Buenos Aires Province
Buenos Aires | |
---|---|
Province of Buenos Aires Provincia de Buenos Aires (Spanish) | |
![]() View of Tres Picos Hill | |
70 | |
• National Senators | Maximiliano Abad (UCR) Eduardo de Pedro (PJ) Juliana Di Tullio (PJ) |
Area | |
• Total | 307,571 km2 (118,754 sq mi) |
Population (2022 census[1]) | |
• Total | 17,569,053 |
• Rank | 1st |
• Density | 57/km2 (150/sq mi) |
Demonym | bonaerense |
GDP | |
• Total | peso 7,573 billion (US$162 billion) (2019)[2] |
Time zone | UTC−03:00 (ART) |
Postal codes | B1601XXX to B8512XXX[3] |
ISO 3166 code | AR-B |
HDI (2021) | 0.842 very high (11th)[4] |
Website | www |
Buenos Aires,[a] officially the Buenos Aires Province,[b] is the largest and most populous Argentine province. It takes its name from the city of Buenos Aires, the capital of the country, which used to be part of the province and the province's capital until it was federalized in 1880. Since then, in spite of bearing the same name, the province does not include Buenos Aires city, though it does include all other parts of the Greater Buenos Aires metropolitan area. The capital of the province is the city of La Plata, founded in 1882.
It is bordered by the provinces of
The province has a population of about 17.5 million people, which is 38% of Argentina's total population. The province covers an area of 307,571 km2 (118,754 sq mi), which is about 11% of Argentina's total area and makes it the country's largest province.
History

The inhabitants of the province before the 16th-century advent of
Pedro de Mendoza founded Santa María del Buen Ayre in 1536. Even though the first contact with the aboriginals was peaceful, it soon became hostile. The city was evacuated in 1541. Juan de Garay re-founded the settlement in 1580 as Santísima Trinidad y Puerto Santa María de Los Buenos Aires.
Amidst ongoing conflict with the aboriginals, the cattle farms extended from Buenos Aires, whose port was always the center of the economy of the territory. Following the creation of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata at the end of the 18th century, the export of meat, leather and their derivatives through the port of Buenos Aires was the basis of the economic development of the region.

After the independence from
This era of accelerated development was cut short by the
The province's population, after 1930, began to grow disproportionately quickly in the suburban areas of Buenos Aires. These suburbs had grown to include 4 million out of the province's total 7 million people in 1960.[5] Much of the area these new suburbs were developed on (particularly the poorer ones) consisted of wetlands and were prone to flooding. To address this, Governor Oscar Alende initiated the province's most important flood-control project to date, the Roggero Reservoir. Completed a decade later, in 1971, the reservoir and associated electric and water-treatment facilities encouraged still more, and more orderly, development of the Greater Buenos Aires region, which today includes around 10 million people (2⁄3 of the provincial population). It did not address worsening pollution resulting from the area's industrial growth, which had made itself evident since around 1920. This problem has been at its worst along the Reconquista River west and north of the city of Buenos Aires; over 4 million people (one in 10 Argentines) today live on the Reconquista's basin.[6] Of these, about a million still live with seriously compromised water quality, despite the province's (sometimes counterproductive) efforts to remedy the issue.[7]
Contemporary history
In April 2013, the northeastern section of Buenos Aires Province, particularly its capital, La Plata, experienced several flash floods that claimed the lives of at least 89 people.[8]
Alejandro Armendáriz, of the Radical Civic Union, was elected governor in 1983, when Raúl Alfonsín became president. Alfonsín lost the 1987 midterm elections, leading to the victory of Antonio Cafiero. From then to 2015, all governors have been Peronists. The high population of the province makes it highly influential in Argentine politics. With both ruling for two terms, the rivalry of the president Carlos Menem and governor Eduardo Duhalde dominated the Argentine politics during the nineties. A similar case took place with the president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner and governor Daniel Scioli. María Eugenia Vidal, from Republican Proposal, won the 2015 elections, and became the first female governor of the province.[9]
Paleontology
In February 2021, researchers led by
Government



