Mar del Plata
Encyclopedia
Mar del Plata is an Argentine
city located on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean, 400 km (249 mi) south of Buenos Aires
. Mar del Plata is the second largest city of Buenos Aires Province
. The name "Mar del Plata" had apparently the sense of "sea of the Río de la Plata
region" or "adjoining sea to the Río de la Plata". Mar del Plata is one of the major fishing ports and the biggest seaside beach resort in Argentina.
With a population of 614,350 as per the , it is the 7th largest city in Argentina.
is Mar del Plata's main economic activity with seven million tourists visiting the city in 2006. Mar del Plata has a sophisticated tourist infrastructure with countless hotels, restaurants, casinos, theatres and other tourist attractions. Mar del Plata is also an important sports centre with a multi-purpose Olympic
style stadium
(first used for the 1978 World Cup and later upgraded for the 1995 Pan American Games), 5 golf courses and many other facilities.
As an important fishing
port, industry concentrates on fish processing and at least two large shipyards.
The area is also host to other light industry, such as textile, food manufacturing and polymers.
There is a well-developed packaging machines industry, its quality being recognized in international markets. One of these companies was one of the pioneers in the automatic packaging of tea bag
s, exporting its original machine-designs abroad. Another company also exports its products and sold royalties
to other countries.
During the mid 1980s, Mar del Plata saw the birth of electronics factories, focused mostly on the telecommunications field, with two of them succeeding in the international market.
Since the 2000s, a local company builds and develops oil industry equipment, with customers in the United States, Russia, Oman
and Egypt
.
Located southwest of the city there are quartzite
quarries. The stone is traditionally used in construction. There is a huge area of farms in the rural areas surrounding the city, specialized mostly in the cultivation of vegetables.
Although the area had suffered from a high rate of unemployment from 1995 to 2003, Mar del Plata has seen 46,000 new jobs created from the third quarter of 2003 to the third quarter of 2008, representing an increase of 22%.
The 2008 Davis Cup
Final was held in Mar del Plata and, after being shut for a decade the Gran Hotel Provincial
(one of the largest hotels in Argentina) was reopened by the Madrid
-based NH Hotels, in 2009.
Mar del Plata continues to lead Argentina's room availability: of 440,000 registered hotel rooms nationwide in early 2009, the city was home to nearly 56,000 (5,000 more than Buenos Aires
).
and Sol Líneas Aéreas
and weekly flights to Patagonia served by LADE
.
It has a bus terminal serving most cities in Argentina
. There is a train station with two daily trains to Buenos Aires' Estación Constitución
.
Highway 2 connects Mar del Plata with Buenos Aires and Route 11 connects it through the coastline, ending at Miramar
, 40 km (25 mi) south of Mar del Plata. Route 88 connects to Necochea
and Route 226 to Balcarce
, Tandil
and Olavarría
.
Pre-Spanish era: The region was inhabited by Günuna Kena nomads (also known as northern Tehuelches). They were later (after the 11th century) strongly influenced by the Mapuche
culture.
1577–1857: First European explorers. Sir Francis Drake made a reconnaissance of the coast and its sea lion
colonies; Don Juan de Garay
explored the area by land a few years later. In 1742, during the War of Jenkin's Ear, eight survivors of , part of Admiral Anson
expedition, and led by Isaac Morris, lived through a ten-months ordeal before being decimated and captured by the Tehuelches, who eventually handed them to the Spaniards. After holding the Englishmen as prisoners, they returned Morris and his companions to London in 1746. First colonization attempt by Jesuit Order near Laguna de los Padres
ended in disaster (1751).
1857–1874: The Portuguese
entrepreneur Coelho de Meirelles, taking advantage of the country's abundance of wild cattle, built a pier and a factory for salted meat, but the business only lasts a few years.
1874–1886: Patricio Peralta Ramos
acquired the now abandoned factory along with the surrounding terrain, and founded the town on February 10, 1874. Basque
rancher Pedro Luro bought a part of Peralta Ramos land for agricultural production. First docks also erected around this time.
