Buenos Aires
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- For other uses, see Buenos Aires (disambiguation).
Buenos Aires ("Good Airs" in Spanish, originally meaning "Fair Winds") is the capital of Argentina and its largest city and port, as well as one of the largest cities in Latin America. Buenos Aires is located on the southern shore of the River Plate, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent, opposite Montevideo, Uruguay. Buenos Aires is located at 34°40′ S 58°24′ W (-34.667, -58.40).
After the internal conflicts of the 19th century, Buenos Aires was federalized and removed from Buenos Aires Province; its city limits were enlarged to include the former towns of Belgrano and Flores (both are now neighbourhoods in the city).
Argentines sometimes refer to the city as Capital Federal to differentiate the city from the province of the same name.
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Population
The people of Buenos Aires are known as porteños ("people of the port"), acknowledging the major historical importance of the port in the development of the city and the whole nation.
The population of Buenos Aires consists primarily of Argentines of Spanish and Italian descent. The vast majority of these originate from the Galician, Asturian, and Basque regions of Spain, and the Calabrian, Ligurian and Neapolitan regions of Italy.
There are also sizable communities of people with Arab, Jewish, Armenian, British, Irish, Chinese, Japanese, and Korean origins (see also: Asian-Argentines). Also, there is a mixed Spanish-aboriginal (mestizo/criollo) minority. Most inhabitants are of Roman Catholic religion. Sizable Jewish and Muslim communities have existed for over 100 years, and evangelist churches have been steadily increasing their ranks since the 1980s.
The city proper has a population of 2,776,138 according to the 2001 census [INDEC], while the Greater Buenos Aires, which also encompasses suburbia that belong to the province of Buenos Aires, has more than 11.4 million inhabitants. Suburbanites are called porteños and also bonaerenses; only the last term applies to the rest of the province.
Image:The Buildings of downtown Buenos Aires.jpg
Political status
Buenos Aires was the capital of the Viceroyalty of the River Plate.
After independence, Buenos Aires was the natural choice for capital of the republic. Due to political turmoil, Paraná held that status between 1853 and 1860, and Belgrano served as provisional capital during a brief period in 1879.
Since 1880, Buenos Aires is the capital of Argentina and the seat of the federal government; the city of La Plata was established as provincial capital. Federalization helped reduce tensions between the President and the provincial Governor.
Under the original federalization scheme, the mayor was appointed directly by the President of the Republic. The 1994 constitution granted the city autonomous status, and citizens now elect both the city legislature and the mayor in direct elections. The federal government still controls the metropolitan police.
The first autonomous mayor, Fernando de la Rúa was elected in 1996; he would become President of Argentina in 1999, only to give up his office in 2001. The current mayor is Aníbal Ibarra. As of August 2005, he is facing impeachment due to the tragedy of the República Cromagnon concert hall, which was licensed for business even though it violated fire safety rules, and where 196 people lost their lives in a fire in December 2004.
Economy
Image:Buenos Aires - Puerto Madero.jpg
Buenos Aires is the financial, industrial, commercial, and cultural hub of Argentina. Its port is one of the busiest in the world; navigable rivers connect it to the Argentine North-East, Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay. As a result, it serves as the distribution hub for a vast area of the south-eastern region of the continent.
To the west of Buenos Aires is the Pampa Húmeda, the most productive agricultural region of Argentina (which is different from the dry and sterile south-Argentina pampa, where only bovine livestock is produced). Meat, dairy, grain, tobacco, wool and hide products are processed or manufactured in the Buenos Aires area. Other leading industries are automobile manufacturing, oil refining, metalworking, machine building, and the production of textiles, chemicals, clothing, and beverages.
History
Spanish seaman Juan Díaz de Solís discovered the Río de la Plata (River Plate) in 1516 but his expedition was cut short by an attack in which he was killed (and supposedly cannibalized) by the native Charrúa or Guaraní tribe (disputed).
