Buenos Aires Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ==Etymology== {{Main|Names of Buenos Aires}} [[File:Nuestra Señora del Buen Aire plaza Cerdeña.jpg|upright|left|thumb|Our Lady of Buen Aire in front of the National Migration Department]] [[Crown of Aragon|Aragonese]] archives record that Catalan missionaries and Jesuits arriving in [[Cagliari]] ([[Sardinia]]) under the Crown of Aragon, after its capture from the [[Pisa]]ns in 1324, established their headquarters on top of a hill that overlooked the city.<ref name="catalanname" /> The hill was known to them as ''Bonaira'' (or ''Bonaria'' in [[Sardinian language|Sardinian]]), as it was free of the foul smell prevalent in the old city (the castle area), which is adjacent to [[swampland]]. During the siege of Cagliari, the Catalans built a [[Shrine of Our Lady of Bonaria|sanctuary]] to the [[Virgin Mary]] on top of the hill. In 1335, King [[Alfonso IV of Aragon|Alfonso the Gentle]] donated the church to the [[Order of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mercy|Mercedarians]], who built an [[abbey]] that stands to this day. In the years after that, a story circulated, claiming that a statue of the Virgin Mary was retrieved from the sea after it miraculously calmed a storm in the [[Mediterranean Sea]]. The statue was placed in the abbey. Spanish sailors, especially [[Andalusia]]ns, venerated this image and frequently invoked the "Fair Winds" to aid them in their [[navigation]] and prevent [[shipwreck]]s. A sanctuary to the Virgin of Buen Ayre would later be erected in [[Seville]].<ref name="catalanname">{{cite web | url=http://en.todobuenosaires.com/buenos_aires/en/historia/origenombre.php | title=Origin of the name Buenos Aires | publisher=Todo Buenos Aires | access-date=18 January 2015 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150119003340/http://en.todobuenosaires.com/buenos_aires/en/historia/origenombre.php | archive-date=19 January 2015 | url-status=live }}</ref> At the foundation of Buenos Aires, Spanish sailors arrived in the [[Río de la Plata]] giving thanks to the blessings of "Santa Maria de los Buenos Aires", "Holy Mary of the Good Winds", who they believed to have given them the good winds to reach the coast of what is today the modern city.<ref name="banderin"/> [[Pedro de Mendoza]] called the city "Holy Mary of the Fair Winds", a name suggested by the chaplain of Mendoza's expedition – a devotee of the Virgin of Buen Ayre – after the ''Madonna'' of Bonaria from [[Sardinia]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.pittau.it/Sardo/bonaria.html|title=Massimo Pittau – La Madonna di Bonaria di Cagliari e Buenos Aires|work=pittau.it|access-date=13 January 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160208055821/http://www.pittau.it/Sardo/bonaria.html|archive-date=8 February 2016|url-status=live}}</ref> (which is still to this day the patroness of the [[Mediterranean Sea|Mediterranean]] island<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.avvenire.it/Chiesa/Pagine/papa-francesco-a-cagliari-legame-bonaria-buenos-aires.aspx|title=Quel legame mariano tra Bonaria e Buenos Aires|work=avvenire.it|date=21 September 2013|access-date=13 January 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160208055821/http://www.avvenire.it/Chiesa/Pagine/papa-francesco-a-cagliari-legame-bonaria-buenos-aires.aspx|archive-date=8 February 2016|url-status=live}}</ref>). Mendoza's settlement soon came under attack by indigenous people and was abandoned in 1541.<ref name="banderin">{{cite web | language=es | url=http://rotaryba.com.ar/?page_id=80 | title=Nuestro Banderín | publisher=Buenos Aires Rotary Club | access-date=18 January 2015 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150119004113/http://rotaryba.com.ar/?page_id=80 | archive-date=19 January 2015 | url-status=live }}</ref> For many years, the name was attributed to a Sancho del Campo, who is said to have exclaimed: ''How fair are the winds of this land!'' as he arrived. In 1882, after conducting extensive research in Spanish archives, Argentine merchant [[Eduardo Madero]] ultimately concluded that the name was instead closely linked with the devotion of the sailors to Our Lady of Buen Ayre.<ref>{{cite book | url=https://archive.org/details/estudiotopogrfi00martgoog | quote=sancho del campo buenos aires. | title=Estudio topográfico é historia demografica de la ciudad de Buenos Aires | publisher=Compañía Sud-Americana de Billetes de Banco | author=B. Martinez, Alberto | year=1889 | location=Buenos Aires | page=[https://archive.org/details/estudiotopogrfi00martgoog/page/n26 14]}}</ref> A second (and permanent) settlement was established in 1580 by [[Juan de Garay]], who sailed down the [[Paraná River]] from [[Asunción]], now the capital of Paraguay. Garay preserved the name originally chosen by Mendoza, calling the city ''Ciudad de la Santísima Trinidad y Puerto de Santa María del Buen Aire'' ("City of the Most Holy Trinity and Port of Saint Mary of the Fair Winds"). The short form that eventually became the city's name, "Buenos Aires", became commonly used during the 17th century.<ref name="provincia">{{cite web|url=http://www.buenosaires.gov.ar/areas/ciudad/historico/calendario/destacado.php?menu_id=23203&ide=44 |title=Calendario Histórico – Segunda fundación de Buenos Aires |language=es |publisher=Government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires |access-date=9 February 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121024201506/http://www.buenosaires.gov.ar/areas/ciudad/historico/calendario/destacado.php?menu_id=23203&ide=44 |archive-date=24 October 2012 }}</ref> The usual abbreviation for Buenos Aires in Spanish is Bs.As.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://spanish.about.com/od/writtenspanish/a/abbreviations.htm|title=Spanish Abbreviations|publisher=[[About.com]]|access-date=18 January 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150404051117/http://spanish.about.com/od/writtenspanish/a/abbreviations.htm|archive-date=4 April 2015|url-status=live}}</ref> It is also common to refer to it as "B.A." or "BA".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.allacronyms.com/_internet_slang/BA/Buenos_Aires|title=BA Abbreviation|publisher=allacronyms.com|access-date=18 January 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150119013148/http://www.allacronyms.com/_internet_slang/BA/Buenos_Aires|archive-date=19 January 2015|url-status=live}}</ref> When referring specifically to the autonomous city, it is very common to colloquially call it "Capital" in Spanish. Since the autonomy obtained in 1994, it has been called "CABA" (per ''Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires'', Autonomous City of Buenos Aires). Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page