Refounding of Buenos Aires

Timeline

1. 1580Asunción · AsunciónGaray, as lieutenant governor and captain general, authorized by Juan Torres de Vera y Aragón, recruited about sixty settlers and accompanying Guaraní people in Asunción, descending the Paraná River by sea and land routes. The fleet departed around March 9, taking on personnel at Santa Fe. On May 29 Garay landed and camped at the mouth of the Riachuelo, choosing a riverbank slightly north of the original 1536 site as the location for the new city.
2. 1580Port of Santa María de los Buenos Aires · Buenos AiresOn June 11 Garay read the founding charter, naming the city Santa María del Buen Ayre while the port remained Santa María de los Buenos Aires, and designated sites for the cathedral, plaza, fortress, and convents. The ceremony completed religious and legal formalities according to the Laws of the Indies' population ordinances, distinguishing it from the hasty 1536 camp that lacked municipal institutions.
3. 1580Santa María del Buen Ayre · Buenos AiresGaray divided the urban area into about 250 lots, assigning settlers house sites and outlying estancias while reserving land for the fortress, plaza, hospital, and convents. The population consisted mainly of soldiers and farming families born in the Americas, making the estuary once again a hub linking the Andean mining districts, the Paraná River interior, and the Atlantic, laying the legal and spatial framework for the later consolidation of port functions.