The city was first founded as Santa María del Buen Ayre on February 2, 1536 by a Spanish gold-seeking expedition under Pedro de Mendoza. The name was chosen by Mendoza's chaplain, who was a devout follower of the Virgine de Bonaria (Our Lady of the Fair Winds) of Cagliari, Sardinia. The location of Mendoza's city was on today's San Telmo district (south of the city center).
More attacks by the indigenous peoples forced the settlers away and in 1541 the site was abandoned. A second (and permanent) settlement was established in 1580 by Juan de Garay, who sailed down the Paraná River from Asunción (now capital of Paraguay).
From its earliest days the success of Buenos Aires depended on trade. The Spanish administration of the 17th and 18th centuries insisted that all trade to Europe initially pass through Lima, Peru so that taxes could be collected. This scheme frustrated the traders of Buenos Aires and a thriving contraband industry developed. Unsurprisingly, this also instilled a deep resentment in porteños towards Spanish authorities.
Sensing this instability, Charles III of Spain progressively eased the trade restrictions and finally declared Buenos Aires an open port in the late 1700s. Those placating actions did not have the desired effect, and the porteños, some of them versed in the ideology of the French revolution, became even more desirous of independence from Spain.
During the British invasions of the River Plate British forces invaded Buenos Aires twice in 1806–1807 but were rebuffed by the local colonial militia. Ultimately, on May 25, 1810, while Spain endured the Peninsular War and after a week of mostly pacific deliberations, the creole citizens of Buenos Aires successfully ousted the Spanish Viceroy and established a provincial government; the date is now celebrated as a national holiday (May Revolution Day). Formal independence from Spain was declared only in 1816.
Buenos Aires historically was Argentina's main stage for liberal and free-trade ideas, with many of the provinces advocating for a more conservative-Catholic approach. Many tensions within Argentine history, starting with the centralist-federalist conflicts of the 19th century, can be traced back to this contrast.
In the 19th century the city suffered naval blockades on two occasions: first by the French, from 1838 to 1840, and then a joint Anglo-French blockade from 1845 to 1848. Both blockades failed to surrender the city, and in the end the naval powers involved desisted from their demands.
Railroad construction during the second half of the 19th century increased the economic power of Buenos Aires as raw materials flowed into its factories, and governments from that time turned the original Spanish town into a metropolitan and multicultural city that ranked itself with the major European capitals. For example, the Teatro Colón was one of the world's top opera venues. The city's main avenues were built in those years, and the dawn of the 20th century saw the construction of South America's tallest buildings and first subway.
By the 1920s Buenos Aires was a favored destination for immigrants from Europe, as well as from the poorer provinces and neighboring countries, and large shanty towns (villas miseria) started growing around the city's industrial areas, leading to extensive social problems.
Image:Rio de la Plata BA 2.JPG
During the 20th century, military juntas and governments seized power several times, to impose a combination of political repression and neoliberal economics. Buenos Aires was also the cradle of Peronism: the now-mythical demonstration of October 17 1945 took place in Plaza de Mayo. Industrial workers of the Buenos Aires suburbia have been Peronism's main support base ever since, and Plaza de Mayo became the site for social demonstrations and many of the country's political events.
In 1955, the military uprising that would depose President Perón (the Revolución Libertadora) sent planes that bombed the Plaza de Mayo area. It was the only time the city was attacked from the air.
In the 1970s, the city suffered from the fighting between revolutionary movements (the left-wing Montoneros, E.R.P. and F.A.R.) and the right-wing paramilitary group Triple A. The military coup of 1976 only escalated this conflict; the "Dirty War" produced between 10,000 and 30,000 desaparecidos. The silent marches of their mothers (Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo) are the most well-known image of Argentine suffering during those times.
The city was visited by Pope John Paul II on two occasions, which remain the only visits of a Pope in Argentine history. The first visit took place in 1982 due to the outbreak of the Falklands (Malvinas) War. The second visit, in 1987, gathered crowds never seen before in the city.
On March 17, 1992 a bomb exploded in the Israeli Embassy killing 29 and injuring 242. Another explosion, on July 18, 1994 destroyed a building housing several Jewish organizations killing 96 and injuring many more (See AMIA bombing).