The provincial government is divided into three branches: the executive, headed by a popularly elected
The Constitution of Buenos Aires Province forms the formal law of the province.
In Argentina, the most important law enforcement organization is the Argentine Federal Police, but the province is policed by its own Buenos Aires Provincial Police.
Geography
Buenos Aires Province, at 307,571 square kilometres (118,754 sq mi), is slightly bigger than
As part of
![]() |
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Médanos, located on the southern tip of Buenos Aires Province 40 km (25 mi) away from Bahía Blanca . |
Climate


The climate of the province of Buenos Aires is extremely benign for human activities: it is temperate, with four marked seasons and reliable rainfall on most regions. The province can be divided into four main climatic regions: the southwestern, drier region; the cool Atlantic region; the northern and eastern humid region, and the Delta region, with the warmest, wettest climate.
The northern region has warm, humid summers, with days between 28 and 32 °C (82 and 90 °F) and nights between 16 and 20 °C (61 and 68 °F), pleasant falls, cool, drier winters with highs between 13 and 18 °C (55 and 64 °F) and nights between 2 and 5 °C (36 and 41 °F), and windy, variable springs. Heat waves may bring days with temperatures over 38 °C (100 °F), but these do not usually last very long, as cold fronts bring thunderstorms and cooler days, with night temperatures often falling down to 12 °C (54 °F). Winter cold waves may bring days with highs about 8 °C (46 °F), and lows below −4 °C (25 °F), with extremes down to −8 °C (18 °F). Snow is uncommon, but there have been accumulations on several occasions in the past. Precipitation ranges from 750 to 1,100 mm (30 to 43 in) per year.
The Delta region is slightly warmer, especially at night, due to the presence of water and the northerly location. Summer nights tend to be stickier, and winters can be damp and foggy, with most nights between 4 and 8 °C (39 and 46 °F). Frost is still to be expected, but temperatures will almost never fall below −4 °C (25 °F), and snow has fallen only twice in the last century. Precipitation ranges from 1,000 to 1,300 mm (39 to 51 in) and falls throughout the year. The city of Buenos Aires is surrounded by a climate similar to the northern part of the province, but the city itself resembles more the Delta climate, with less frost.
The southwestern region is the driest region, and it experiences a more marked differences in temperatures. Summers are often hot, between 30 and 35 °C (86 and 95 °F), but nights are usually comfortable (14 to 18 °C (57 to 64 °F)). Thunderstorms are less frequent but can be very violent in nature. Frost can make an appearance as early as March, but usually first comes in April. Winters are cool and dry, with days between 10 and 16 °C (50 and 61 °F) and nights between −1 and 4 °C (30 and 39 °F). Frost occurs on an almost daily basis, with temperatures below −6 °C (21 °F) not uncommon, and down to −12 °C (10 °F) recorded in some areas. Snowfall may occur every once in a while, but accumulations are usually small. Total precipitation ranges from 500 to 750 mm (20 to 30 in), with slightly rainier springs and falls.
The Atlantic region sees very moderate weather: the ocean is cold (17 to 20 °C (63 to 68 °F) in the summer) and sea breezes often bring chilly weather until midsummer. The hottest months average 25 to 27 °C (77 to 81 °F) with nights between 12 and 16 °C (54 and 61 °F), providing a perfect relief for the inhabitants of the hotter interior. Fall is often rainy, and winters can be windy and chilly: temperatures average from 10 to 15 °C (50 to 59 °F), and nights from 1 to 5 °C (34 to 41 °F). There can be long periods of drizzly weather and constant temperatures of about 7 °C (45 °F). Frost is common but temperatures will rarely fall below −5 °C (23 °F), and snowfalls sometimes, but accumulations are only to be expected every few years. Precipitation ranges from 700 to 950 mm (28 to 37 in). The Sierras de la Ventana (up to 1,200 metres (3,900 ft)) experience cooler weather, especially at night.
The geography of the province is crossed by occasional west
Administrative divisions

