The birth of Buenos Aires

We’ve got about five minutes before we reach our next stop, so let me fill you in on the story of Buenos Aires and the origin of its name. You’ve already heard about the May Revolution, the War of Independence, the dictatorship and the domestic politics, but what about the city’s origins? Who got there first and why? Before European settlers arrived, this land with no real frontiers was home to semi-nomadic tribes inhabiting the area from the north to the far south. The Río de la Plata territory was home to the Charrua and Guaraní tribes. There were but a few thousand of them when the colonists arrived, but they were the first to put up a fight. You can probably tell that most people here descended from Europeans rather than from Native American tribes. You see, history hasn’t been too kind to the original inhabitants. The first European to set foot here was Juan Diaz de Solis, who was killed in a defensive Amerindian attack. Then came Pedro de Mendoza, looking for gold. He settled on the site of present-day San Telmo and founded a small colony which he named “Nuestra Señora Santa Maria del Buen Ayre” aka “Our Lady Santa Maria of Fair Winds”. The colony was ravaged by the Native Americans in 1541. 40 years later, Juan de Garay tried again and renamed the colony “la Santísima Trinidad y Puerto de Santa María del Buen Ayre”, that is, “The Most Holy Trinity and Port of Santa María of Fair Winds” – a mouthful, right? The goal was to create a port for ships coming from the Atlantic carrying gold and silver from the Potosí mines in present-day Bolivia. The latter was then the capital of the viceroyalty of Peru, founded by Charles Quint. That’s where the name Argentina comes from, that is, from the silver found in those mines and shipped around the country! We could spend all day talking about the conquest of Latin America by European colonizers, but we’ll keep it brief and focus on the city’s history for now. What you have to remember is that Buenos Aires was created as a major port city to welcome all the treasures of the New World. And well, things didn’t exactly go according to plan. You see, all ships sailed past Lima on the Pacific Ocean side and the port and colony of Buenos Aires were somewhat abandoned. In any case, that’s why the locals are known as Porteños aka people of the port.