Buenos Aires

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Buenos Aires

The city of Buenos Aires was first settled in 1536 by the explorer Pedro de Mendoza, whose attempt to establish a permanent outpost of the Spanish colonial empire on the banks of the Río de la Plata estuary failed after five difficult years. It was not until 1580 that an expedition from Asunción, Paraguay, led by Juan de Garay, succeeded in permanently settling the city of Buenos Aires (whose name means "good airs or winds" after a popular patron saint of navigators, Nuestra Señora Santa María de Buen Aire). From humble beginnings the city grew to become one of the most important urban centers in the world. Moreover, it came to dominate the rest of the Argentine republic in a manner that has few parallels.

THE CITY

During the Spanish colonial period (1580–1810), the city of Buenos Aires served primarily as an administrative and commercial center. Despite crown restrictions that limited trading activities, the city's strategic location as the principal outlet to the Atlantic for the growing agricultural production of its immensely fertile hinterland led inevitably to its increasing importance within the Spanish realm. In 1618 it became the seat of an imperial governorship and in 1776 was named the fourth viceregal capital of the Americas. At that time, its administrative authority extended through most of southern South America. The population of the city dominated by bureaucrats and merchants increased from some 14,000 people in 1750 to 40,000 by 1800.

The movement for Argentine independence from Spanish control began in the city of Buenos Aires on May 25, 1810, with the convocation of a cabildo abierto (open town meeting) and the replacement of the peninsular viceroy with a creole-dominated junta. Over the next decade the city served as the main center of revolutionary activity as a variety of governing bodies, or triumvirates, sought to lead the break from Spain while retaining the territorial integrity of the viceroyalty. During this period a major split occurred among the creole leadership between Unitarios, those who favored a strong centralized government located in Buenos Aires, and Federales, who championed provincial autonomy. Independence was officially declared in 1816 and confirmed with military victories in the early 1820s.

Independence ended the administrative control the city had once enjoyed over its viceregal dominions, but at the same time it set in motion forces and events that assured Buenos Aires's dominance over the emerging nation it was destined to lead. The elimination of restrictions on trade that came with independence enabled the city to flourish economically. At the same time, the disappearance of the crown protection that had favored certain cities in the interior produced in them a corresponding decline, which led to their subordination to the nation's main port, whose inhabitants became known as porteños. Serving as the capital both of the province of Buenos Aires and of the nation, except for minor interruptions, the city developed a predominance in the nineteenth century that resulted in frequent wars and antagonisms with the rest of the republic. These clashes were resolved to some degree in 1880 with the establishment of a separate federal capital district.

The population growth of Buenos Aires paralleled the city's economic and political expansion. By 1860 the number of porteños had more than doubled since the turn of the century, reaching almost 100,000 in that year. This expansion paled, however, in comparison with that which followed. Between 1869 and 1914 the city's population exploded from 177,000 to 1,577,000, making Buenos Aires one of the world's ten largest cities. By 1914 one in five Argentines lived in the city, and when the surrounding provincial cities of what was called Greater Buenos Aires were included, the proportion reached one in four.

Massive foreign immigration fueled this demographic explosion. Beginning slowly in the mid-nineteenth century and gaining increasing momentum until the outbreak of World War I, waves of immigration brought hundreds of thousands of foreigners to settle in Argentina. The federal capital absorbed many of these: By 1914 one of every two porteños was of foreign birth. About 80 percent of these new arrivals were from Italy and Spain. Also significant within the city was a sizable Jewish community, mostly from Russia, and smaller but important groups from Britain, France, Germany, and the Ottoman Empire.

Rapid economic growth in the country as a whole, which was based primarily on agricultural exports and foreign investment, accompanied the immigration and demographic expansion. This economic growth in turn spurred the modernization of the city. Between 1870 and 1910 Buenos Aires was transformed from an overgrown riverside town to an imposing cosmopolitan metropolis and the major capital city of Latin America. During this period there were extensive public improvements in transportation, sanitation, street paving, and services such as gas, water, and electricity. The city was also the main terminus for Latin America's most extensive railroad system and the site of major new port facilities. Widespread civic beautification programs led some to call Buenos Aires the Paris of South America. Even with its growth and change, however, the capital retained the bureaucratic-commercial character that had marked it since the colonial period.

The modernization and beautification of Buenos Aires continued throughout the twentieth century. By the 1940s the city boasted a public transportation system that included Latin America's first major subway as well as streetcars, buses, and taxis. To accommodate these new conveyances, the colonial grid pattern of narrow, congested streets was broken by the construction of broad new avenues to open up the capital's downtown and link it with the rapidly growing suburban districts. At the same time, imposing multistory residential and commercial buildings appeared in the center and near north side, complementing the horizontal growth of the capital.

Another factor in the growth of Buenos Aires in the twentieth century was industrialization. Between 1914 and 1964, for example, the number of industrial establishments in the metropolitan area grew from 17,000 to 73,000 and the number of people employed in them increased from 308,000 to 726,000. Through the twentieth century, Buenos Aires and its surrounding suburbs contained 40 percent of all Argentine industry and more than 50 percent of those who toiled in industrial occupations.

This growth of industry has had important demographic consequences. Opportunities for employment in the expanding manufacturing sector of Buenos Aires encouraged native-born Argentines from the interior to relocate to the capital and its environs. Beginning in earnest in the 1930s, hundreds of thousands of provincianos undertook the trek to the capital, largely compensating for the decline in foreign immigration following the Great Depression. Settling primarily in the suburban areas surrounding the capital, they contributed significantly to the rapid growth of Greater Buenos Aires, which by the early twenty-first century contained more than three times as many inhabitants (10,000,000) as the capital (3,000,000). The continuing flow into the metropolitan area maintained its demographic predominance: It is now home to one in three Argentines.

