Indigenous Beginnings, 16th Century
In 1536 the founding of the city, Buenos Aires, was credited to Pedro de Mendoza who originally named the city, Nuestra Señora Santa María del Buen Aire (“Our Lady St. Mary of the Good Air”). Mendoza was an expeditioner from Spain whose goal was to establish a civilization in the deserts which ended up being inhabited by the indigenous population. Mendoza had sights on the desert because he believed that it would be able to support their society and their way of life, however, the indigenous population already had that space. To create the “Argentinean Nation” they eliminated, silenced, and assimilated the indigenous populations to get what they wanted [1]. This seemed unlikely for a Latin American country considering other countries heavily celebrated and have built their cultures around the indigenous populations that came before them. |
Image 1: La primera misa-fundación de Buenos Aires por D. Juan de Garay
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