History of Mar del Plata

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Paseo General Paz, February 1904

The first European navigator to visit the beaches and cliffs of what one day would become Mar del Plata was Sir Francis Drake in his 1577 circumnavigation voyage. He introduced the name Cape Lobos in the cartography of his time, due to the large colony of sea lions (lobos de mar in Spanish) around the cape today known as Cabo Corrientes. Just four years later, the Spanish Governor of the

River Plate, Don Juan de Garay (second founder of Buenos Aires) explored the area by land, and paid tribute to the beautiful landscape by describing it as a muy galana costa (a very elegant shore). This is today one of the city's favourite mottos.[1]

In 1742, during the War of Jenkins' Ear, eight survivors of HMS Wager, part of Admiral Anson's expedition, lived through a ten-month ordeal before being decimated and captured by the nomadic tribe of the Tehuelches, who eventually handed them to the Spaniards.[2]

In 1746, by order of the

Jesuit Order's mission was established on the northwestern shore of what is now Laguna de los Padres, some 8 miles (13 km) west of the modern city, but it was abandoned after a series of northern Tehuelches attacks, led by native chieftain Cangapol.[1] On 15 November 1770 a punitive expedition departing from Luján and led by Captain Juan Antonio Hernández, with the help of friendly natives, defeated a group of Tehuelches who had been harassing and plundering a number of farms and hamlets beyond the Salado River. The battle took place at the Vulcan Heights, near Sierra de los Padres, where 102 Tehuelches were ambushed and killed.[3][4] In 1772 another Spanish expedition commanded by Captain Pedro Pablo Pabón surveyed the area.[5] The region was not populated again by Europeans until 1856, when a meat-salting facility was built by Portuguese entrepreneur Coelho de Meirelles, and a stable population settled there.[6]

Foundation and development (1874–1930)

Bristol Hotel, 1907

The town was founded on February 10, 1874 by governmental

Basque merchant, had the idea of turning the growing town into a European-style bathing resort three years later. As the railway began to expand into the province, previously isolated settlements became accessible to visitors from the capital; the first passenger train arrived here from Buenos Aires in September 1886. The subsequent opening of the town's first hotel - the luxurious Bristol
Hotel- in 1888 was a great occasion for the Buenos Aires elite, many of whom travelled down for the opening on an overnight train.

Teodoro Bronzini, first Socialist Mayor of Mar del Plata, elected in 1919

The railroad also paved the way to the arrival of European immigrants, mainly Italians, Spaniards and French. Among the Italians, Sicilians and Calabrians started the first fishing activities in the 1890s, although the port of Mar del Plata would only be built in 1916 by a French company. The project was designed and directed by the local engineer Federico Beltrami, son of a Swiss-Italian immigrant, Francesco Beltrami, himself the first recorded builder in the town. Mar del Plata's initial success aside, the richest of Argentina's very rich continued to make their regular pilgrimages to Europe. It took the outbreak of war in Europe to dampen Argentine enthusiasm for the journey across the Atlantic and to establish the town as an exclusive tourist destination. Indeed, the building industry also began in this period, in order to satisfy the demands of the new resort. The different guilds were led mostly by residents originally from Northern Italy, but the next generation included people of Spaniard and Southern Italian stock.

In the late 1920s wealthy Argentine families began to build chalets and mansions near Bristol Hotel, and spent their days at the Playa Bristol beach. They would live in Mar del Plata from November until Easter.[7]

This social background increased the tensions between the elite and the established population. The political intervention of the central power, held by the

Socialists to power in 1919 (see Government in the main article about Mar del Plata), an audacious shift in the summer residence of the Argentine aristocracy. The national Government was also taken over by the Radical Civic Union, its leader, Hipólito Yrigoyen becoming President of the Republic
.

