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Historical outline
For thousands of years,there have been occupants on the fertile plains and coastal areas of Argentina,and this was also the case when the first Europeans arrived in 1516.It was the Spaniard Juan Diás de Solís who discovered the area when he sailed up the La Plata River, Río de la Plata.However,the expedition of Días de Solís was brief,as he and the other sailors were presumably killed by local Indians.
More than 20 years passed before a Spanish expedition searching for gold in 1536 founded the
first city,Santa Maria del Buen Ayre,the forerunner of today’s Buenos Aires,which originally meant Good Winds. Santa Maria del Buen Ayre was situated in the present San Telmodistrict.The leader of the expedition was Pedro de Mendoza.
In 1541 frequent attacks from local Indians forced the citizens of the new city to escape over the ocean,and the area was once again without European colonisation.This lasted until 1580,
when a permanent settlement was established by Juan de Garay,who sailed from Asunción by the
Paraná River.
In 1600 to 1700, the Spanish colony administration tried to get all trade from South America to go physically through Lima in Peru for tax reasons. This arrangement was a nuisance to the traders in Buenos Aires, and it caused a rising opposition to the Spaniards from the citizens of the city,who were already called Portenõs,”those from the harbour”.
At the end of the 18th century, the pressure to get an easier way of trading with the outside world was so big that the Spanish King Carlos III declared Buenos Aires a free port.However, the new status did not create the immediate,huge progress as hoped for,and with the French revolution in mind,the opposition against the colonial power increased.Spain was gradually weakened,and in 1806 to 1807 Great Britain invaded Buenos Aires twice but was both times defeated by local military units.
In 1810 the citizens of Buenos Aires took advantage of the Spanish weakening. They overthrew the Spanish vice king and established an independent province government, which was not immediately recognized as the government of Argentina.However,it was the beginning of Argentina’s independence,and today the event is celebrated as the national revolutionary day.
1816 Argentina achieved formal independence,and Buenos Aires – as the absolute centre of the
country – became the capital.Buenos Aires was also the place where the liberal-minded population of the country went to,and this created a cultural distance to the more conservative population of the provinces on the countryside.This difference still exists today.
In the 19th century,France and Great Britain tried to internationally strengthen their political positions,and in the 1840’es the countries’ fleets took turns besieging Buenos Aires. However,Buenos Aires did not surrender and therefore stayed an independent nation.In the last half of the 19th century,the surrounding areas were connected to Buenos Aires with railways, and the transportation of raw materials to processing in or discharging from the city created an enormous growth, which made Buenos Aires a metropolis as great as the biggest metropolises of Europe.
Along with the economic success followed a comprehensive cultural development of Buenos Aires, which did not want to be inferior to the European cities.Palaces were constructed,and Teatro Colón was built as one of the leading opera houses of the world. Now celebrities often visited
Buenos Aires,which was the most progressive city in South America.The continent’s highest building and the first metro line were constructed here.Argentina was among the wealthiest countries of the world,not least because of an extremely large meat export.
In the 1920es,many European immigrants came to Argentina,and many stayed in and around Buenos Aires.Today the population of Porteños,far more often than the populations of other South American cities,come from European peoples and not from local Indians.The immigration created slums because temporary and bad homes sprang up close to the factories.This was the beginning of the city’s social problems,which were present for the next decades under different regimes.
After a coup d’état in 1943,Juan Péron was made Work and Welfare Minister,and he quickly obtained a high level of popularity,not least with the working class. He was forced to resign in 1945 and was arrested shortly after.Immediately people took to the streets,and a legendary demonstration on Plaza de Mayo started the Peronism.
The following year Juan Péron became president with more than half of the Argentine votes. His
politics aimed towards strengthening the country’s workers. He nationalised a lot of industry and tried to speed up the industrial development.Despite the great popularity and ambitious reform programme of Juan and Eva (Evita) Perón,Argentina got financial problems,and in 1955
Perón was brought down in a military coup d’état.
Ever since 1945,demonstrations have been held on Plaza de Mayo because of social problems or as reactions against changing governments and regimes.After many years in exile,Juan Perón
returned to Argentina and was elected president again in 1973.He died in 1974 after which
Argentina changed to a junta regime.
The country’s and the city’s economic difficulties have not been solved, but despite a lost war in 1982 against Great Britain over the Islas Malvinas/the Falklands Islands and big social barriers,Buenos Aires is characterised by an optimism and a cheerfulness of the indomitable
Porteños.In recent years,new investments have been made in the city,among other things the harbour area has been developed into the new Puerto Madero.