1.
Argentine Declaration of Independence
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What today is commonly referred as the Independence of Argentina was declared on July 9,1816 by the Congress of Tucumán. In reality, the congressmen who were assembled in Tucumán declared the independence of the United Provinces of South America, the Federal League Provinces, at war with the United Provinces, were not allowed into the Congress. At the same time, several provinces from the Upper Peru that would become part of present-day Bolivia, were represented at the Congress. The 1810 May Revolution followed the deposition of the Spanish king Ferdinand VII by the Napoleonic French, the revolution ended the authority of the Viceroy Cisneros and replaced it with the Primera Junta. When the Spanish monarchy resumed its functions in 1819, Spain was determined to control over its colonies in the Americas. Moreover, the royalists from Peru had been victorious at the battles of Sipe-Sipe, Huaqui, Vilcapugio and Ayohuma, in Upper Peru, on April 15,1815 a revolution ended the mandate of Carlos María de Alvear as Supreme Director and demanded that a General Congress be summoned. Delegate deputies, each representing 14,000 inhabitants, were sent from all the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata to the sessions, however, the Federal League Provinces did not send delegates, the Argentine littoral Provinces, and the Eastern Province. The Congress was inaugurated in the city of Tucumán, with 33 deputies, the presidency of the Congress would be rotated monthly. Because the Congress had the freedom to choose topics to debate, the voting finally ended on July 9 with a declaration of independence. This was a concept that was also invoked by the other Spanish American declarations of independence, such as Venezuelas and Mexicos. The president of the Congress at the time was Francisco Narciso de Laprida, subsequent discussions centered on what form of government the emerging state should adopt. The house where the declaration was adopted has been rebuilt and is now a museum and monument, the House of Tucumán
2.
Argentina
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Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a federal republic in the southern half of South America. With a mainland area of 2,780,400 km2, Argentina is the eighth-largest country in the world, the second largest in Latin America, and the largest Spanish-speaking one. The country is subdivided into provinces and one autonomous city, Buenos Aires. The provinces and the capital have their own constitutions, but exist under a federal system, Argentina claims sovereignty over part of Antarctica, the Falkland Islands, and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. The earliest recorded presence in the area of modern-day Argentina dates back to the Paleolithic period. The country has its roots in Spanish colonization of the region during the 16th century, Argentina rose as the successor state of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata, a Spanish overseas viceroyalty founded in 1776. The country thereafter enjoyed relative peace and stability, with waves of European immigration radically reshaping its cultural. The almost-unparalleled increase in prosperity led to Argentina becoming the seventh wealthiest developed nation in the world by the early 20th century, Argentina retains its historic status as a middle power in international affairs, and is a prominent regional power in the Southern Cone and Latin America. Argentina has the second largest economy in South America, the third-largest in Latin America and is a member of the G-15 and it is the country with the second highest Human Development Index in Latin America with a rating of very high. Because of its stability, market size and growing high-tech sector, the description of the country by the word Argentina has to be found on a Venice map in 1536. In English the name Argentina probably comes from the Spanish language, however the naming itself is not Spanish, Argentina means in Italian of silver, silver coloured, probably borrowed from the Old French adjective argentine of silver > silver coloured already mentioned in the 12th century. The French word argentine is the form of argentin and derives of argent silver with the suffix -in. The Italian naming Argentina for the country implies Argentina Terra land of silver or Argentina costa coast of silver, in Italian, the adjective or the proper noun is often used in an autonomous way as a substantive and replaces it and it is said lArgentina. The name Argentina was probably first given by the Venitian and Genoese navigators, in Spanish and Portuguese, the words for silver are respectively plata and prata and of silver is said plateado and prateado. Argentina was first associated with the silver mountains legend, widespread among the first European explorers of the La Plata Basin. The first written use of the name in Spanish can be traced to La Argentina, a 1602 poem by Martín del Barco Centenera describing the region, the 1826 constitution included the first use of the name Argentine Republic in legal documents. The name Argentine Confederation was also used and was formalized in the Argentine Constitution of 1853. In 1860 a presidential decree settled the name as Argentine Republic
3.
