Buenos Aires. Plaza de Mayo

Buenos Aires, the capital and by far the largest city in Argentina, is also the nation's chief port and industrial center. The city lies along the southern shore of a wide, funnel-shaped bay called the Kio de la Plata (Silver River).

Buenos Aires is one of the largest metropolitan areas in the world, and about 33 per cent of Argentina's people live there. The city itself covers 77 square miles (200 square kilometers), and the metropolitan area spreads over 1 ,421 square miles (3,680 square kilometers).

Despite its enormous size and huge population, Buenos Aires has an air of spacious- ness and tranquillity. Only a few skyscrapers dot the skyline, while numerous parks and plazas line the city's broad avenues. The world's widest street, the Avenida 9 de Julio, runs through the central business district. The Avenida 9 de Julio is 425 feet (130 meters) wide and divided into three smaller streets by grassy strips.

The people of Buenos Aires proudly call themselves portehos (port dwellers). About 75 per cent of the portenos are of Spanish or Italian ancestry, and other groups are descended from English, French, German, Lebanese, Polish, Russian, Jewish, and Syrian immigrants. Many of these immigrants were part of the huge wave of European immigration during the late 1850's.

Buenos Aires —the gateway to Argentina — was named by early Spanish sailors for the patron saint of fair winds, Nuestra Senora Santa Marfa del Buen Aire. Buenos Aires is Spanish for fair winds. Major land- marks include the Plaza de Mayo (1), the Congress Building (2), the elegant Colon Theater (3), and the historic Cabildo, or town hall (4). Among the city's other points of interest are Almirante Brown Park (5), the Zoo and Botanical Gardens (6), Teatro National Cervantes (7), and la Plata stadium (8)

Plaza de Mayo. The elegant Plaza de Mayo lies in the heart of Buenos Aires. Originally known as the Plaza de Armas, this site was chosen by Juan de Garay in 1 580 for the first cabildo (town hall) of the new settlement of Buenos Aires. Spanish settlers had first established a settlement where Buenos Aires now stands in 1536, but abandoned it only five years later because of Indian attacks. Juan de Garay and his fellow settlers reestablished the city and called it Buenos Aires (fair winds).

The Plaza de Mayo stands at the heart of Buenos Aires. The square was once called the Plaza de Armas, according to a Spanish tradition dictating that all towns be built around a square so named. Portenos renamed the square Plaza de Mayo, after the month in which they gained independence from Spain

Today, the Plaza de Mayo is lined with restaurants, movie theaters, boutiques, book-stores, art galleries, and the city's finest hotels. At its east end stands the Casa Rosada (Pink House), which houses the office of the president of Argentina. To the west lies the Congress Building, which has its own square, known as the Plaza de Congreso. This square features a famous sculpture by Auguste Rodin, The Thinker, as well as the zero kilometer stone, from which all distances in Argentina are measured.

The barrios. Most of the northwestern, western, and southern sections of Buenos Aires consist of residential neighborhoods called barrios, each with its own churches, schools, and markets. Among the city's most colorful barrios is La Boca, known for its brightly painted houses and Italian restaurants.

Home to Buenos Aires' large Italian community. La Boca is also the birthplace of the tango, the first Latin-American dance to become internationally popular. In addition, La Boca boasts one of Argentina's most famous soccer clubs, the Bocauniors.

The extreme differences between the rich and the poor in Buenos Aires are evident from one barrio to another. Many wealthy families live in mansions in the northern barrios or in elegant homes near the center of the city. In other barrios, thousands of poor families live in makeshift wooden shacks. In the late 1800's and early 1900's, Buenos Aires was the cultural capital of Latin America and one of the most beautiful and modern cities in the Western Hemisphere.

Today, however, the city faces many problems caused by the massive migration of rural people into its metropolitan area. Buenos Aires' industries have been unable to employ all the newcomers, and many of these people live in terrible poverty.