Favored by nature and by the conditions under which it was founded, the
City of Buenos Aires from its earliest days has been endowed with
elements which have considerably influenced the vast growth and
development that have made it the leading Latin city of the new world.
Situated on the banks of the River Plate and at the gateway of the
Atlantic, nature has largely contributed towards making it a great
commercial centre. At the time of its foundation, it attracted but few
of the adventurers, who, in their quest of gold, migrated to other parts
of South America, the wealth of the soil and the abundance of the flocks
and herds having brought to its shores a less turbulent and more
laborious class of immigrants who sought a new home and a new outlet for
their activities in the "City of Good Airs." The pure European origin
and the commercial spirit of the new inhabitants soon produced changes
in pre-existing conditions and in marking out the path for the present
Argentine metropolis to become the hub of South America. Founded in
1535 by Pedro de Mendoza, and subsequently destroyed and twice
depopulated, the modern rise of the capital of what is now the Argentine
Republic may be said to date from 1824, after the formulation of the
Monroe Doctrine and the recognition of the independence of the people of
Buenos Aires by the United States and Great Britain. At about that time
efforts were initiated to provide the means of facilitating the
transport of its products to foreign markets and in order to establish
the necessary facilities for that purpose, Buenos Aires raised (in
England) its first loan of $5,000,000. To that comparatively small
financial transaction may be traced the reasons for the enormous
investment of foreign capital--chiefly British--which has since enabled
the country to serve humanity by the increasing development of its
numerous sources of wealth. Following this preliminary introduction of
foreign capital, there was established a regular line of sailing packets
between Buenos Aires and Montevideo and, later, a line of steamers
between Buenos Aires and Rio de Janeiro, which progressive measures were
added to an official bank and, within the next thirty years, a line of
railway extending in a westerly direction from the capital.
These were the beginnings of the evolution of modern Buenos Aires, which
now properly ranks as the second Latin city of the world. Nor is it by
any means alone to material progress that the City of Buenos Aires owes
its present proud position. The spirit and qualities of its early
founders are manifested to-day in the outward expression of all the
attributes of a highly civilized and enlightened community. The
architecture and adornments of the city, the culture, education and
manners of the inhabitants, their inborn courtesy and generous instincts
combine to explain the admiration which all who visit the city never
fail to entertain and express. The cosmopolitan character of the
population, the palatial residences--the broad and spacious avenues,
museums, libraries, art galleries and other unmistakable signs of the
high degree of culture of the citizens, fully justify the description
of Buenos Aires as the Paris of the western hemisphere.
Originally built up on Spanish lines of single-story houses and narrow
streets, the mason has been superseded by the architect and many of the
old narrow thoroughfares by wide and beautiful avenues intersecting the
central portions of the city. The domestic architecture of the time of
Rozas was gradually succeeded by the introduction of the architectural
beauty of the period of the Renaissance and subsequently by the various
Grecian orders, culminating in the advent of European architects and
artists who evolved many unique and distinct styles which are to-day
illustrated in a number of the imposing and artistic edifices that adorn
the city and, with the surrounding parks, trees, gardens, flowerbeds and
running waters, both in the centre and in the suburbs, reveal a panorama
of unsurpassing beauty. Many of the ancient houses with flat roofs and
severely simple facades have been substituted by highly ornamented
dwellings of two, three, or more stories; and, with a desire to add to
the embellishment of the city, the Municipality offers a gold medal and
a diploma to the architect, and an immunity from payment of the building
tax to the owner, of the building for the most artistic facade, the jury
being composed of representatives of different bodies exercising
authority in relation to such matters as architecture, surveys, public
works, engineering and fine arts. By the employment of these methods,
Buenos Aires, in recent years, has made notable advance in architecture,
not only in regard to private dwellings, but also in its public
buildings and the unquestionable increase in number and quality of the
monuments, statues, and sculptural groups dotted over every part of the
city. During the last twenty years there have been constructed new
avenues and thoroughfares of great width and length lined by handsome
buildings, paved with asphalt and lighted with huge electric globes,
whilst the Municipality has spared no expense in widening many existing
streets to meet the growing demands of the population and to give more
light and air to quarters of the city which are densely inhabited.