Unlike the other provinces of the country, in the province of Buenos Aires, the territorial divisions are called partidos, instead of departments.
These also constitute the municipal division of the province. The provincial Constitution does not recognize the municipal autonomy that was recognized for the whole country in the reform of the
Demographics
Population
Buenos Aires Province is the most populated province of the country. The INDEC estimates that the population of Buenos Aires Province was 17,541,141 on 1 July 2020,[15] a 12.26% increase since the 2010 national census. According to that census, there were 15 million inhabitants (38% of the national population), of which 12 million lived in Greater Buenos Aires and 3 million in the rest of the province. Around 33.8% of the inhabitants weren't born in the province, of whom 3,918,552 are migrants from other provinces and 758,640 were born abroad.[16]
Evolution of population | |||
---|---|---|---|
Year | Pop. | ||
1778 | 33 522[17]-43 165[18] | ||
1821 | 200 000[19] | ||
1847 | 320 000[20] | ||
1853 | 500 000[20] | ||
1869 | 495 107[21] | ||
1895 | 921 168[22] | ||
1914 | 2 066 948[23] | ||
1947 | 4 273 874[23] | ||
1960 | 6 766 108[23] | ||
1970 | 8 774 529[23] | ||
1980 | 9 766 030[23] | ||
1991 | 12 594 974[23] | ||
2001 | 13 827 203[23] | ||
2010 | 15 625 084 |
Most of its inhabitants are descendants from colonial-era settlers and immigrants from Europe who arrived within the 19th and 20th centuries, mostly
Vertical bar chart demographic of Buenos Aires population between 1869 and 2010 |
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Largest metropolitan areas
Metropolitan area | Population (2010 Census) |
---|---|
Greater Buenos Aires [c] | 13,588,171 [d] |
Greater La Plata | 787,294 |
Mar del Plata | 618,989 |
Greater Bahía Blanca | 291,327 |
Largest cities



City | Population (2010 Census) |
---|---|
Mar del Plata | 593,337 |
Bahía Blanca | 291,327 |
Merlo [e] | 268,961 |
Quilmes | 262,379 |
Gregorio de Laferrere | 248,362 |
José C. Paz | 247,217 |
Banfield [f]
|
246,467 |
González Catán | 238,067 |
Lanús | 215,956 |
La Plata | 193,144 |
Tourism

Tourists, mainly from Buenos Aires, visit the
Other destinations include the
.Agritourism in estancias (plantations) has become increasingly popular for foreigners visiting the province in recent years. The province's wine district, centered on Médanos, has also become prominent for visitors touring the Argentina Wine Route.
Sports

In Buenos Aires Province, as throughout Argentina, football is the predominant sport. The province has numerous professional football teams, with most of them concentrated in the Greater Buenos Aires area. Rivals Club Atlético Independiente and Racing Club de Avellaneda are the most successful, famous and followed beyond the province borders. Other notable teams in Greater Buenos Aires include Arsenal, Quilmes, Banfield, Lanús, Chacarita Juniors, Tigre and Defensa y Justicia. In the capital of the province, Estudiantes and Gimnasia y Esgrima stand out.
Other clubs in the rest of the province include
The city of Mar del Plata hosted six matches of the 1978 FIFA World Cup and the 1995 Pan American Games, and annually holds the National Evita Games and the final stage of the Bonaerense Games, the last being the most important provincial sports event for young, the elderly and people with disabilities.[24]
The province is represented in the Argentine Rugby Union (UAR) by four unions: the Rugby Union of Buenos Aires (URBA), includes teams of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires (CABA), the Rugby Union of Mar del Plata, the Western Rugby Union of the Province of Buenos Aires (UROBA) and the Southern Rugby Union. Some of the most prominent clubs are CASI and SIC of San Isidro.
Among others, some of the most important basketball teams in the province are: Peñarol de Mar del Plata, Quilmes de Mar del Plata, Bahía Basket, Estudiantes de Bahía Blanca, Olimpo de Bahía Blanca, Argentino de Junín, Club Ciclista Juninense, and Estudiantes de Olavarría, Gimnasia y Esgrima de La Plata, Club Atlético Platense and Lanús.
There are numerous racetracks, including La Plata, Nueve de Julio, Olavarría, Mar de Ajó, Junín, Balcarce, San Nicolás de los Arroyos and Bahía Blanca. The San Isidro Racecourse was inaugurated in 1935 and hosts the Carlos Pellegrini Grand Prix. The Hipodromo de La Plata is the third largest in Argentina.
Economy
The province's economy has long been the largest in Argentina, estimated in 2014 to have been US$407.6 billion (more than a third of the national total, which was around US$680.8 billion in 2016 according to Argentina's economical growing.[clarification needed] It has a per capita income of $24,780 (around $27,300 in 2016). The province is the nation's chief exporter, generating nearly $107 billion in exports in 2016 (37% of the nation's total).[25]

