The 15 most important historical events of Argentina (explained)

Argentina is a country with a lot of history. The large number of ethnic groups, their geographical position, their size and natural resources have made of this country a territory with many European features but without forgetting its location in the cone South American.

Since it was "discovered" by the Spanish and Portuguese in the 16th century until today, there have been many historical events that have occurred in the country of the Río de la Plata. Let's find out what they have been the main historical facts of Argentina most important.

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The 15 most important historical events in Argentina

Argentina is a great nation, both literally and figuratively. This country has a total area of ​​2,780,400 square km, 45,195,777 inhabitants and a coastline of 4,989 km. Located in Latin America, Argentina was populated by different ethnic groups throughout its history, having Guaraní, Mapuche, Aymara, wichis and many indigenous peoples until the arrival of the white man who, since then, has been responsible for making the country what it is today in day.

The history of Argentina is very extensive, even if we only take into consideration from the arrival of the Castilians and the creation of the provinces and viceroyalties that were established in the South American. There have been many historical events that have marked the history of Argentina, a nation that shares many European features but also shares the political and economic instability of the rest of Latin American countries, as we will see in the important historical events that come to continuation.

1. Strait of Magellan

On October 21, 1520, Fernando de Magallanes reached a cape in southern Patagonia., which indicates the strait that separates the South American continent from Tierra del Fuego. He and his crew have just discovered the passage to the west they have been searching so hard for. Later, this strait will be baptized as the Strait of Magellan in his honor, being a key point for international trade, along with the Panama Canal and the Suez Canal.

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2. Foundation of Buenos Aires

On August 24, 1535, the expedition of the Spanish admiral and conqueror Pedro de Mendoza set sail from the port of Sanlúcar de Barrameda (Cadiz)., composed of more than a dozen ships and 2,200 men. His mission is to transport a group of settlers, one hundred horses, to the Río de la Plata, build three forts and build a royal road from that region to the Pacific Ocean.

The objective was to win over the Portuguese in the race to obtain riches that, according to indigenous legends, were found there. He will arrive at his destination in January 1535 and, on February 3, he will found in that place a port defended by a fort that he will baptize with the name of Santa María del Buen Ayre, future Buenos Aires.

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3. Discovery of Iguazú

On January 31, 1542, the Spanish navigator and explorer Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, while making a land expedition from the Atlantic Ocean to Asunción del Paraguay, discover the famous Iguazú Falls, on the current border of Brazil and Argentina. These marvelous natural beauties, one of the most important on the planet, will be declared a Natural World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1984.

4. British occupation of Buenos Aires

On June 27, 1806, as a result of the alliance between Napoléon and Spain, 1,500 British soldiers under the command of William Carr Beresford occupy the city of Buenos Aires, this being the first English invasion of the city. The occupation ends six weeks later, after the surrender of the English troops in front of the local militias led by the French nobleman Santiago de Liniers, in the service of Spain.

Another invasion will occur on July 4, 1807, this time commanded by the English general Whitelocke who disembarks in Buenos Aires with 8,000 soldiers. On July 5, after a fierce fight through the streets of the city, the English general will lose more than half of his soldiers, between casualties and prisoners. On July 7 Whitelocke agrees to capitulate, and will withdraw along with the surviving soldiers from the city. He will definitely leave the territory on September 9.

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5. May revolution

On May 25, 1810, Buenos Aires culminates the well-known May Revolution, which had started on the 18 of that same month. This was a revolt in response to the instability of the government of Spain, in which a group of revolutionaries managed to depose the viceroy and organize a new Government Junta, known as the first National Government.

This fact will change the course of the country, accelerating the independence process, motivating the inhabitants of the Rio de la Plata region to feel only Argentine, something that would be witnessed a few days after. On May 29, the First Argentine Board, headed by Cornelio Saavedra, decreed the creation of the national military bodies. Its mission: to ensure the defense and self-determination of the Argentine people, and their territorial integrity.

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6. Creation of the white and blue flag

On February 13, 1812, in the city of Rosario, General Manuel Belgrano proposes to the Government the creation of the national insignia, in order to motivate the soldiers in the fight for independence. This proposal was made in view of the fact that, until that moment, the Army corps used different banners. It was necessary to use only one, one that would represent the unity of the Argentine people and, thus, on February 18, the Triumvirate approved the use of the white and blue flag, the current flag of Argentina.

7. Inauguration of the General Constituent Assembly

On January 31, 1813, in the United Provinces of Río de la Plata, the General Constituent Assembly was inaugurated. In its first sessions, Carlos de Alvear is elected as president of a territory that declares himself sovereign.

In the same Assembly Nobility titles are abolished, the mayorazgo is eliminated, the freedom of wombs is declared (the children of slaves are free), the tributes and personal services of the indigenous are prohibited and the coat of arms and national anthem are made official.

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8. Independence of Argentina

On February 20, 1813, General Belgrano's forces defeated General Tristán's royal forces in the battle of Salta, decisive for the independence of Argentina. A few months later, on April 13, José Gervasio Artigas, near the Ayuí Grande stream, dictates and sends his famous "instructions", a program that represents the interpretation of the struggle for the independence of America from power Spanish.

After years of battles, struggles and political debates, On September 13, 1816, in the city of Buenos Aires and in a public act, right in the Plaza de Mayo, the independence of the Argentine nation was sworn, already declared on July 9 of that same year by the Congress of Tucumán.