Culture
Language variations
Argentines refer to their language as castellano (literally Castilian). The dialect spoken in Buenos Aires (as well as in other large cities like Rosario and Montevideo, Uruguay) is characterized by voseo, yeísmo and aspiration or loss of syllable-final -s. Due to its geographical location, it receives the name of Rioplatense Spanish.
In the early 20th century, Argentina absorbed millions of immigrants, mostly from Italy and Spain. Italian immigrants spoke mostly in their local dialects (mainly Napulitano, Sicilianu and Genovese), and their adoption of Spanish was gradual. The pidgin of Italian dialects and Spanish was called cocoliche. It was used roughly until the 1950s, and today survives mostly as comic relief.
As many Spanish immigrants were from Galicia, to the extent that Spaniards are still called gallegos (Galicians), Galician language and culture had a major presence in the city for most of the 20th century. Descendants of Galician immigrants have led a mini-boom in Celtic music (which also highlighted the Welsh traditions of Patagonia).
Yiddish was common in Buenos Aires, especially in the Balvanera garment district, until the 1960s. A lively Korean language and Chinese language press has developed since the 1980s. Most immigrants learn Spanish and quickly assimilate into city life.
The lunfardo argot originated within the prison population, and spread to all porteños with time. Lunfardo uses words from Italian dialects, and tricks such as inverting the syllables within a word (vesre). Lunfardo is used by porteños mostly in informal settings.
Tango
Many immigrants arrived in Buenos Aires without their families, which led to a significant phenomenon of prostitution starting around 1870. The erotically charged tango dance originated in brothels, but later found a wider audience. In 1902, the Teatro Opera started organizing tango balls. In the 1920s, tango was adopted by the Parisian high society and then all over the world.
The Buenos Aires style of tango music evolved into an elaborated genre. In its heyday, tango had many famous orchestras such as those led by Aníbal Troilo and Juan D'Arienzo, and singers such as Carlos Gardel and Edmundo Rivero.
Buenos Aires now holds an annual "Tango Day" each December 11.
In San Telmo, Sundays are devoted to tango shows on the streets and antiques trade in the bazaars around Dorrego Square.
Miscellaneous
Buenos Aires was home for Argentine writers Jorge Luis Borges, Adolfo Bioy Casares, Ernesto Sábato, Victoria Ocampo and Julio Cortázar (who emigrated to France). International figures who lived in Buenos Aires include René Goscinny, Witold Gombrowicz, Jerry Masucci, and businessmen John S. Reed and Aristotle Onassis.
During the Spanish Civil War and in its aftermath, Buenos Aires provided refuge for many, including philosopher José Ortega y Gasset.
The University of Buenos Aires, which used to be the premier learning institution in South America, has produced five Nobel Prize winners.
For much of the 20th century, Buenos Aires was the cultural capital of the Spanish-speaking world, and many porteños flaunted their riches abroad (famed New York nightclub El Morocco was owned by a porteño playboy). This led to an stereotype of Argentines as vain and arrogant that became widespread in all of Latin America; in neighboring countries, a distinction is made between porteños and people from the provinces, who are excluded from this characterization.
Transportation
Buenos Aires used to be relatively congestion-free for a city of its size. Toll freeways opened in the late 1970s by then-mayor Osvaldo Cacciatore provided fast access to the downtown area, increasing the number of cars coming into the city. During Cacciatore's tenure, the streets of the downtown financial district (roughly one square kilometer in size) were declared off-limits to private cars during daytime.
Following the economic mini-boom of the 1990s, more people started commuting by car, and congestion increased. Most major avenues are gridlocked at peak hours, and congestion also results from people driving from and to weekends in the country.
A majority of commuters use public transportation. An original Buenos Aires invention is the colectivo (a small bus built out of a truck chassis and sitting 21 to 27). Renovation of the fleet is severely lagging, and colectivos are now decried as old, noisy and polluting. The diferenciales (differential-rate buses) have better sitting arrangements and air conditioning, which is a major advantage during the summer.
