June 11 the City of Buenos Aires meets its second 434 years of foundation
The June 11, 1580 Juan de Garay founded the city under the name of Trinidad, referring to the day they anchored in the Stream, Sunday of the Holy Trinity in the Catholic calendar, leaving the name of Holy Trinity and its harbor Santa Maria of Buenos Ayres.
Juan de Garay departed Asuncion on March 9, 1580 to found a new city in a strategic point of the South American map: the confluence of the great Mesopotamian rivers and out to the Atlantic, from where you could have a better communication with the metropolis .
Of Spanish origin (presumably born in Burgos or Vizcaya in 1527), Garay had reached 15 years on American soil to be with his family in Peru (Ortiz de Zárate his uncle was a hearer in Lima).
The first foundation of Buenos Aires had failed. Performed by the advance Pedro de Mendoza (1487-1537). During the first days of February 1536, the siege of querandíes raged among the first settlers and the Crown decided depopulation in 1541 are no traces of this first settlement and attempts to precisely locate the place where it was performed, were unsuccessful due to the instability of that first edilicia Advanced Spanish and belligerent action by local tribes who have left evidence. The assumptions about the place of installation were several, from those who argued that it would have occurred in the vicinity of Parque Lezama, to others that are at the Vuelta de Rocha in the present district of La Boca, others place it in the “Alto de San Pedro” (San Telmo) in Plaza San Martín current or high sector of Parque Patricios.
By 1580 the picture was different. The Spaniards had opened settlements south of Lima (Asunción, Santiago, Tucuman, Santiago del Estero, Mendoza, Córdoba) and the discovery of the silver mines in Potosi a sure way of the precious metal to the peninsula was necessary. In 1561, Garay had participated in the founding of Santa Cruz de la Sierra (Bolivia current) and towards the end of that decade he moved to Asunción, where he was appointed Constable of the Provinces of La Plata. From this city started in 1573 to create a settlement on the banks of the Parana River: Santa Fe de la Vera Cruz. By then, a royal ordinance of Philip II established the exact characteristics of the cities founded in the Spanish colonies. It was with this legislation, again from Assumption, left Garay’s expedition to the Rio de la Plata.
The boats sailed ahead of 64 settlers from Asuncion, 53 of them, according to records, born in America. The new attempt had the advantage that their American colonists knew best land, the climate and conditions of the territories. On May 29 settlers arrived in the waters of the Riachuelo and settled in the first camp.
The settlement of Garay was placed in an area that did not match that of his predecessor, as Garay chose the current Plaza de Mayo as a place to found the city of Trinidad and the port of Santa María de los Buenos Ayres. In the field chosen, I was wide and high by the river where the fort now stands, the Government House, the main square and around gave land to settlers and religious installed. Under Spanish law, the browser divided the land into 250 blocks. From the line of the fort, the first four rows of blocks were divided into quarters, except for those delivered to congregations.
The rest of the city was divided into lots and given to those who had accompanied his foundation, which included the construction of a hospital “San Martin” after the employer elected to the city (there are no major news on that building) would be called. The boundaries of the subdivision were circumscribed in what are now the Independence and Córdoba avenues and streets Freedom and Salta; while the urban fabric reached the current Arenales, San Juan and approximately 4000 Rivadavia Avenue.
On June 11 Garay founded the city under the name of Trinidad, referring to the day anchored in the Stream, Sunday of the Holy Trinity in the Catholic calendar, leaving the name of Santa Maria de los Buenos Ayres for the port.
Fun Facts
As the Second Anniversary of Foundation of Buenos Aires, is celebrated on this date also, Neighbor Day and the Day of the City.