Spanish language
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Spanish —also called Castilian —is a Romance language that originated in the Castile region of Spain, with hundreds of millions of native speakers around the world. It is usually considered the worlds second-most spoken native language after Mandarin Chinese and it is one of the few languages to use inverted question and exclamation marks. Spanish is a part of the Ibero-Romance group of languages, which evolved from several dialects of Vulgar Latin in Iberia after the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century. Beginning in the early 16th century, Spanish was taken to the colonies of the Spanish Empire, most notably to the Americas, as well as territories in Africa, Oceania, around 75% of modern Spanish is derived from Latin. Greek has also contributed substantially to Spanish vocabulary, especially through Latin, Spanish vocabulary has been in contact from an early date with Arabic, having developed during the Al-Andalus era in the Iberian Peninsula. With around 8% of its vocabulary being Arabic in origin, this language is the second most important influence after Latin and it has also been influenced by Basque as well as by neighboring Ibero-Romance languages. It also adopted words from languages such as Gothic language from the Visigoths in which many Spanish names and surnames have a Visigothic origin. Spanish is one of the six languages of the United Nations. It is the language in the world by the number of people who speak it as a mother tongue, after Mandarin Chinese. It is estimated more than 437 million people speak Spanish as a native language. Spanish is the official or national language in Spain, Equatorial Guinea, speakers in the Americas total some 418 million. In the European Union, Spanish is the tongue of 8% of the population. Spanish is the most popular second language learned in the United States, in 2011 it was estimated by the American Community Survey that of the 55 million Hispanic United States residents who are five years of age and over,38 million speak Spanish at home. The Spanish Constitution of 1978 uses the term castellano to define the language of the whole Spanish State in contrast to las demás lenguas españolas. Article III reads as follows, El castellano es la lengua española oficial del Estado, las demás lenguas españolas serán también oficiales en las respectivas Comunidades Autónomas. Castilian is the official Spanish language of the State, the other Spanish languages as well shall be official in their respective Autonomous Communities. The Spanish Royal Academy, on the hand, currently uses the term español in its publications. Two etymologies for español have been suggested, the Spanish Royal Academy Dictionary derives the term from the Provençal word espaignol, and that in turn from the Medieval Latin word Hispaniolus, from—or pertaining to—Hispania
4.
Colonial Argentina
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Colonial Argentina is designated as the period of the History of Argentina when it was an overseas colony of the Spanish Empire. It begins in the age of the indigenous peoples of Argentina. However, most of the geography of the Americas was still unknown, the voyage of Ferdinand Magellan continued towards the south, passed the Strait of Magellan and eventually completed the first circumnavigation of the world. There were land expeditions coming from the north as well, from Lima, the first European to disembark in what is now present day Argentina was Juan Díaz de Solís, who discovered the Río de la Plata. Solís was killed by Charrúas, along with sailors. The sailor Francisco del Puerto, part of Solís voyage, was spared by the Charruas because of his young age, Francisco del Puerto was rescued by the Venetian Sebastian Cabot, and told him about myths of sources of silver in the area. This promoted further explorations in the area, there was no silver, nor any other precious metal, but those initial myths influenced the modern name of Argentina. The voyage of Cabot, expecting to conquer the lands of the inexistent White King, established the fortification of Sancti Spiritu, next to the Paraná River. The voyage was a failure, they did not get any metals, Sancti Spiritu was destroyed by the native people. The new ideas of the Age of Enlightenment and the events of the Peninsular War started the Argentine Wars of Independence, Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata topics Spanish colonization of the Americas Media related to Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata at Wikimedia Commons
5.
Argentine War of Independence
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On July 9,1816, an assembly met in San Miguel de Tucumán, declared full independence with provisions for a national constitution. The territory of modern Argentina was part of the Spanish Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata, with its city in Buenos Aires. Modern Uruguay, Paraguay and Bolivia were also part of the viceroyalty, the vast area of the territory and slow communications led most populated areas to become isolated from each other. The wealthiest regions of the viceroyalty were in Upper Peru, Salta and Córdoba had closer ties with Upper Peru than with Buenos Aires. Similarly, Mendoza in the west had closer ties with the Captaincy General of Chile, Paraguay was isolated from all other regions. This created a rivalry between the Criollos, people born in America, and the peninsulares, people arrived from Europe. The ideas of the American and French Revolutions, and the Age of Enlightenment, the full prohibition imposed by Spain to trade with other nations was also seen as damaging to the viceroyaltys economy. The population of Buenos Aires was highly militarized during the British invasions of the Río de la Plata, Buenos Aires was captured in 1806, and then liberated by Santiago de Liniers with forces from Montevideo. Fearing a counter-attack, all the population of Buenos Aires capable of bearing arms was arranged in military bodies, a new British attack in 1807 captured Montevideo, but was defeated in Buenos Aires, and forced to leave the viceroyalty. The transfer of the Portuguese Court to Brazil generated military concern and it was feared that the British would launch a third attack, this time allied with Portugal. However, no military conflict took place, as when the Peninsular War started Britain, Javier de Elío created a Junta in Montevideo and Martín de Álzaga sought to make a similar move by organizing a mutiny in Buenos Aires, but the local military forces intervened and thwarted it. Spain appointed a new viceroy, Baltasar Hidalgo de Cisneros, and Liniers handed the government to him without resistance, the military conflict in Spain worsened by 1810. The city of Seville had been invaded by French armies, which were already dominating most of the Iberian Peninsula, the Junta of Seville was disestablished, and several members fled to Cádiz, the last portion of Spain still resisting. They established a Council of Regency, with political tendencies closer to absolutism than the former Junta and this began the May Revolution in Buenos Aires, as soon as the news was known. The military gave their support to the request, forcing Cisneros to accept, the discussion ruled the removal of viceroy Cisneros and his replacement with a government junta, but the cabildo attempted to keep Cisneros in power by appointing him president of such junta. Further demonstrations ensued, and the Junta was forced to resign immediately and it was replaced by a new one, the Primera Junta. Buenos Aires requested the other cities in the viceroyalty to acknowledge the new Junta, the precise purpose of these deputies, join the Junta or create a congress, was unclear at the time and generated political disputes later. The Junta was initially resisted by all the locations around Buenos Aires, Córdoba, Montevideo, Paraguay
6.