1886–1911: The railway line from Buenos Aires
, built by the Buenos Aires Great Southern
reached Mar del Plata in 1886; the first hotels started their activity. The upper-class people from Buenos Aires
became the first tourist of the new born village. They also established a local government that reflected their conservative ideals. Build-up of a French style resort.
1911–1930: The residents, mostly new arrived immigrants from Europe, demanded and obtained the control of the Municipality administration. The socialist were the mainstream political force in this period, carrying out social reforms and public investment. The main port was also built and inaugurated in 1916.
1930–1946: A military coup reinstated the Conservative
hegemony in politics through electoral fraud and corruption, but in the local level they were quite progressive, their policies viewed in some way as a continuity of the socialist trend. The seaside Casino complex opened in 1939, was designed by architect Alejandro Bustillo
, and Highway 2, the main road to Buenos Aires, also dates from this period.
1946–1955: Birth of the Peronist
movement. A coalition between socialists and radicals defeated this new party by a narrow margin in Mar del Plata, but by 1948 the Peronism will dominate the local administration. The massive tourism, triggered by the welfare politics of Perón and the surge of the middle class marked a huge growth in the city's economy.
1955–1970: After the fall of Perón
, the socialists
regained the upper hand in local politics; the city reached the peak in activities like construction business and building industry. Massive immigration from other regions of Argentina.
1970–1989: Slight decline of tourism demand, counterbalanced by the increasing of other industries such as fishing and machinery. General infrastructure renewal under the military rule. The centrist Radical Civic Union
becomes the main political force after the return of Democracy in 1983
.
1989–present: Though the Peronism replaced the radicals in central government amid a national financial crisis, the latter party continued to rule in Mar del Plata. Some resurge of mass tourism in the early '90s was followed by a deep social crisis in town, with an increase of poverty, jobless rate and emigration. By contrast, the first decade of the 21st century shows an amazingly quick recovery in all sectors of the ailing economy.
On November 2005 the city hosted the 4th Summit of the Americas.
. Mar del Plata has a wide range of services in this sector. The summer season hosts over fifty theatrical plays.
The local Government sponsors a Symphonic Orchestra, as well as a Conservatorium and a School of Classical and Modern Dance.
Mar del Plata has a wide variety of clubs located by district: the area of Alem street and Irigoyen (known for its quantity of pubs and nightclubs) and the coast and Constitution Avenue.
The common linguistic and social background of the city is that
of the so called rioplatense
culture.
The development of the city as a seasonal resort in the early 20th century led upper class tourists from Buenos Aires to build a European-inspired architecture, based mainly on the picturesque
and later on the art deco
styles. This gave Mar del Plata the nickname of the Argentine Biarritz
. The building industry became the main non-seasonal activity of the town by 1920.
During the '30s,'40s, and beyond, local architects and builders, like Auro Tiribelli, Arturo Lemmi, Alberto Córsico-Picollini and Raúl Camusso recreated and transformed the picturesque values into a middle-class scale, marking the beginning of a vernacular architecture
, called Mar del Plata Style, consisting in small samples of the luxury-laden summer residences of high society, built for the summer visitor as well as for the local resident.
These chalet
s were built with stone façades
, gable
s roofs covered with Spanish or French tiles, prominent eaves
and front porch
es. This gives the town some distinctive urban character compared with other Argentine
cities, despite the fact that the growing mass of tourists in the '60s imposed the construction of large apartment buildings and skyscrapers as the predominant architectural style downtown.
(Cfb, according to the Köppen climate classification
), with humid and moderate summers and relatively cool winters, although polar air masses from Antarctica are frequent. The average temperatures for January reach 20 °C (68 °F) and 8 °C (46 °F) for July. The West-Southwest winds bring down the temperature below 0 °C (32 °F), while the Southeast ones (the so called Sudestada
) are stronger, producing coastal showers and rough seas, as well as strong squalls, but the cold is much less intense.
