History of Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires is the capital, and largest city, of Argentina, currently the third-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.

The city has seen economic booms that brought in stunning wealth as well as economic meltdowns that have driven the population into poverty. Here is its history

The city of Buenos Aires was first established as Ciudad de Nuestra Señora Santa María del Buen Ayre (literally "City of Our Lady Saint Mary of the Fair Winds") on 2 February 1536 by a Spanish expedition led by Pedro de Mendoza. The city founded by Mendoza was located in what is today the San Telmo district of Buenos Aires, south of the city center.

The city was well-located to control all trade in the region containing present-day Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay and parts of Bolivia, and it thrived. In 1617 the province of Buenos Aires was removed from control by Asunción, and the city welcomed its first bishop in 1620. As the city grew, it became too powerful for the local indigenous tribes to attack, but became the target of European pirates and privateers. At first, much of the growth of Buenos Aires was in illicit trade, as all official trade with Spain had to go through Lima.

Immigration

As the city industrialized in the early twentieth century, it opened its doors to immigrants, mostly from Europe. Large numbers of Spanish and Italians came, and their influence is still strong in the city. There were also Welsh, British, Germans and Jews, many of whom passed through Buenos Aires on their way to establish settlements in the interior. Many more Spanish arrived during and shortly after the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939). The Perón regime (1946-1955) allowed Nazi war criminals to migrate to Argentina, including the infamous Dr. Mengele, although they did not come in large enough numbers to significantly change the nation’s demographics. Recently, Argentina has seen migration from Korea, China, Eastern Europe and other parts of Latin America. Argentina has celebrated Immigrant’s Day on September 4 since 1949.

Immigration in Argentina, from that time on, can be divided in several major stages:

· Spanish colonization starting in the 16th century, integrating the indigenous inhabitants (see Population history of American indigenous peoples).

· European immigration in the 19th century, focused on colonization and sponsored by the government (sometimes on lands "freed" of the native inhabitants by the Conquest of the Desert in the last quarter of the century).

· The forced introduction of blacks brought from Africa to work as slaves in the colony between the 17th and 19th centuries.

· Mostly urban immigration during the era of rapid growth in the late 19th century (from 1880 onwards) and the first half of the 20th century, before and after World War I and also after the Spanish Civil War.

· Economic migrants from Korea, China, Latin America and from Eastern Europe in the late 20th century and early 21st century.

Since its unification as a country and before, Argentine rulers intended the country to welcome productive immigration, albeit selectively. Article 25 of the 1853 Constitution reads:

The Federal Government will encourage European immigration, and it will not restrict, limit or burden with any taxes the entrance into Argentine territory of foreigners who come with the goal of working the land, improving the industries and teach the sciences and the arts

La Boca is a neighborhood (barrio) of Buenos Aires. It is one of Buenos Aires’s 47 barrios. La Boca is located in the city’s south-east near its port. The barrio of Barracas is to the west; San Telmo and Puerto Madero are to the north.La Boca is one of the oldest, most colorful neighborhood in Buenos Aires. The neighborhood was settled and built by Italian immigrants that worked in the warehouses and meatpacking plants in the area. La Boca is partly an artist colony, and mostly a working-class neighborhood.It retains a strong European flavour, with many of its early settlers being from the Italian city of Genoa. In fact the name has a strong assonance with the genoese neighborhood of Boccadasse (or Bocadaze in genoese dialect), and some people believe that the Buenos Aires’ barrio was indeed named after it or maybe because it is by he mouth of the river (Boca means mouth).. After a lengthy general strike, La Boca seceded from Argentina in 1882, and the rebels raised the Genoese flag, which was immediately torn down personally by then President Julio Argentino Roca

Beautiful Accommodations in Buenos Aires