9. Europe and Latin America: united by air

On February 10, 1926, the aviators Franco, Ruiz de Alda, Durán and Rada arrived in Río de la Plata. they had achieved the feat of having traveled 10,270 km aboard the Dornier Wal seaplane, baptized as “Plus Ultra". They had fulfilled the dream of uniting Europe with Latin America by air, having started their journey in the Spanish La Rábida on January 22 and doing stopovers in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Praia (Cape Verde), Fernando de Noronha (Pernambuco, Brazil), Recife (Pernambuco, Brazil), Rio de Janeiro and Montevideo (Uruguay). A total of 59 hours and 39 minutes had been spent in the air.

10. Peronism

On February 24, 1946, Juan Domingo Perón was elected president for the period 1946-1952, with 56% of the votes. Perón had been jailed the previous year for promoting a civil and military uprising, but the mobilizations of the workers demanding his freedom, and the insistence of his wife Eva Duarte de Perón, forced his release. In 1947, with favorable economic conditions and with the support of the General Labor Confederation, he created the Peronist Party.

He will be reelected again, but his second term was very turbulent, facing serious problems and will be removed by a military coup on September 16, 1955. The military uprising is led by Eduardo Lonardi, who forces Juan Domingo Perón to resign from the presidency on September 19. Perón will flee to Paraguay, pass through Panama and, from there, travel to Spain, where he will marry María Estela Martínez de Perón. Meanwhile, Lonardi assumes power as provisional president of what he calls the Liberating Revolution.

Perón will be reelected president of Argentina in 1971, however, on June 29, 1974, his wife, María Estela, Known as “Isabelita”, she assumes the leadership of the State due to the health problems of her husband, who will die two days later. Thus, Isabelita becomes the first woman to hold the presidency of Argentina. With it, one of the darkest periods in Argentine history begins, with the March 24, 1976 through a military coup led by General Jorge Rafael Videla.

11. Argentine dictatorship

After giving a coup on March 24, 1976, the Argentine army commanded by General Videla deposed President Isabel Martínez de Perón. Thus was born an iron and bloody military dictatorship that lasted until 1983. It is a dark age, in which hundreds of students, trade unionists, intellectuals and other professionals are kidnapped, tortured, and murdered.

Faced with these disappearances, on April 30, 1977, in the city of Buenos Aires, Azucena Villaflor de Vicenti and 13 other mothers demonstrate, with great courage, in the Plaza de Mayo in front of the headquarters of the government. They want to know what happened to their children kidnapped, tortured and murdered by the military dictatorship, which has systematically violated human rights. Faced with the police order not to stop or group together, but to circulate, the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo decide to walk around it.

12. Invasion of the Falklands

Still in the course of the bloody Argentine dictatorship, the government of Leopoldo Galtieri, whose prestige is clearly deteriorated With demonstrations in the streets and his infamous habit of harshly repressing any opinion critical of power, he decides that the time to do something to unite the Argentine people, gain popular support and divert social attention from the internal problems that drown.

Thus, On March 19, 1982, 50 Argentines under Galtieri's orders landed in Leith Harbor, in South Gerogia, a British colony near the Malvinas (or Falkland) islands.. Argentines plant their nation's flag, thus increasing tensions between Argentina and Margaret Thatcher's United Kingdom, provocations within the so-called “Operation Rosario”.

The invasion of the Falkland Islands will take place on April 2 of that same year. Argentina decides to invade an archipelago with just 2,000 people, all of them British subjects, and declares that they are Argentine. The Silver Nation has no objection to killing British soldiers and civilians, a decision ill-considered when one considers that it is up against a well-developed, militarily UK.

On May 4, 1982, an event occurs that will definitively prevent any diplomatic solution between the two nations. The British ship HMS Sheffield is hit in her control room by an Exocet missile fired from an Argentine fighter. The impact causes a fire, which causes a very toxic smoke, and sinks the ship in a matter of minutes. 20 crew members die and there are 30 wounded. The sinking shocks the British nation.

13. Fall of the military dictatorship

The Falklands War ends on June 14. The Argentine troops seized in Port Stanley, the capital of the archipelago, surrender two months after the start of hostilities between Argentina and the United Kingdom. The capricious conflict started by the Argentine dictatorship has led to the death of 700 Argentines and just over 200 British. This episode so tragically stupid for the history of Argentina will accelerate the fall of the military regime, staged on October 30 and the subsequent restoration of democracy.

New elections are held, and Raúl Alfonsín, candidate of the Radical Civic Union, wins. During his tenure he will have to face several problems: consolidate democracy in a society that was still overcoming the effects of the dictatorship and, at the same time, monitor the Armed Forces, suspicious of any change, in addition to fighting against inflation and the crisis of the debt.

14. The Corralito

On December 3, 2001, an economic nightmare of greater proportions than those of the Argentine territory occurs: El Corralito. The then president of the country, Fernando de la Rúa, decreed the limitation of freedom for dispose of cash withdrawn from bank accounts, and made transactions impossible international This measure was applied in response to the serious debt crisis of some 100,000 million dollars, caused by a policy of over-indebtedness.

The deprivation of liberty to be able to extract the money from millions of citizens did not take long to receive a response. Demonstrations, violently repressed, took place throughout the nation, demonstrations in which there were deaths. All this economic and political chaos that Argentina experienced at the beginning of the new century, caused by the wrongdoing of its rulers, was what made the president of La Rúa in the end have to leave power and flee by helicopter so as not to be lynched by the crowd. Argentina had seen five presidents pass in less than a month.

The country's bank closure lasted almost a year. On December 2, 2002, the release of the retained deposits was announced, ending the peso / dollar equalization and the devaluation of the Argentine currency began.

15. An American father

March 13 2013. After the resignation of Benedict XVI, the Church has to choose the Catholic High Pontiff. During the second day of the conclave, and during the fifth vote of the same day, Argentine Jorge Mario Bergoglio is chosen as Pope No. 266, receiving the papal name of Francisco. He is the first American pope in history, in addition to being the first Jesuit.