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Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires (BWEH-naus EYE-ress, meaning "Good Winds" in Spanish) is the capital of Argentina and its largest city and port, as well as one of the largest in South America. The city proper has a population of close to 3 million, while the Greater Buenos Aires metropolitan area has more than 12 million inhabitants. Buenos Aires is located at the southern side of the La Plata River (Rio De La Plata, which can also mean "river of silver") (River Plate), on the southeast coast of the South American continent. (Montevideo, Uruguay is located across the river.)

The population of Buenos Aires consists primarily of Argentines of Spanish, mestizo, and Italian descent, although there are sizable communities of people with Arab, Jewish, Armenian, Chinese, and Korean origins. Most inhabitants are Roman Catholic, and Spanish is the primary language.

Buenos Aires is the Federal Capital of Argentina and has been accorded autonomous status in the 1994 constitution (previously, the mayor was elected directly by the President of the Republic). The suburbs located on Gran Buenos Aires (Greater Buenos Aires) belong to Buenos Aires Province, but the autonomous city of Buenos Aires does not.

Economy
Buenos Aires is the financial, industrial, commercial, and social 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.

The people of Buenos Aires are known as porteños (people of the port), recognizing the huge historical importance of the port in the development of the nation.

To the west of Buenos Aires is the Pampa, the most productive agricultural region of Argentina. As a result 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, paper, clothing, and beverages.

History
Spaniard seaman Juan Díaz de Solís discovered the La Plata River in 1516 but his expedition was cut short by an indigenous people's attack in which he was killed.

The city was first founded as Santa María del Buen Aire 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 Virgen de Bonaria (Our Lady of the Fair Winds) of Cagliari, Sardinia. The location of Mendoza's city was on today's San Telmo.

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, after he sailed down the Paraná river from Asunción.

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 extravagant deviation 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. These placating actions did not have the desired effect, and the porteños became even more desirous of independence from Spain. Ultimately, on May 25, 1810, while the metropoli 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 (this date is now celebrated as a national holiday). On July 9, 1816 a congress gathered in Tucumán declared the independence from Spain, which did not officially recognize it until 1862.

1888 German map of Buenos AiresRailroad construction during the 19th century only increased the economic power of Buenos Aires as raw materials flowed into its factories. By the 1920s Buenos Aires was a favoured destination for immigrants from Europe, and large shantytowns started growing around the city's industrial areas, leading to extensive social problems.

At the same time, Buenos Aires was a multicultural city that ranked itself with the European capitals.

An aggressive campaign of slum elimination, combined with the development of a effective public transport system in the 1970s and 1980s alleviated many of the development problems.

Since the 1970s Argentina and Buenos Aires has been famous for the desaparecidos, of which the signs could be seen in the Plaza de Mayo (next to the Casa Rosada) where the mothers of these desaparecidos used to protest.

Buenos Aires hosted the 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 the final on June 25, 1978, defeating the Netherlands by a score of 3-1).

On March 17, 1992 a bomb exploded in the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires 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.

The Buenos Aires international airport, Ministro Pistarini International Airport, is located in the suburb of Ezeiza and is often called simply "Aeropuerto Ezeiza". The Aeroparque Jorge Newbery airport is located within city limits and serves domestic traffic.

Culture of Buenos Aires

Immigration and Language Variations
In the early 20th century, Argentina absorbed millions of immigrants, mostly from Italy and Spain. The Italian community's adoption of Spanish was gradual. The pidgin of Italian and Spanish was called cocoliche; it fell out of use with time, and today survives in a few sentences, usually uttered for comic relief.

The lunfardo argot originated within the jail population, and spread to all porteños with time. Lunfardo uses words from several dialects of Italian, mainly Sicilian, and tricks such as inverting syllabes 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 1890. Its most significant product is the tango dance, which originated in brothels but later found a wider audience. In 1902, the Teatro Opera started organizing tango balls. In the 1920's, 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 famous Aníbal Troilo and Juan D'Arienzo, and singers like 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 an antiques bazaar around Dorrego Square.

Miscellaneous
The Colón Theater is one of the world's best-known opera houses.

Buenos Aires was home for writers Jorge Luis Borges, Ernesto Sabato, and Julio Cortázar (who emigrated to France).

The University of Buenos Aires produced several Nobel Prize winners.

Barrios
The city is divided into 47 barrios (neighborhoods).

See: List of Buenos Aires Barrios

Football (soccer)
Football is a passion for Argentines. The city has many teams playing in the major league. The best-known rivalry is the one between River Plate and Boca Juniors.

Diego Armando Maradona, widely hailed as one of the greatest players ever, started his career in Argentinos Juniors and later played in Boca Juniors (he also played with the national team and several sides in Europe, notably SSC Napoli).

See also: Cities of the world, List of national capitals