Agriculture in the province is renowned around the world for its productivity. The province is Argentina's chief
Manufacturing accounts for a fourth of the province's output and is about 40% of the entire nation's.[27] The industry of the province is diverse: chemical, pharmaceutical, metallurgic, motor vehicles, machinery, textiles and the food industry are the most notable. Excluding processed agricultural items, the province was responsible for over US$70 billion of industrial exports in 2016 and accounted for a third of all Argentine exports.[26][28]
The province's services sector is well-diversified and differs little from national trends. The largest local bank is the public Bank of the Province of Buenos Aires. The institution, the second largest in Argentina, holds nearly a tenth of the nation's bank deposits.[29]
Transport
Airports

Name | City | OACI | IATA | FAA |
---|---|---|---|---|
Ministro Pistarini | Ezeiza | SAEZ | EZE | EZE |
San Fernando | San Fernando
|
SADF | FDO | FDO |
Astor Piazzolla | Mar del Plata | SAZM | MDQ | MDP |
Comandante Espora | Bahía Blanca | SAZB | BHI | EPO |
Edgardo Hugo Yelpo | Necochea | SAZO | NEC | NEC |
Junín | Junín | SAAJ | JNI | NIN |
La Plata | La Plata | SADL | LPG | PTA |
Olavarría | Olavarría | SAZF | OVR | OLA |
Santa Teresita | Santa Teresita | SAZL | SST | SST |
Tandil | Tandil | SAZT | TDL | DIL |
Villa Gesell | Villa Gesell | SAZV | VLG | GES |
Ports
Name | City | Location |
---|---|---|
Puerto Ingeniero White | Bahía Blanca | Mar Argentino |
Puerto Galván | Bahía Blanca | Mar Argentino |
Puerto Rosales | Punta Alta | Mar Argentino |
Puerto de San Nicolás de los Arroyos | San Nicolás | Río Paraná
|
Puerto de Campana | Campana | Río Paraná |
Puerto de La Plata | Ensenada | Río de la Plata |
Puerto de Mar del Plata | Mar del Plata | Mar Argentino
|
Puerto de Quequén | Necochea | Mar Argentino |
Railways