Mass tourism (1930–1970)

Tourists at the beach, c. 1930

The first

military coup in Argentina's history took place on September 6, 1930, restoring the conservative hegemony in all levels of Government, including the local one. Although unpopular and fraudulent, this old new order brought some progress and investment to an ailing country in the climax of the Great Depression. Mass tourism began to arrive in this decade, helped by improved roads, but it took off in the 1940s and 1950s, when the development of union-run hotels under the Perón presidency put the city within the reach of Argentina's middle and working classes. Peronism, even if elected by overwhelming popular vote, kept some of the Conservative hegemonic practices. This was especially noted in Mar del Plata, where the internal disputes inside the party led to a succession of Comisionados; de facto Mayors imposed by the provincial Governor. None of the Peronist Mayors elected by vote completed his term in office in this nine-year period.[8]
On the other hand, the social changes promoted by Perón boosted Mar del Plata's economy and middle class as never before.

Workers of Mar del Plata during a march for the Saturday half-day holiday

But allegations of

destroyers and the corvette ARA Republica (former HMS Smilax), the latter inside the port itself.[9] Two fishing boats (Miguel Angel and Corsario) evacuated non-essential personnel from the base, the latter running aground
in the process.

If the 1950s were years of economic boom for Mar del Plata, the 1960s saw a skyrocketing development of the building industry, which reached the peak of its activity. The rate of construction per square feet was the highest in the world, surpassing even that of São Paulo, Brazil.[10][11] Like in the 1930s, the growth took place during a period of political turmoil. Peronism was proscribed by the military, but there were some constitutional intervals, all of them dominated by the Socialists at local level. It was certainly one of the most successful decades in Mar del Plata's history.

The last U-boats and other World War II stories

On July 10, 1945, two months after

88 mm deck gun
and torpedoes. The boat had been launched in 1941, and in 1943 had sunk the freighter Milos and the tanker Sunoil, and torpedoed and damaged the oiler Chapultepec. The crew was immediately interned by presidential decree and taken by bus to Buenos Aires. On August 17 the
Nazi
Regime's prominent figures, but according to Canadian historian Ronald C. Newton, this proved to be just a legend born largely before the surrender of any German unit in Argentina. Both commanders were interrogated about the landing of personnel before the surrender, with a young Argentine sailor of German ancestry acting as interpreter.

Analysis of U-977's

log and the fuel consumption of U-530 left no extra time for the boats to have executed any suspicious activities before reaching Mar del Plata. The German sailors and the submarines were eventually turned over to the United States Navy.[12]

An Argentine Navy boarding party inspects U-530, July 1945

This episode was not the only World War II affair involving Mar del Plata. A less well-known German landing had taken place the year before: early on July 3, 1944 the

D-Day landings prevented the return to France, and the sloop delivered her passengers to Vigo, in neutral Spain.[15]
Another World War II related action was the interception of the German steamer Erlangen by the British cruiser HMS Newcastle 36 hours after sailing from Mar del Plata with a cargo of tungsten and molybdenum on July 23, 1941. The vessel was scuttled by her crew.[16]

From a wide point of view, the Second World War was an opportunity for the port of Mar del Plata to increase its commercial activities and for its incipient fishing industry to export much-needed shark liver oil to Allied countries.[17] During the war Mar del Plata, like all of Argentina, suffered from a severe shortage of materials such as fuel and metals.

Crisis and recovery (1970–2000s)

The 1970s and 1980s showed some decline. Newer resorts became more and more attractive for so-called alternative tourism, and the high-profile visitors of the past shifted their attention to the beaches of Uruguay and Brazil. The success of each summer season hinged on the financial fluctuations of the currency, amid periods of inflation and crisis that discouraged the middle-class from investing in Mar del Plata. As a result of internal immigration from depressed regions of the country, the first villas miseria (shanty towns) made their appearance in these decades. By contrast, these years marked the taking-off for the fishing industry and the birth of metal-mechanics factories. The Nacional University was also founded in 1975. In 1978, the town hosted some matches for the

Stadium José Maria Minella
was specially built for the occasion.

The Falklands War

Army and Navy groups based in the town participated in the Falklands War (Spanish: Guerra de las Malvinas/Guerra del Atlántico Sur) of 1982 with Britain.