Buenos Aires has an extensive subway network, known as the subte (short for subterráneo "underground"). Also, all of Argentina's extensive railway network converges on Buenos Aires. Commuter trains are popular with suburbanites, but some lines have serious crime issues.
Black-and-yellow taxis roam the streets at all hours. Some of these are unlicensed (controls are not fully enforced), so visitors are advised to phone a reputable radio-link company and avoid hailing taxis on the street. Limousine services, known as remises, have become more popular in the last few years.
The Buenos Aires international airport, Ministro Pistarini International Airport, is located in the suburb of Ezeiza and is often called simply "Ezeiza". The Aeroparque Jorge Newbery airport, located within city limits near the riverbank, serves mostly domestic traffic.
Barrios
- Main article: Barrios of Buenos Aires
The city is divided into 47 barrios (neighbourhoods) for administrative purposes. The division was originally based on Catholic parroquias (parishes), but has undergone a series of changes since the 1940s.
Sports
Football is a passion for Argentines. The city has many teams playing in the major league. The best-known rivalry is the one between Boca Juniors and River Plate. Other major clubs include San Lorenzo de Almagro and Vélez Sársfield.
Diego Armando Maradona, who was born in a poor suburb of Buenos Aires and is widely hailed as one of the greatest football players ever, started his career with Argentinos Juniors and later played for Boca Juniors (he also played for other clubs, notably Italian side SSC Napoli).
Buenos Aires has been a candidate city for the Summer Olympic Games on three occasions: for the 1956 Games, where it lost by a single vote to Melbourne. It also competed in 1968, losing the 1968 Summer Olympics to Mexico City, which to this date is the only city in Latin America to host the Games. Finally, it bid for the 2004 Games, which ultimately were awarded to Athens. As of 2005, Argentina is the only founding member of the International Olympic Committee that has never hosted the games.
Buenos Aires hosted the first Pan American Games which started on February 25, 1951, as well as the 1950 and 1990 basketball world championships and the 1978 football (soccer) World Cup (Argentina won that cup on June 25, 1978, defeating the Netherlands by a score of 3-1).
Buenos Aires Oscar Gálvez track hosted twenty editions of the Formula One Argentine Grand Prix between 1953 and 1998; its discontinuation was due to financial reasons. The track features local categories on most weekends.
Argentines' preference for horses can be experienced in several ways: horse racing in the Hipódromo Argentino de Palermo racetrack, polo in the Campo Argentino de Polo (located just across Libertador Avenue from the Hipódromo), and pato, a kind of basketball played on horseback (sometimes called "horseball") that has been declared the national game in 1953 by President Juan Perón.
Other popular sports in Buenos Aires are basketball, rugby, tennis, and field hockey.
Tourist attractions and places of interest
- Casa Rosada
- Plaza de Mayo
- Florida Street
- Teatro Colón
- San Telmo
- Puerto Madero
- Palermo Hollywood and Palermo SOHO
- La Boca
- La Recoleta Cemetery
- Aeroparque Jorge Newbery
External links
Travel guide to Buenos Aires from Wikitravel
- Online newspapers
- The Buenos Aires Herald Online edition of a local English language newspaper
- Clarín
- La Nación
- Página 12
- Infobae
- La Prensa
See also
| Barrios of Buenos Aires |
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| Agronomía | Almagro | Balvanera | Barracas | Belgrano | Boedo | Caballito | Chacarita | Coghlan | Colegiales | Constitución | Flores | Floresta | La Boca | La Paternal | Liniers | Mataderos | Monte Castro | Montserrat | Nueva Pompeya | Nuñez | Palermo | Parque Avellaneda | Parque Chacabuco | Parque Patricios | Puerto Madero | Recoleta | Retiro | Saavedra | San Cristóbal | San Nicolás | San Telmo | Vélez Sársfield | Versalles | Villa Crespo | Villa del Parque | Villa Devoto | Villa Lugano | Villa Luro | Villa Mitre | Villa Ortúzar | Villa Pueyrredón | Villa Real | Villa Riachuelo | Villa Santa Rita | Villa Soldati | Villa Urquiza |
