European Contact and Settlement (1516-1580)

While Amerigo Vespucci, namesake of the Americas, had explored Brazil's immense coastline, it was Juan de Solís who became the first European to land on the banks of the Río de la Plata in 1516. In service of the Spanish crown, the Portuguese navigator and his band of men were promptly killed by native Querandí. When later explorers discovered that the natives had some silver trinkets, the river and surrounding area (present day Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay) got its name—the River of Silver.

Treasure-hungry officials in Spain and Portugal could not help but salivate over the news; the Spanish crown quickly dispatched a major expedition to found a colony on the Río de la Plata, investigate the availability of precious metals, and dissuade the Portuguese from settling there. Pedro de Mendoza landed in 1535 with 16 ships and 16,000 men under his command, and founded the settlement of Buenos Aires. (Full name: Puerto Nuestra Señora Santa María de Buen Ayre. Whew!)

The Mendoza party didn't get a friendly reception from the locals, and running short on food and supplies they abandoned the site at Buenos Aires for a new one at Asunción, Paraguay. There, the native Guaraní proved more hospitable to the Spaniards, and the first permanent European settlement in the area was established. It consisted of hundreds of Spanish men and four Spanish women.

It wasn't until 1580 that Buenos Aires was resettled. In the meantime, it dawned on the Europeans that their coveted silver came from what is now Bolivia; the small amount of wealth to be found on the "River of Silver" was only what had trickled down from the highlands. It looked like Buenos Aires and vicinity was destined for backwater status, a remote outpost in Spain's vast empire. But the early residents of Buenos Aires had good reason to hope for a brighter future. The original Mendoza expedition, although a failure, had left some horses and cattle behind on the grassy pampas, and these thrived and multiplied during the spaniards' forty year absence. The pampas now offered wild livestock free for the taking. The settlers quickly made use of them, and Gaucho culture was born.

Colonial Argentina