Malvinas-Falklands war memorial at Mar del Plata

Elite troops (

Rex Hunt, on April 2 that year (Operation Rosario
).

The British reaction,

Operation Corporate, prompted the build-up of an Argentine garrison in Stanley
(renamed Puerto Argentino by the Argentine Government).

The Argentine submarines, also based at the naval docks, saw some action too; one of them, the old

South Georgia Islands. Another one, the Type 209 ARA San Luis
harassed the British task force for several days.

The

Río Gallegos.[21]

A small detachment (34 men) from GADA 601, deployed in Port Darwin and armed with two twin Oerlikon 35 mm cannons, also played a key role in the Battle of Goose Green, May 28, inflicting several casualties to the 2nd Para battalion before surrendering the next day.

Thirteen personnel from Mar del Plata lost their lives in the conflict, among them the first Argentine casualty of the war, Captain Pedro Giachino, one of the commanders of the elite troops that seized Port Stanley. A memorial was erected to commemorate them in 1986.

Democratic process

The Socialists were replaced by the Radicals as the main political force in the 1983 election, after the

jobless
rate harmed the city's investments, with the subsequent social crisis. For the first time in its history, Mar del Plata saw emigration and some pockets of extreme poverty in the environs of the city. But even in such a deep crisis, the Radicals, identified with the mid-classes, kept firmly in charge of the local Government. The Peronism was succeeded by an Alliance between the Radicals and other moderate leftist parties in the central power in 1999.

However, after the unpopular administration of President

a period of riots and Institutional mess, the country had a swift recovery during the term of President Néstor Kirchner
. The new situation was also felt in Mar del Plata. The local economy grew for the first time in years and the renewed touristic offer attracted investment, reviving the ailing market and consumers confidence. International events and conventions returned to the city, triggering the remodeling of public spaces. The
the Americas was marked by large-scale protests and a series of exchanges between Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez and the U.S. President George W. Bush centering on the proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas
.

[23]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ According to Allied sources, the Santa Bárbara met the support landing party at a point known today as "El Balcón del Sur" (38°06′24″S 57°34′12″W / 38.10667°S 57.57000°W / -38.10667; -57.57000), a resort area southwest of Punta Mogotes lighthouse.[13]

References

  1. ^ a b Historia de Mar del Plata: Descubrimiento (in Spanish)
  2. ^ Historical Materials from Southern Patagonia
  3. ^ Avance Militar contra los Indios (in Spanish)
  4. ^ Diario que el capitán, don Juan Antonio Hernández ha hecho, de la expedición contra los indios teguelches (in Spanish)
  5. ^ Gascón, p. 32
  6. ^ Gascón, pp. 85-86
  7. ISBN 978-1-84162-138-8
    , retrieved 2016-08-09
  8. ^ Todo es Historia magazine, issue 438, 2004 (in Spanish)
  9. ^ Barili, pp. 324-326
  10. ^ Sebreli, p. 103
  11. ^ Mar del Plata, balcón nacional La Nación, 24 November 2002 (in Spanish)
  12. ^ Lobos Grises con bandera argentina (in Spanish)
  13. ^ Hyperwar: Battle of the Atlantic, Appendix 18 - The "Jolle" Operation
  14. ^ Newton, Ronald C., p. 260
  15. ^ Newton, Ronald C., pp. 260-261
  16. ^ The Royal New Zealand Navy: The Cruise of the Leander
  17. ^ Boletín del Instituto de Historia Argentina y Americana (in Spanish)
  18. ^ Naval Party 8901 Archived 2006-10-10 at the Wayback Machine
  19. ISBN 0-00-215723-3
  20. ISBN 1-59114-536-8
  21. ^ www.mardelplata-ayer.com.ar
  22. ^ BBC news, 17 April 2001
  23. ^ Ruiz Moreno, pp. 141-142

Sources

Unless otherwise indicated, all the sources are written in Spanish.

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