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Buenos Aires

Capital of ArgentinaBuenos Aires spreads along the south-western shore of the Río de la Plata, the wide estuary formed where the Paraná and Uruguay rivers meet before reaching the Atlantic. Behind the city stretch the plains of the pampa.

Why it's the capital

Pedro de Mendoza set up a settlement here in 1536, but it was abandoned in 1542. Juan de Garay founded the city again in 1580, sailing down from Asunción. Its port grew rich from trade, it became capital of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata, and in 1880 it became the seat of the national government.

Fun facts

  1. The name means 'good winds'. Sailors thanked Holy Mary of the Good Winds, a Madonna honoured at Bonaria in Sardinia, for the winds that brought them to this coast.
  2. Avenida 9 de Julio, one of the city's main avenues, is about 140 m wide.
  3. Its underground railway, the Subte, opened in 1913 and was the first in Latin America and the Southern Hemisphere.

Finding it on the globe

Find the big funnel-shaped estuary on the south-east coast of South America, between Argentina and Uruguay. Buenos Aires is on the Argentine shore, near the narrow inner end of the funnel.

Easy to mix up

Montevideo, the capital of Uruguay, sits on the opposite, north-eastern shore of the same Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is the one on the south-western, Argentine side.

Sources: Wikipedia: Buenos Aires, Wikipedia: Río de la Plata, Wikipedia: Buenos Aires Underground, Wikipedia: Montevideo