Spanish Colonial architecture
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These two visible aspects of the city are connected and complementary. The 16th century Laws of the Indies included provisions for the layout of new settlements in the Americas. The new churches and mission stations, for example, aimed for maximum effect in terms of their imposition and domination of the buildings or countryside. In order for that to be achievable, they had to be strategically located - at the center of a square or at a higher point in the landscape. The Spanish Colonial style of architecture dominated in the early Spanish colonies of North and South America and it is sometimes marked by the contrast between the simple, solid construction demanded by the new environment and the Baroque ornamentation exported from Spain. Mexico, as the center of New Spain - and the richest province of Spains colonial empire - has some of the most renowned buildings built in this style. With twenty-nine sites, Mexico has more sites on the UNESCO World Heritage list than any country in the Americas. Some of the most famous cities in Mexico built in the Colonial style are Puebla, Zacatecas, Querétaro, Guanajuato, the historic center of Mexico City is a mixture of architectural styles from the 16th century to the present. The Metropolitan Cathedral – built from 1563 to 1813 in a variety of including the Renaissance, Baroque. The rich interior is mostly Baroque, during the late 17th century to 1750, one of Mexicos most popular architectural styles was Mexican Churrigueresque. These buildings were built in an ultra-Baroque, fantastically extravagant and visually frenetic style, Antigua Guatemala in Guatemala is also known for its well preserved Spanish colonial style architecture. The city of Antigua is famous for its well-preserved Spanish Mudéjar-influenced Baroque architecture as well as a number of ruins of colonial churches dating from the 16th century. It has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Ciudad Colonial of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, founded in 1498, is the oldest city in the New World and a prime example of this architectural style. San Juan was founded by the Spaniards in 1521, where Spanish colonial architecture can be found like the Historic Hotel El Convento, also, Old San Juan with its walled city and buildings are very good examples, and in excellent condition. According to UNESCO, Quito, Ecuador has the largest, best-preserved and it was the first city that was inscribed onto the UNESCO World Heritage List, along with Kraków, Poland in 1978. The historic district of city is the sole largest and best preserved area of Spanish Colonial architecture in the world. The idea of laying out a city in a pattern is not unique to the Spanish. In fact, it never started out with the Spanish colonizers and it has been traced back to some ancient civilizations especially the ancient cities of the Aztec and Maya, and also Ancient Greeks
7.
Plaza
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A plaza /ˈplɑːzə/ is an open urban public space, such as a city square. The plaza might be enough to serve as a military parade ground. At times of crisis or fiesta, it was the space where a large crowd might gather, like the Italian piazza, the plaza remains a center of community life that is only equaled by the market-place. A plaza de toros is a bullring, in modern usage, a plaza can be any gathering place on a street or between buildings, a street intersection with a statue, etc. Todays metropolitan landscapes often incorporate the plaza as an element, or as an outcome of zoning regulations, building budgetary constraints. Sociologist William H. Plaza is a Spanish word, cognate to Italian piazza, Portuguese praça, Galician praza, Catalan plaça, Romanian piața, German Platz, the origin of all these words is, via Latin platea, from Greek πλατεῖα plateia, meaning broad. The first purpose-built shopping center in the United States, opened in Kansas City, Missouri in 1922, knowingly took the name of Country Club Plaza and adopted Spanish architectural details. More recently plaza has been used to describe a complex, similar to a shopping mall. Examples, Pantip Plaza, Bintang Plaza, Kuching Plaza, Plaza Las Américas, Plaza de las Estrellas, Central Plaza, Schiphol Plaza, Plazas del Centro Comercial Santafé, The Plaza, and Cityplaza. Central Plaza, in Hong Kong, was for four years the tallest building in Asia, at 78 storeys,374 m