There are about 20 days of frost each year, and almost 60 in the west hills area (some 300 mts above the sea level). Snowfall is not uncommon, but snow accumulation on the ground is rare, a phenomenon that takes place every 6 years or so, according to the last 40 year's data.
Among the most best known such occurrences were the 1975 and 1991 snowstorms, but there were also snow accumulations in 1994 and 1997, in the highest hills area of Sierra de los Padres
, in 1995 along the southern coast, and other two during the first hours of July 10, 2004 and July 15, 2010. There were two flurries
in September 1986 and June 2007.
There is fog
in the last days of fall, and springtime is often marred by sea winds and sudden temperature's changes. There are some ten days of 30 °C (86 °F) each summer,
certainly milder values than the rest of the pampas region. Usually, the summer nights are cool and pleasant, with values between 13 °C (55 °F) to 17 °C (63 °F). The record high is 41 °C (106 °F) on January 1957 (105 Fahrenheit). The wet season
occurs during spring and summer, specially in January, with values between the 70 and 80 mm. The average annual rainfall is 780 mm.
Mar del Plata is the head of the department (Partido) of General Pueyrredón
. The current Mayor
of the city and department is Gustavo Pulti, of the local party Acción Marplatense.
The Honorable Concejo Deliberante (the town council
) has some legislative powers. The term of office for both the Mayor and council members is four years.
In 1919, Mar del Plata became the first town in South America to have a Socialist Mayor, a son of Italian Immigrants, Teodoro Bronzini
. The Socialist Party
would dominate the city political landscape for most of the 20th century.
The Government official page has a comprehensive listing
of all Mayors and Commissioners of Mar del Plata from 1881 to the present.
There is an extensive but interesting work by the American sociologist
Susan Stokes about the democratic process in Mar del Plata since 1983 in comparison to other regions of Argentina. One of the main thesis
of her articles is that the social and economic development of Mar del Plata was quite atypical, with a strong prevalence of middle-class values that discouraged the policy of clientelism
that is the common background in other urban environments of Argentina.
, Chile Tianjin
, China La Habana, Cuba Corunna
, Spain Biarritz
, France
Bari
, Italy Ischia
, Italy San Benedetto del Tronto
, Italy Saint Petersburg
, Russia Fort Lauderdale, USA
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
city located on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean, 400 km (249 mi) south of Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
. Mar del Plata is the second largest city of Buenos Aires Province
Buenos Aires Province
The Province of Buenos Aires is the largest and most populous province of Argentina. It takes the name from the city of Buenos Aires, which used to be the provincial capital until it was federalized in 1880...
. The name "Mar del Plata" had apparently the sense of "sea of the Río de la Plata
Río de la Plata
The Río de la Plata —sometimes rendered River Plate in British English and the Commonwealth, and occasionally rendered [La] Plata River in other English-speaking countries—is the river and estuary formed by the confluence of the Uruguay River and the Paraná River on the border between Argentina and...
region" or "adjoining sea to the Río de la Plata". Mar del Plata is one of the major fishing ports and the biggest seaside beach resort in Argentina.
With a population of 614,350 as per the , it is the 7th largest city in Argentina.
Economy
As part of the Argentine recreational coast, tourismTourism
Tourism is travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people "traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes".Tourism has become a...
is Mar del Plata's main economic activity with seven million tourists visiting the city in 2006. Mar del Plata has a sophisticated tourist infrastructure with countless hotels, restaurants, casinos, theatres and other tourist attractions. Mar del Plata is also an important sports centre with a multi-purpose Olympic
Olympic Games
The Olympic Games is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world’s foremost sports competition where more than 200 nations participate...
style stadium
Estadio José Maria Minella
The Estadio José María Minella is a stadium in Mar del Plata, Argentina.The stadium was built for the 1978 World Cup. It has capacity for 35,354 spectators, although some of the capacity is standing only, like many Argentine stadiums....
(first used for the 1978 World Cup and later upgraded for the 1995 Pan American Games), 5 golf courses and many other facilities.
