History of Buenos Aires
The city was first founded in 1536 by a Spanish gold-seeking expedition under Pedro de Mendoza; however, attacks by indigenous peoples forced the settlers in 1539 to move to Asunción (now the capital of Paraguay), and in 1541 the old site was burned. Juan de Garay, who set out from Asunción, began a second and permanent settlement in 1580. Although Spain long neglected Buenos Aires in favor of the riches of Mexico and Peru, the settlement’s growth was enhanced by the development of trade, much of it contraband. In 1617 the province of Buenos Aires was separated from the administration of Asunción and was given its own governor; a bishopric was established there in 1620. During the 17th century the city ceased to be in danger by indigenous peoples, but French, Portuguese, and Danish raids were frequent.
Buenos Aires remained subordinate to the Spanish viceroy in Peru until 1776, when it became the capital of a newly created viceroyalty of the Rio de la Plata, including much of present-day Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, and Bolivia. Prosperity increased with the gradual removal of restrictions on trade, which formerly had to pass through Lima, Peru. The creation of an open port at Buenos Aires by Charles III of Spain, however, only made the citizens more desirous of separation from the Spanish Empire. In 1806, when Spain was allied with France during the Napoleonic Wars, British troops invaded Buenos Aires; their expulsion by the colonial militia without Spanish help further stimulated the drive for independence from Spain. Another British attack was repelled the following year. On May 25, 1810 (now celebrated as a national holiday), armed citizens of the cabildo (town council) successfully demanded the resignation of the Spanish viceroy and established a provisional representative government. This action inaugurated the Latin American revolt against Spanish rule. Argentina’s official independence on July 9, 1816 was followed by a long conflict between the Unitarians, strongest in Buenos Aires province, who advocated a centralized government dominated by the city of Buenos Aires, and the federalists, mostly from the interior provinces, who supported provincial autonomy and equality. In 1853 the city and province of Buenos Aires refused to participate in a constituent congress and seceded from Argentina. National political unity was finally achieved when B. Mitre became Argentina’s president in 1862.
The name Argentina is derived from the Latin argentums, meaning silver and goes back to the first voyages made by the Spanish conquerors to the Rio de la Plata. The survivors of the shipwrecked expedition mounted by Juan Diaz de Solis found indigenous people in the region who gave them silver objects as gifts. The news about the legendary Sierra del Plata (a mountain rich in silver) reached Spain around 1524. Since then, the Spaniards call the river of Solis, Rio de la Plata (River of the Silver).
1-27-06
We had a wonderful day in Montevideo, Uruguay. We took a taxi with Freddy and Steve to the Plaza of Independence. There we saw these incredible buildings and markets. We also saw this huge and really cool architectural opera building with these enormous shiny chandeliers. We also went through a pedestrian street where they had all these markets where you could buy hand made jewelry or other things like art work or antiques. While walking through the pedestrian street we got to see these interesting looking statues the people of Montevideo had built of people and bulls and other things. We also sat down and had coca’ cola in the market it was so good to drink coke out of glass bottle. Guess what I saw that is in North America everywhere? MacDonald’s!!!!!! What is MacDonald’s doing in a place this far? I thought it was very weird to see it here.
Well talk to you all later Always,
Alemitu
From Winnie:
In Montevideo Carter and I had one of those frustrating experiences – based solely on not knowing the language. There was a “free” shuttle from the ship to the main Plazas. Of course, there was an ulterior motive. Once on the shuttle, they drove us around and dropped us off in a suspect location to “visit” one of their leather shops. Since we didn’t know where we were and couldn’t speak the language, we needed to wait until they picked us up. Carter did buy a belt. We kept asking “Plaza? Plaza?” and the driver assured us that we were going to the Plaza. Well, the next stop was a gift shop specializing in sweaters. We must have waited for about 30 minutes for the next shuttle bus and then the same conversation ensued, “Plaza?” and we were assured we were going to the Plaza. Well, the next stop was back on the ship. Crazy! We figured the taxi was the way to go when we tried again in the afternoon.
Winnie
January 27, 2006
Welcome to Buenos Aires, Argentina
Buenos Aires, the capital of Argentina, is located on the Rio de la Plata. In its center are the Plaza de Mayo, a square whose buildings include the Casa Rosada (pink house), the office of the Argentine president, and the cabildo, the former meeting place of the colonial town council and now a national museum. The Avenida de Mayo extends from the square to the Palace of the National Congress. Other famous streets are the Avenida 9 de Julio (commemorating the date of Argentina's independence from Spain, July 9, 1816), said to be the world's widest boulevard; Calle Florida, the main shopping thoroughfare; and the Avenida de Corrientes, which is the nucleus of the theater and nightclub district, often called the Broadway of Argentina.
Buenos Aires also has many beautiful parks, including Palmero Park. The cathedral (completed 1804) is a well-known landmark containing the tomb of Jose de San Martan. Among the numerous educational, scientific, and cultural institutions are the University of Buenos Aires and several private universities; the National Library; the Teatro Colan, one of the world's most famous opera houses; and the Museum of Latin American Art. La Prensa and La Nacian are daily newspapers famous throughout the Spanish-speaking world. The city has a subway system and is a railroad hub as well as a center of inland seaborne traffic.
Language in Buenos Aires
In the early 20th century, Argentina absorbed millions of immigrants, mostly from Italy and Spain. Italian immigrants spoke mostly local dialects (mainly Nnapulitano, Sicilianu and Genoese), and their adoption of Spanish was gradual. The pidgin of Italian dialects and Spanish was called cocoliche. It was used roughly until the 1950s, and today survives mostly as comic relief. The lunfardo argot originated within the prison population, and spread to all with time. Lunfardo uses words from Italian dialects, and tricks such as inverting the syllables within a word. Lunfardo is used mostly in informal settings. Yiddish was common in Buenos Aires, especially in the Balvanera garment district, until the 1960s. A lively Korean language and Chinese language press has developed since the 1980s, but younger immigrants assimilate into Spanish quickly. The dialect of Spanish spoken in Buenos Aires (as well as in other large cities like Rosario and Montevideo, Uruguay) is characterized by voseo, yeasmo and aspiration or loss of syllable-final -s. Due to its geographical location it receives the name of Rioplatense Spanish.
Buenos Aires Economy
One of the largest cities of Latin America, Buenos Aires is Argentina’s chief port and its financial, industrial, commercial, and social center. Located on the eastern edge of the Pampa, Argentina’s most productive agricultural region, and linked with Uruguay, Paraguay, and Brazil by a great inland river system, the city is the distribution hub and trade outlet for a vast area. The historical importance of its port, one of the world’s busiest, has led the citizens of Buenos Aires to call themselves “people of the port”. Meat and dairy products, hides, wool, flax, and linseed oil are the chief exports. Buenos Aires, the most heavily industrialized city of Argentina, is a major food-processing center, with huge meatpacking and refrigeration plants and flourmills. Other leading industries are metalworking, automobile manufacturing, oil refining, printing and publishing, machine building, and the production of textiles, chemicals, paper, clothing, beverages, and tobacco products. Factories began to move into some of the suburbs in the 1980s.
The Tango
Many immigrants arrived in Buenos Aires without their families, which led to a significant phenomenon of prostitution starting around 1870. The erotically charged tango dance originated in brothels, but later found a wider audience. In 1902, the Teatro Opera started organizing tango balls. In the 1920s, tango was adopted by the Parisian high society and then all over the world. The Buenos Aires style of tango music evolved into an elaborated genre.
posted by Hills @ 5:55 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home