
The capital city of Argentina is a cosmopolitan city, with a vigorous
reminiscence of the European architecture, generous avenues, a
brimming life and an ample offer of culture, entertainment and
art. Within the legal limits of the city there are almost 4 million
inhabitants, taking account of the suburbs the figure raises to
almost 11 million. The city has a surface of 200 square kilometers.
The weather is rather mild, the winter is gentle and it never
snows, the average temperatures range from 5ºC and 17ºC.
The summer is a little hot, with temperatures ranging from 25ºC
to 37ºC. The average of rain is 4 or 5 days a month and the
year average is 900 mm of fallen water. Buenos Aires has a public
transport net, with buses, taxis, subways and railways. There
are two airports in the city, one international (half an hour
from the downtown area) and one domestic. In the last ten years,
the highways were modernized and the communication in the city
has been improved.
THE SOUTHERN NEIGHBOURHOODS:
SAN TELMO AND LA BOCA
To enter San Telmo is to encounter the oldest neighborhood in
the city. The area is connected to the history of the city because
it is the obligatory path from the downtown area and the main
square to the port, that in colonial times was located where today
is the neighborhood of La Boca. The path used in those times was
what today is Defensa street, that passes by the heart of San
Telmo in Plaza Dorrego, the last stop of the carriages before
going to the downtown area.
At present, it’s an area of antique shops in which the main
attraction is a flea market of antiques that takes place every
Sunday. We can find sculptures, silver crafts, clothes, books,
long plays… The name of the neighborhood is related to the
neighboring church of San Pedro Telmo, a few steps from Plaza
Dorrego. Until the eighteenth century San Telmo was the place
in which the wealthy families of the city lived, but after the
yellow fever epidemics in 1871 killed thirty percent of the population
of the city, the rich families decided to move to the northern
area of Buenos Aires, seeking healthier places to live in. Their
houses in the south were turned into hotels for immigrants, called
Conventillos, in which fifty or more families of immigrants lived
together. This situation implied a mixture of razes, languages,
religions and cultures. The neighborhood is considered today the
historical inheritance of the city, with its restaurants, tango
houses, bookstores and art galleries.
LA BOCA
The typical houses of La Boca, are noticeable in its center in
Caminito (narrow path) street, immortalized in a tango song by
Juan de Dios Filiberto. Caminito street, before tango made it
famous, was the end of the railway tracks that lead to the port.
Today it’s famous for its cultural life and the artistic
activities that take place there, the street actually becomes
an open museum and theatre. A few blocks from there, there is
the art studio of Benito Quinquela Martín, the most renowned
artist of La Boca, that used to paint the port and the streets
of the neighborhood in lively portraits of the popular neighborhoods
of Buenos Aires. Quinquela Martín died in 1977 and his
studio was turned into a museum that can still be visited in our
days.
THE NEIGHBORHOODS OF CATALINAS AND RETIRO
Close to the port, the neighborhood of Catalinas Norte in the northern
area of the city has a clear shape that conforms the identity of
the area. Even if it belongs to the city, its history starts only
in the beginnings of the nineteenth century. The special meaning
achieved by the area has to do with recent history, starting in
the 1970’s. With the growth of the country the construction
of a new modern area of the city was designed, with a predominance
of sky scrappers. After the Sheraton Hotel, built in 1972, several
international companies built there buildings here. Most of them
were built in the steel and crystal style, imitating Chicago and
creating a futuristic aspect that represents modernity. Most of
the buildings are intelligent, with automatic comfort issues.
Further north, Retiro neighborhood, had been a suburb by the coast
in the first times of the city. The inhabitants started to re evaluate
this area with a view of the river and started building there houses
there. The name of Retiro comes from colonial times, when a cross
honoring San Sebastian was installed here and the area became a
place for religious retirement. It was also an area far away from
the control of the colonial authorities and it was used by the British
and the Portuguese to smuggle goods and slaves into the city. After
the Independence, the area was used for a bull fighting square and
for military barracks, but after the yellow fever disease the rich
families of the city moved to this area and many of them still live
there. The main attractions of the neighborhood are San Martin Square
and Fuerza Aerea Square. The first one has two monuments, one honoring
General San Martín, one of the heroes of the independence
of the country, and the other one honoring the death in the Falklands
War. The big mansions surrounding the area were built in the beginnings
of the twentieth century and then turned into hotels, administrative
offices of the argentine state, and private offices. Right opposite
San Martin Square, on Fuerza Aerea Square, there is a tower called
Monumental Tower that was a gift of the British government to Argentina
to commemorate the centenary of the Independence. Opposite to this
square, Retiro Train Station and the Sheraton Hotel.
Retiro Train Station is a complex of three train stations, and the
starting point of any trip to the North and the Northeast of the
country. Two decades ago, a new modern construction was added: the
long distance bus station. The area is also the start of Liberator
Avenue, one of the most important avenues in the city and also one
of the most beautiful ones, the unavoidable route to the northern
area of the city. This avenue is almost 20 kilometers long and its
aspect and name change in the route.
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