Top 10 Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires’ Top 10
32
Left The Bombing of Plaza de Mayo Right December Riots
Moments in History
! 1536: Pedro de Mendoza
Makes Landfall
Leading a 1,200-strong
expedition, Spanish explorer
Mendoza sailed into the River
Plate and founded the settlement
of Nuestra Señora Santa María
del Buen Ayre. In 1541, with its
people starving and under attack
from the native Querandí, the
settlement was abandoned.
1810: May Revolution
@ Buenos Aires led the
region’s push for independence
from Spain. On May 25, 1810,
the Spanish Viceroy was ousted
by a revolutionary junta. General
José de San Martín led the ensuing
war. It ended in 1816 with
the declaration of independence.
# 1877: First Shipment of
Frozen Beef to Europe
The advent of frozen shipping
transformed Argentina into one
of the world’s richest nations.
Robust economic growth
remodeled Buenos Aires along
Eva Perón and President Juan Domingo Perón
Preceding pages Lobby at MALBA
modern European lines. Parks,
plazas, and mansions were built,
turning Buenos Aires into the
“Paris of South America.”
$ 1917: Carlos Gardel
records Mi Noche Triste
Since the 1890s, tango had been
the music of the city’s slum
dwellers. In 1917 that changed,
with Gardel’s recording of the
first sung tango. This made
Gardel a world star and ushered
tango into the salons of Paris.
% 1952: Death of Eva María
Duarte de Perón
In 1946, Juan Domingo Perón
revolutionized Argentina,
mobilizing the support of the
country’s urban poor to forge a
new political movement of
hegemonic power. His second
wife, “Evita,” was key
to his popularity and achieved
saintlike status among the poor.
Her death in 1952 provoked such
national grief that her funeral
was extended by four days.
1955: Bombing ^ of Plaza
de Mayo
After 1952, Perón’s regime
unraveled. Mobs
destroyed opposition
party offices, newspapers
were closed,
and the Catholic
Church was attacked.
In 1955, Perón threatened
civil war on his
enemies. In the