The pattern of growth and settlement in Buenos Aires has been from the central core outward. Foreign-born immigrants and native-born migrants alike have gravitated toward the more open and accessible outlying districts of the city and its suburbs, which have grown at phenomenal rates. Despite this outward expansion, the central historical core has remained the vital heart of the city and, in many respects, of the country, as the principal location of the nation's main governmental, commercial, and financial buildings, and as the site of its most important social and cultural institutions.

A coalition of national and local leaders has directed the growth of Buenos Aires. As the seat of national administration, the city has been officially under the jurisdiction of federal authorities who retain ultimate control over its governance and provide such essential services as fire and police protection and education. From 1880 to 1996, local administration was under the direction of an intendente (intendant) appointed by the national government, who served in conjunction with an elected concejo deliberante (city council). Since 1996 the intendant has been popularly elected, a change meant to give local government greater autonomy and authority.

Containing from 10 to 15 percent of the nation's population, Buenos Aires has been a valued prize for political parties competing in national elections. The capital has also been the locale for most of the principal political developments in the nation's history. These events have ranged from the street rallies and demonstrations of democratic election campaigns, to the frequent military takeovers that marked the nation between 1930 and 1976, to the popular protests related to the "Dirty War" of the 1970s and 1980s, to the economic crisis of 2001–2002.

During the 1990s the city underwent some major transformations, driven by private-sector investment. These included the renovation of the port area, Puerto Madero, into a complex of swank restaurants, apartments, and bars and the refurbishing of the centrally-located Mercado de Abasto (Provisions Market) into an upscale shopping center, accompanied by a process of gentrification that led to the removal of low-cost housing and its inhabitants from the surrounding area. At the same time, United States-style shopping malls proliferated to the point that by the late 1990s Buenos Aires boasted one-third of the national total (with less than 10 percent of the population) and the metropolitan area half the country's megastores. In addition, in the downtown area and to the north so-called "smart" multistory office buildings designed for up-to-date computer use began to dominate the cityscape along with numerous international hotels. In well-to-do neighborhoods such as the Barrio Norte (Northern Neighborhood) and Belgrano, exclusive self-contained torre (garden tower) high-rise condominiums, offering modern amenities and, through controlled access, personal security, became increasingly popular for those who could afford them. In the northern suburbs, connected to the center of the city by a growing network of superhighways, gated residential communities offered similar security and comfort for those who preferred not to live in the capital itself.

By the beginning of the twenty-first century, Buenos Aires and its surrounding region, representing the tenth largest urban agglomeration in the world, aspired to "global city" status. While size and continued modernization underpinned these aspirations, problems of infrastructure and environmental issues clouded the city's prospects. Moreover, development remained uneven. Whereas the downtown held its own and the northern neighborhoods and suburbs flourished, the southern part of the city and many of the suburbs to the south and west, where most of the metropolitan area's villas miserias (shan-tytowns) were located, languished. Indeed, this historical division was accentuated both by the growth of exclusive residences and suburban enclaves and a severe economic crisis in the first years of the new century. It seemed likely, therefore, that aspirations to "global city" status would not be fully realized while these obstacles and inequalities persisted.

THE PROVINCE

The city of Buenos Aires has historically had a close and significant relationship with the surrounding province of the same name. Since independence, the province has been Argentina's largest, wealthiest, and most influential. Much of this influence derives from the fact that it contains the heart of the grassy plain known as the Pampa, the principal location and source of Argentina's great agricultural wealth. Almost half of the nation's sheep and cattle are raised in the province, which also produces much of the country's wheat, corn, oats, and barley. For much of its history, the land was controlled by a small group of owners called estancieros, whose family-owned estates (estancias) were passed down from generation to generation. For much of the period after independence it was the estancieros who dominated both provincial and national political life.

The province of Buenos Aires has experienced many of the same socioeconomic changes as has the city. Foreign immigration had a great impact, dramatically changing the province's social and demographic composition. Overall, between 1857 and 1941 the province received the greatest number of immigrants of any area in the country, slightly more than two million people, mostly from Italy and Spain. By 1914 foreigners represented more than one in three of the province's inhabitants. Beginning in the 1930s, however, the province witnessed a massive internal migration, especially to the suburban counties (partidos) of Greater Buenos Aires. In 1914, these counties contained a total population of 458,000 persons (22 percent of the provincial total); by 2000 that number had skyrocketed to 10,000,000 (80 percent of the provincial total). This population growth contributed to a significant urbanization of the province as a whole, especially in Greater Buenos Aires but also in such cities as Bahía Blanca, La Plata (the provincial capital), Mar del Plata, and Tandil. Much of the major industrial growth of the post-1930 era has also taken place within the province, especially in Greater Buenos Aires and along the coastal area in general.

Being the country's largest province in terms of population with 30 to 35 percent of the national total has meant a corresponding political importance. With the single largest concentration of the country's voters, this rich electoral bounty has often made the province the scene of some of the country's fiercest—and occasionally most violent—political struggles. Underscoring the electoral importance of the province is the fact that in only one instance (1916) has an Argentine captured the nation's presidency without also carrying the province. Ironically, no governor or other major political figure of the province has been able to win the presidency in an open election despite the enormous electoral advantages that control of the provincial administration provides.