When was argentina settled

Countries were in the process of declaring or fighting for independence from Spain. The people of Buenos Aires had been able to fight off the British attempt to seize Buenos Aires in —7 without the help of the Spanish army. This encouraged Argentina to form an independent government for the viceroyalty of La Plata in Provinces outside of Argentina opposed this action and eventually broke away.

The new country became known as the United Provinces of La Plata. The beginning for the Argentine government was rocky. Residents of Buenos Aires wanted a strong central government while the large rural landowners outside of Buenos Aires area wanted more local authority.

From to , Juan Manuel de Rosas, a landowner from the rich land area of the pampa of the Buenos Aires province, ruled as a dictator.

By the late s, the Buenos Aires province had become the heart of Argentina, having been settled by many European farmers. The reform movements started in the late s. Much of Spain's effort was initially aimed at staving off Portuguese expansion in what today is Brazil.

Ferdinand Magellan retraced the route in , thinking he had stumbled upon a passageway that would take him to the Pacific Ocean. Sebastian Cabot returned on a treasure-hunting expedition in Then he returned to Spain to convince the crown that more wealth was to be had in the region. In , Spain -- victorious after having conquered Peru, yet aware of Portugal's presence in Brazil -- sent an expedition, headed by Pedro de Mendoza, to settle the region.

Mendoza, mortally ill and discouraged by Indian attacks, sailed for Spain with a hundred of his men in He died on the way, and his body was cast out to sea. The Spanish had greater success in other parts of the country. To this day, it's Argentina's most important education center, where one out of five residents is a student. Mendoza, in the shadows of the Andes, was settled in by Pedro del Castillo. He had pushed into the region from an expedition based out of Santiago, in modern Chile.

In , the Spaniards began exploring the Northwest, as they expanded down through the recently conquered Inca Empire, and founded the city of Salta in In , Juan de Garay resettled Buenos Aires.

In any case, a woman's touch on the expedition proved to be the charm. Upon the second attempt to colonize, the city continued to grow into a permanent, though small, colonial establishment. While today Buenos Aires is the cultural and political capital of Argentina, it was a backwater region for a long time during the colonial period. Buenos Aires was logistically important in defending the lower half of the Spanish Empire from the Portuguese.

Constant skirmishes continued between the two empires, with neighboring Uruguay as a disputed territory. All revolutions are political as well as economic, and Argentina's was no exception. By the late s, Buenos Aires was the preeminent port within the region, and cattle hides became a major component of the economy.

The trade, however, was heavily taxed and strictly regulated by the Spanish crown, so smuggling and circumventing became the norm, along with illicit trade with the British. Downtown Buenos Aires is still riddled with underground tunnels.

To this day, it is not clear whether the Jesuits may have built them, even farther back, as secret passageways. In any case, the merchants' desire to end taxation began to foment, feeding a greater drive for overall political independence.

Indirect trade was not enough for the British. Sensing that the Spanish Empire was weakening, they attacked Buenos Aires in and The battles were known as the Reconquista and the Defensa. These battles are memorialized in the names of the streets of Buenos Aires that feed into the Plaza de Mayo, which were the routes the Argentine armies used to oust the British.

Able to defend themselves without the aid of Spain, many Argentine-born Europeans began to debate the idea of self-government in Buenos Aires. The Revolution of Buenos Aires was declared on May 25, , marking the beginnings of the independence movement.

With Lord George Canning as their main representative, Britain officially recognized Argentina's independence. A military coup in resulted in a period in Argentine history known as the Infamous Decade. After , political instability, economic difficulties and a series of military coups ensued. The country returned to civilian rule in , with Colonel Juan Domingo Peron being elected president and promising higher wages and social security.

In Peron went into exile, returning and becoming president briefly again in Argentinian army soldiers read newspapers in Port Stanley, during the Falkland War. Take a look at our extensive collection of Argentina tours and come over to discover South America. Click here for more information about Chimu.