Buenos Aires Argentina

Description: Buenos Aires officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South America’s southeastern coast. “Buenos Aires” is Spanish for “fair winds” or “good airs”. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha global city, according to the Globalization and World Cities Research Network (GaWC) 2020 ranking.

Population: 15,370,000

Demographics: The majority of porteños have European origins, mostly from the Andalusian, Galician, Asturian, and Basque regions of Spain, and Italian regions of Calabria, Liguria, Piedmont, Lombardy, Sicily and Campania. Unrestricted waves of European immigrants to Argentina starting in the mid-19th century significantly increased the country’s population, even causing the number of porteños to triple between 1887 and 1915 from 500,000 to 1.5 million. Other significant European origins include French, Portuguese, German, Irish, Norwegian, Polish, Swedish, Greek, Czech, Albanian, Croatian, Slovenian, Dutch, Russian, Serbian, English, Scottish, Slovak, Hungarian and Bulgarian. In the 1980s and 1990s, there was a small wave of immigration from Romania and Ukraine. There is a minority of criollo citizens, dating back to the Spanish colonial days. The Criollo and Spanish-Indigenous (mestizo) population in the city has increased mostly as a result of immigration from the inner northern provinces and from other countries such as neighboring Bolivia, Paraguay, Chile and Peru, since the second half of the 20th century. The Jewish community in Greater Buenos Aires numbers around 250,000 and is the largest in the country. The city is also eighth largest in the world in terms of Jewish population. Most are of Northern, Western, Central, and Eastern European Ashkenazi origin, primarily Swedish, Dutch, Polish, German, and Russian Jews, with a significant Sephardic minority, mostly made up of Syrian Jews.

History: In 1516, navigator and explorer Juan Díaz de Solís, navigating in the name of Spain, was the first European to reach the Río de la Plata. His expedition was cut short when he was killed during an attack by the native Charrúa tribe in what is now Uruguay. 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”) after Our Lady of Bonaria (Patroness Saint of Sardinia) on 2 February 1536 by a Spanish expedition led by Pedro de Mendoza. During the British invasions of the Río de la Plata, British forces attacked Buenos Aires twice. In 1806 the British successfully invaded Buenos Aires, but an army from Montevideo led by Santiago de Liniers defeated them. In the brief period of British rule, the viceroy Rafael Sobremonte managed to escape to Córdoba and designated this city as capital. Buenos Aires became the capital again after its recapture by Argentine forces, but Sobremonte could not resume his duties as viceroy. In the 19th century the city was blockaded twice by naval forces: by the French from 1838 to 1840, and later by an Anglo-French expedition from 1845 to 1848. Both blockades failed to bring the Argentine government to the negotiating table, and the foreign powers eventually desisted from their demands. During most of the 19th century, the political status of the city remained a sensitive subject. It was already the capital of Buenos Aires Province, and between 1853 and 1860 it was the capital of the seceded State of Buenos Aires. In 1996, following the 1994 reform of the Argentine Constitution, the city held its first mayoral elections under the new statutes, with the mayor’s title formally changed to “Head of Government”. The winner was Fernando de la Rúa, who would later become President of Argentina from 1999 to 2001.

Elevation: 25 m

Climate: Temperate climate. Average annual temperature in Buenos Aires is 18 C (64 F), the average for July is 12 C (54 F), the average for January is 25 C (77 F).

Attractions: Puerto Madero, Recoleta, Jardin Japones, Calle Defensa, Catedral Primada, Palermo

Airports: Ezeiza International Airport EZE

Distance To City Centre: 30 km

Commute Length: 30 min

Average Transportation Cost: 50 USD

Traffic Hours: 6:30 am – 9:30 am, 4:30 pm – 7:30 pm