Buenos Aires travel guide — Buenos Aires tourism and travel information

Buenos Aires travel guide

about Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires (BWAY-nos EYE-res, meaning "Good Air(s)" in Spanish) is the capital and the largest city in Argentina and one of the largest in South America. The city itself has a population of almost 3 million, while the larger metropolitan area has more than 12 million inhabitants. Buenos Aires is located at the southern side of the mouth of the Plata River (Rio de la Plata), on the southeast coast of the South American continent. (Montevideo is on the northern side of the mouth, across the very wide river.)

The population of Buenos Aires consists primarily of Argentinians of Spanish and Italian descent, although there are sizable communities of people with Arab, Jewish, Armenian, and Korean origins. A small percentage are of indigenous descent. The majority of inhabitants are Roman Catholic, and Spanish is the primary language.

The city of Buenos Aires proper is the Federal Capital of Argentina, and has been granted special status as Buenos Aires Autonomous City. The suburbs which make up Greater Buenos Aires or Gran Buenos Aires belong to Buenos Aires Province, but the city of Buenos Aires (Spanish: Ciudad de Buenos Aires) does not.

Buenos Aires history

Spaniard seaman Pedro de Solís discovered the La Plata River in 1516. The site of the present city was founded as Santa María del Buen Aire ("Holy Mary of the Good Air") on February 2, 1536 by a Spanish gold-seeking expedition under Pedro de Mendoza. However, attacks by 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 departed Asunción. From its earliest days the success of Buenos Aires depended on trade, although this trade was initially illegal. The Spanish administration of the 17th and 18th centuries insisted that any and 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 of the Spanish authority within the inhabitants of Buenos Aires.

Sensing this instability, Charles III of Spain progressively eased the trade restrictions and finally declared Buenos Aires to be an open port in the late 1700s. These placating actions did not have the desired effect however, 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 expelled the Viceroy from Spain 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.

Railroad 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 extensive shanty towns developed in and around the city's industrial areas, leading to extensive social problems. It was at the same time 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 (next to the Casa Rosada) where the mothers of these desaparecidos used to protest.

On February 25, 1951 the first Pan American Games were held here.

On March 17, 1992 a bomb exploded in the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires killing 29 and injuring 242.

An explosion on July 18, 1994 destroyed a building housing several Jewish organizations killing 96 and injuring many more.

Buenos Aires has an international airport called Ministro Pistarini International Airport (located in the nearby city of Ezeiza) often called simply "Aeropuerto Ezeiza", and a local airport called Aeroparque Jorge Newbery.

Near cities to Buenos Aires

• La Plata travel guide 58 km
• Montevideo travel guide 210 km
• Rosario travel guide 280 km
• Mar del Plata travel guide 390 km
• Santa Fe travel guide 390 km
• Uruguaiana travel guide 550 km
• Bahia Blanca travel guide 570 km
• Cordoba travel guide 640 km
• Pelotas travel guide 650 km
• Sao Borja travel guide 700 km

Near webcams to Buenos Aires

• Buenos Aires - Banco Itaú webcam 20 km
• Santos webcam 580 km
• Porto Alegre - Rio Guaíba webcam 840 km
• Porto Alegre webcam 850 km
• Porto Alegre webcam 850 km
• Tucuman webcam 1 100 km
• Santiago de Chile - Apoquindo / Sector E webcam 1 100 km
• Las Condes webcam 1 100 km
• Santiago de Chile webcam 1 100 km
• Santiago webcam 1 100 km

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