Buenos Aires and Mental Health

Abstract

Buenos Aires was originally founded, by the Spanish, on the banks of the River Plate (which was believed to be the sea because of its width) in 1 535. The city was destroyed and later founded again, in 1580, to secure an open water route to the Spanish settlements in Paraguay. For two centuries there was restricted growth in the city because of the lack of mineral riches; but in 1776, exports of raw hides and distribution of European imports made the city grow and become the capital of the Viceroyalty of the River Plate. As the political, economic, and administrative center of a vast territory comprising most of present-day Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, and Bolivia, the cityport was the natural birthplace for the revolution in 1810 that marked the end of Spanish colonial domination throughout the region. Independence was declared in 1816. There was a long struggle between the affluent city-port and the various provincial economies distant from the great port until 1880, when the city was declared federal capital of the republic. Its citizens lost the right to elect their own mayor, who for 115 years thereafter was appointed by the federal government. Only after amendments to the national constitution were voted in 1994 did the people of Buenos Aires again enjoy the right to elect their own officials. During the twentieth century, Buenos Aires became one of the richest cities in the world; but the country itself has been less successful, though it has developed as a center of agrarian exports and imported manufactures, which are distributed through a railway network from the port of Buenos Aires. This has made the city the entrance door to the country. When analyzing Buenos Aires, it is important to understand that Argentina is a macrocephalous country: the city is the head of the country from every viewpoint political, social, economic, cultural. A third of