The name of thecity ofBuenos Aires (Spanish pronunciation:[ˈbwenosˈajɾes]), the capital ofArgentina, means "Good Airs" (or less literally "Fair Winds") inSpanish. There are other places, mostly in theAmericas, that go by the same name.
When theAragonese conqueredCagliari,Sardinia, from thePisans in 1324, they established their headquarters on top of a hill that overlooked the city. The hill was known to them asBuen Ayre (or "Bonaria" inSardinian language), as it was free of the foul smell prevalent in the old city (the Castle area), which is adjacent toswampland. "Foul smell" is another word for malaria ("mal aria" = bad air), since at that time people believed the air to cause the illness. Swamps are the breeding ground ofAnopheles mosquitoes, the vectors of malaria which had been plaguing Sardinia since the Phoencian first arrived, until the swamps were drained and treated with DDT in the 20th century.
During the siege of Cagliari, the Aragonese built a sanctuary to theVirgin Mary on top of the hill. In 1335, KingAlfonso the Gentle donated the church to theMercedarians, who built anabbey 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 helped to calm a storm in theMediterranean Sea. The statue was placed in the abbey. Spanish sailors, especiallyAndalusians, venerated this image and frequently invoked the "Fair Winds" to aid them in theirnavigation and preventshipwrecks. A sanctuary to the Virgin of Buen Ayre would be later erected inSeville[1].
In 1536, Spanish seamanPedro de Mendoza established a fort and port in current-daySan Telmo (about one kilometre south of the current Buenos Aires city centre) and called itSanta María del Buen Aire ("Saint Mary of the Good Air"). The city name was chosen by the chaplain of Mendoza's expedition, a devotee of the Virgin of Buen Ayre. (Another version[2] says that one Leonardo Gribeo, who had witnessed the original miracle, was on Mendoza's crew.) The naming of Buenos Aires after the Sardinian virgin also refers to it lying immediately beyond the southern limit of the South-American range of Anopheles species: therefore, Buenos Aires was one of the first malaria-free ports for ships coming from the north.[1]
Mendoza's settlement soon came under attack by indigenous peoples, and was abandoned in 1541. A second (and permanent) settlement was established in 1580 byJuan de Garay, who sailed down theParaná River fromAsunción (now the capital ofParaguay). Garay preserved the name chosen by Mendoza, calling the cityCiudad de la Santísima Trinidad y Puerto de Nuestra Señora la Virgen María de los Buenos Aires ("City of the Most Holy Trinity and Port of Our Lady the Virgin Mary of the Good Airs"). The short form "Buenos Aires" became the common usage during the 17th century.
The inhabitants of the city are called "porteños" ("people of theport") to acknowledge the centrality of the port of Buenos Aires in the development of the city and the nation.
SinceBuenos Aires's federalisation in 1880, the city proper includes the former towns ofBelgrano andFlores; the resulting city was separated fromBuenos Aires province.
Residents of Buenos Aires province are called "bonaerenses".
Most of the population ofGreater Buenos Aires lives in thesuburbs, which are part of the province. Depending on context, they may be calledbonaerenses or (more commonly) by the demonym of their town (e.g.quilmeño to refer to a person fromQuilmes). Suburbanites may be sometimes referred to as "porteños" by those unfamiliar with the details.
 | This sectiondoes notcite anysources. Please helpimprove this section byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged andremoved.(November 2021) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
In the1994 constitution, the city was given autonomy, hence its current formal name: Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires (Autonomous City of Buenos Aires), sometimes abbreviated as CABA.
To differentiate the city from the province of the same name, it is common to refer to the city as Capital Federal ("Federal Capital"). This name was used extensively in road signs, for postal addresses, and in everyday speech (shortened toCapital or evenla Capi), but usage of that name has been in decline since 1994.