Railway | City | Station |
---|---|---|
General San Martín
|
Buenos Aires | Retiro San Martín |
Chacabuco | Chacabuco | |
Junín | Junín | |
Domingo Faustino Sarmiento
|
Buenos Aires | Once
|
Luján | Luján | |
Mercedes | Mercedes | |
Chivilcoy | Chivilcoy Sud | |
General Roca
|
Buenos Aires | Constitución |
San Miguel del Monte | Monte | |
Las Flores | Las Flores | |
Olavarría
|
Olavarría | |
Azul | Azul | |
Pigüé | Pigüé | |
Bahía Blanca | Bahía Blanca Sud | |
Mar del Plata | Mar del Plata |
See also
Notes
- ^ Spanish pronunciation: [ˈbwenos ˈajɾes]
- ^ Provincia de Buenos Aires Spanish pronunciation: [pɾoˈβinsja ðe ˈβwenos ˈajɾes]
- ^ Shared with the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires.
- ^ Some 11 million of its population belongs to Buenos Aires Province and almost 3 million to the City of Buenos Aires.
- ^ The number provided by INDEC includes the combined population of the cities of Merlo and Parque San Martín. The population of each one of that cities is unknown.
- Banfield and Ingeniero Budge, and perhaps some other locality in the Lomas de Zamora Partido (most notably San José) that does not appear differentiated in the census. The population of each one of that cities is unknown.
References
- ^ "Distribución de la población por jurisdicción. Total del país. Año 2022" (in Spanish). Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Censos. Archived from the original on 8 April 2023. Retrieved 18 March 2023.
- ^ "PBG Buenos Aires 2019" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2024-01-18. Retrieved 2023-12-27.
- ^ "Buenos Aires Postal Codes". postalcodes.azinfoportal.com. Retrieved 27 February 2024.
- ^ "El mapa del desarrollo humano en Argentina" (PDF). United Nations Development Programme. 25 June 2023. Archived (PDF) from the original on 11 June 2023. Retrieved 26 June 2023.
- ^ a b "Población según los censos nacionales de 1895 a 2001 por provincia ordenadas por la cantidad de población en 2001" (in Spanish). Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Censos. Archived from the original (ms xls) on 13 February 2012. Retrieved 14 August 2012.
- ^ "Title unknown" (PDF) (in Spanish). Archived from the original (PDF) on 12 September 2008.
- ^ "Río Reconquista, un basural acuático" (in Spanish). Argentina Centro de Medios Independientes. 24 July 2012. Archived from the original on 18 February 2012. Retrieved 14 August 2012.
- ^ Corsalini, Claudio (1 April 2023). "Diez años de la trágica inundación en La Plata: dudas sobre la cantidad de muertos y una multa de $ 12 mil". Perfil (in Spanish). Retrieved 20 April 2024.
- ^ Ramiro Sagasti (26 October 2015). "Vidal dio la gran sorpresa y le ganó a Aníbal Fernández en la provincia" [Vidal gave a great surprise and defeated Aníbal Fernández in the province] (in Spanish). La Nación. Archived from the original on 13 January 2018. Retrieved 26 October 2015.
- ^ "Paleontologists Find 3.58-Million-Year-Old Ground Sloth Fossil | Paleontology | Sci-News.com". Breaking Science News | Sci-News.com. Archived from the original on 13 February 2021. Retrieved 21 June 2021.
- ^ Spry, Jeff (9 February 2021). "South American scientists unearth skull of ancient 12-foot-tall ground sloth". SYFY WIRE. Archived from the original on 24 June 2021. Retrieved 21 June 2021.
- from the original on 24 June 2021. Retrieved 21 June 2021.
- ^ "Visitá la Patagonia Bonaerense" (in Spanish). Undersecretariat of Tourism of Buenos Aires Province. Archived from the original on 2 January 2022. Retrieved 2 January 2022.
- ^ "Title unknown". monte.gov.ar. Archived from the original on 26 December 2005.
- ^ "Proyecciones y estimaciones / Proyecciones por provincia" (in Spanish). INDEC. Archived from the original on 24 July 2021. Retrieved 13 June 2021.
- ^ "Title unknown" (ms xls).[dead link ]
- ^ Fernando Leónidas Sabsay & Julio Raúl Lascano (1973). La sociedad argentina: España y el Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires: La Ley.
- ISBN 978-987-574-267-3.
- ^ Juan Bautista Alberdi (1856). Organización política y económica de la Confederación Argentina. Besazon: Impr. de J. Jacquin, pp. 576.
- ^ a b Sir Woodbine Parish (1853). Buenos Aires y las provincias del Rio de la Plata: desde su descubrimiento y conquista por los españoles. Tomo II. Buenos Aires: Imprenta de Mayo, pp. 450
- ISBN 987-538-125-X.
- ISBN 950-786-245-5.
- ^ a b c d e f g "Argentina: población total por regiones y provincias. Censos Nacionales de 1914, 1947, 1960, 1970, 1980,1991 y 2001" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 31 October 2017. Retrieved 31 March 2017.
- ^ "Juegos Bonaerenses | Provincia de Buenos Aires" (in Spanish). Government of the Province of Buenos Aires. Archived from the original on 8 February 2023. Retrieved 19 August 2020.
- ^ "INDEC" (in Spanish). Archived from the original (ms xls) on 6 July 2011.
- ^ a b "Exportaciones De La Provincia De Buenos Aires" (PDF) (in Spanish). Archived from the original (PDF) on 12 September 2008.
- ^ a b "Dirección Provincial De Estadistica". Archived from the original on 15 September 2008.
- ^ "INDEC: Foreign trade data" (ms xls) (in Spanish).[dead link ]
- ^ "Argentine Banking Association: August 2008" (in Spanish). Archived from the original (ms xls) on 22 February 2012. Retrieved 14 August 2012.