Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina. It is geographically located on the southern shore of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent. Greater Buenos Aires is the third largest conurbation in Latin America, with a population of about 13 million.
People from Buenos Aires are called porteños (people of the port).
Seaman Juan Díaz de Solís, navigating in the name of Spain, was the first European to reach the Río de la Plata in 1516. 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[5] (literally "City of Our Lady Saint Mary of the Fair Winds") on February 2, 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 centre.
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, who arrived by sailing down the Paraná River from Asunción (now the capital of Paraguay).
During the British invasions of the Río de la Plata, British forces attacked Buenos Aires twice, in 1806 and 1807, but were repelled both times by local militias. Ultimately, on May 25, 1810, while Spain was occupied with the Peninsular War, and after a week of mostly pacific demonstrations, the criollo citizens of Buenos Aires successfully ousted the Spanish Viceroy and established a provisional government. May 25 is now celebrated as a national holiday (May Revolution Day). Formal independence from Spain was later declared in 1816.
By the 1920s Buenos Aires was a favored destination for immigrants from Europe, as well as from Argentina's provinces and neighboring countries.
In the 1970s, the city suffered from the fighting between left-wing revolutionary movements (Montoneros, E.R.P. and F.A.R.) and the right-wing paramilitary group Triple A, supported by Isabel Perón, who became president of Argentina in 1974 after Juan Perón's death.
The military coup of 1976, led by Jorge Rafael Videla, only escalated this conflict; the "Dirty War" resulted in 30,000 desaparecidos (people kidnapped and killed by the military during the Military Government years). The silent marches of their mothers (Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo) are a well-known image of Argentines suffering during those times.
The city was visited by Pope John Paul II twice: in 1982, due to the outbreak of the Falklands War (Spanish: Guerra de las Malvinas/Guerra del Atlántico Sur), and a second visit in 1987, which gathered crowds never before seen in the city.
On March 17, 1992 a bomb exploded in the Israeli Embassy, killing 29 and injuring 242. Another explosion on July 18, 1994 destroyed a building housing several Jewish organizations, killing 85 and injuring many more.
As of the census of 2001, there are 12,129,819 people residing in the city and 31 surrounding districts, making Buenos Aires home to one in three Argentines.
The racial makeup of the city is 88.9% White, 7% Mestizo, 2.1% Asian and 2% Black. The majority of porteños have European origins, with Italian and Spanish descent being the most common. The Jewish community in Greater Buenos Aires numbers around 250,000, and is the largest in Latin America. The first major East Asian community in Buenos Aires was the Japanese, mainly from Okinawa. Traditionally, Japanese-Argentines were noted as flower growers; in the city proper, there was a Japanese near-monopoly in dry cleaning. Starting in the 1970s there has been an important influx of immigration from China and Korea, the latter known mostly for small, family-owned supermarkets.
Religion
Most inhabitants are Roman Catholic, though a number of studies over the past few decades suggest that fewer than 20% are actively practicing.
Climate
The city has a humid subtropical climate. The average year temperature is 17.6 °C (63.7 °F). The city gets 1,147 mm (45 in) of rainfall per year. The average high temperatures ranges from 30.4 °C (86.7 °F) in January, to 14.9 °C (58.8 °F) in Winter. Rain can be expected at any time of year and hailstorms are not unusual. The last snowfall occurred recently on July 9, 2007. It was the first major snowfall in the city in 89 years.
Culture
Strongly influenced by European culture, Buenos Aires is sometimes referred to as the "Paris of South America". Buenos Aires is the site of the Teatro Colón, one of the world's greatest opera houses. The city has numerous museums related to history, fine arts, modern arts, decorative arts, popular arts, sacred art, arts and crafts, theatre and popular music. It has a world-famous zoo and Botanical Garden, a large number of landscaped parks and squares, as well as churches and places of worship of many denominations, many of which are architecturally noteworthy.
Language
Known as Rioplatense Spanish, Buenos Aires' Spanish (and also in other cities like Rosario and Montevideo, Uruguay) is characterised by voseo, yeísmo and aspiration of s in various contexts. The porteño accent is closer to the Neapolitan dialect of Italian than any other spoken language.
In the early 20th century, Argentina absorbed millions of immigrants, many of them Italians, who spoke mostly in their local dialects (mainly Neapolitan, Sicilian and Genoan). Their adoption of Spanish was gradual, creating a pidgin of Italian dialects and Spanish that was called cocoliche. Its usage declined around the 1950s.
Many Spanish immigrants were from Galicia, to the extent that Spaniards are still generically referred to in Argentina as gallegos (Galicians). Galician language, cuisine and culture had a major presence in the city for most of the 20th century. In recent years, descendants of Galician immigrants have led a mini-boom in Celtic music (which also highlighted the Welsh traditions of Patagonia). Korean and Chinese have become significant since the 1970s. Most of the newer immigrants learn Spanish quickly and assimilate into city life.
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