DifferentBA

About Buenos Aires, data and history General information:

General information
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- The city extends on a plain and has 202 square kilometers (78.3 sq miles).
- The total population of the city is of 2.7770.038 inhabitants.
- The density of population is of 13.735,6 inhabitants per kilometre.
- The climate of Buenos Aires is mild all year around, but the most humid months are june and july when the percetage of humidity reachs the 80%. In summer the average percentage of humidity lowers to the 65%. The mean annual temperature is 17ºC (64.4ºF). Total amount of rains per year is of approximatley 995 mm.
- The official language is spanish, but, if you are a portuguese or english speaker you would not have any difficulty to contact with people in Buenos Aires. These are the two languages that argentines speak, in most cases, as second language.
- The argentine currency is the "peso" and the rate of exchange in relation to the US dollar varies, despite, last months it has only varied from $5 to $7 pesos per dollar.
- Banks open at 10 am and close at 3 pm (some banks extend their closing time to 4 pm).

History General information

On february of the year 1536 Don Pedro de Mendoza Travel, a Spanish colonizer, established the first settlement and named it Ciudad del Espíritu Santo y Puerto Santa María del Buen Ayre. In 1537, already ill, Mendoza Travel died while travelling across the sea. Five years later, due to the attacks of the natives and, therefore, after orders given by Captain Domingo Martinez de Irala, Buenos Aires was abandoned and it population moved to Asuncion, Paraguay.
The second, and final, foundation was in 1580 by Juan de Garay who called the site Ciudad de la Santísima Trinidad, and the port Santa María de los Buenos Aires. (the origin of this name dated back to the worship that the first spanish immigrants had for the Virgen del Buen Aire).
In 1594, the Spanish Crown decided to close Buenos Aires port since it was considered a possible focal point of smuggling. vt3
Buenos Aires remained subordinate to the Spanish viceroy in Peru until 1776, when it became the capital of a newly created viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata. From that moment on the "village" became "city", and empowered Pedro de Cevallos as first viceroy.
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 porteños 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, or 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 (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 Bartolomé Mitre became Argentina's president in 1862 and made Buenos Aires his capital. Bitterness between Buenos Aires and the province continued, however, until 1880, when the city was detached from the province and federalized.