The aesthetic side of the city of Buenos Aires is to be found in its
splendid museums, art galleries and public and private libraries, of
which there are many of unquestionable merit. Amongst these, special
mention should be made of the Natural History Museum, which is of great
interest from the point of view of educational value and intellectual
progress. The Zoological, Botanical, Mineral, Archeological and
Ethnographical specimens, numbering many thousands, have been classified
on a scientific basis by eminent authorities over a period of many years
and form a collection of objects and curiosities of nature unexcelled
for their variety and interest. The National Historical Museum possesses
a collection of historic trophies and works, manuscripts, ancient coins
and other objects, over 4,000 in number. Here are also halls and
galleries, containing portraits of the Viceroys, pictures of naval and
military battles, trophies of the war with Great Britain, the room in
which San Martin lived and died, furniture, uniforms, arms, decorations
and a variety of other articles of great historic interest. On the same
order and limited to its expressed purpose, there is a Museum of Arms
which contains a collection of weapons with records of their
authenticity attached. In this collection there are many specimens of
rare weapons and accoutrements of different periods ranging from the
fourteenth to the eighteenth centuries. There are, besides, many flags
and other articles associated with the wars of different periods. Of
much more recent date and, perhaps, also of greater practical interest,
is the Natural Agricultural Museum, the objects of which are to promote
the knowledge of agriculture by instructive exhibits and to demonstrate
the measures best adapted to the scientific methods of cultivation and
to overcome the natural drawbacks besetting that branch of national
industry. The collection comprises upwards of twenty thousand specimens
of agricultural products of every description as well as statistics and
information pertaining to rural economy.
The libraries of the city are both extensive and numerous and contain in
addition to modern works of importance in different languages
bibliographical treasures of different periods representing the world's
various cycles of literature.
The public and private art galleries of the city with their varied
collections embrace a great number of old masters and of modern
productions in painting, sculpture, pottery, engraving and every form of
art representing all known periods and all nations. First amongst these
exhibitions is the Museum of Fine Arts, which contains a number of
important works collected and arranged with great skill and taste,
whilst many of the private galleries have been especially erected in the
palaces of wealthy residents for the purpose of housing some of the
priceless objects which are to be found in the capital of the Argentine
Republic.
A feature of striking interest in the life of Buenos Aires is the
number and excellence of the many hospitals, asylums and other
charitable organizations established to provide for the afflicted and
poorer classes of the community. Apart from those endowed by the various
foreign colonies residing in the city, the majority of these
institutions are largely supported by State aid in form of appropriation
or specific revenues. On the other hand, vast sums are privately
subscribed to those not entirely of an official character.
As a great commercial centre, the aspect and movement of the city are
equally striking. The port, docks, railroad depots, wharves, warehouses,
street railways, lighting and other signs of industrial activity abound
in every direction and make Buenos Aires to the Argentine Republic what
New York is to the United States. It is, moreover, the principal mart
for the agricultural and pastoral products of many of the leading
ranches of the Republic and draws to its periodical sales of wool,
hides, cattle and sheep, buyers from many foreign countries.
Buenos Aires, like many other great capitals, is confronted with the
difficulty of a congestion of traffic owing to the large increase of
population and the narrowness of the streets in the older sections of
the city, but this problem is being gradually solved by the construction
of new broad diagonal avenues and by the building of subways which are
now being rapidly extended. With all these evidences of progress on
every side, it will not be a surprising revelation to add that Buenos
Aires possesses some of the greatest newspapers, one of the finest Opera
Houses and the finest Club Houses in the world. There are other large
and flourishing cities in the Republic, such as Rosario, Santa Fe,
Cordova, La Plata (capital of the province of Buenos Aires) and Bahia
Blanca, but the City of Buenos Aires is the brain and heart of the
Republic and must always maintain its supremacy as the leading
metropolis of Latin America.