As an important fishing
Fishing
Fishing is the activity of trying to catch wild fish. Fish are normally caught in the wild. Techniques for catching fish include hand gathering, spearing, netting, angling and trapping....
port, industry concentrates on fish processing and at least two large shipyards.
The area is also host to other light industry, such as textile, food manufacturing and polymers.
There is a well-developed packaging machines industry, its quality being recognized in international markets. One of these companies was one of the pioneers in the automatic packaging of tea bag
Tea bag
A tea bag is a small, porous sealed bag containing tea leaves and used for brewing tea. Tea bags are commonly made of paper, silk or plastic. The bag contains the tea leaves while the tea is brewed, making it easier to dispose of the leaves, and performs the same function as a tea infuser...
s, exporting its original machine-designs abroad. Another company also exports its products and sold royalties
Royalties
Royalties are usage-based payments made by one party to another for the right to ongoing use of an asset, sometimes an intellectual property...
to other countries.
During the mid 1980s, Mar del Plata saw the birth of electronics factories, focused mostly on the telecommunications field, with two of them succeeding in the international market.
Since the 2000s, a local company builds and develops oil industry equipment, with customers in the United States, Russia, Oman
Oman
Oman , officially called the Sultanate of Oman , is an Arab state in southwest Asia on the southeast coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It is bordered by the United Arab Emirates to the northwest, Saudi Arabia to the west, and Yemen to the southwest. The coast is formed by the Arabian Sea on the...
and Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
.
Located southwest of the city there are quartzite
Quartzite
Quartzite is a hard metamorphic rock which was originally sandstone. Sandstone is converted into quartzite through heating and pressure usually related to tectonic compression within orogenic belts. Pure quartzite is usually white to gray, though quartzites often occur in various shades of pink...
quarries. The stone is traditionally used in construction. There is a huge area of farms in the rural areas surrounding the city, specialized mostly in the cultivation of vegetables.
Although the area had suffered from a high rate of unemployment from 1995 to 2003, Mar del Plata has seen 46,000 new jobs created from the third quarter of 2003 to the third quarter of 2008, representing an increase of 22%.
The 2008 Davis Cup
2008 Davis Cup
The 2008 Davis Cup was the 97th edition of the most important tournament between national teams in men's tennis. Sixteen teams participated in the World Group and more than one hundred others took part in different regional groups. The first matches were played on February 8–10...
Final was held in Mar del Plata and, after being shut for a decade the Gran Hotel Provincial
NH Gran Hotel Provincial
The NH Gran Hotel Provincial is a five star establishment in Mar del Plata, Argentina.-Overview:The hotel is one of a pair of twin buildings designed by architect Alejandro Bustillo. Inspired by seafront Hotel du Palais in Biarritz, France, the hotel and neighboring Casino Central remain...
(one of the largest hotels in Argentina) was reopened by the Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
-based NH Hotels, in 2009.
Mar del Plata continues to lead Argentina's room availability: of 440,000 registered hotel rooms nationwide in early 2009, the city was home to nearly 56,000 (5,000 more than Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
).
Transportation
Mar del Plata is served by Ástor Piazzola International Airport (MDQ/SAZM) with daily flights to Buenos Aires served by Aerolíneas ArgentinasAerolíneas Argentinas
Aerolíneas Argentinas , formally Aerolíneas Argentinas S.A., is Argentina's largest airline and serves as the country's flag carrier. Owned in its majority by the Argentine Government, the airline is headquartered in the Torre Bouchard, located in San Nicolás, Buenos Aires...
and Sol Líneas Aéreas
Sol Líneas Aéreas
SOL S.A. Líneas Aéreas is an Argentine airline founded in 2005, and operating since August 2006 pursuant to an agreement between Transatlántica Group and the government of Santa Fe Province, who sought to improve air connections between the cities of Córdoba and Santa Fe...
and weekly flights to Patagonia served by LADE
Lade
Lade may refer to:People* Brendon Lade , Australian rules footballer* Sir John Lade , baronet and Regency horse-breeder* Heinrich Eduard von Lade , German banker and amateur astronomer...
.
It has a bus terminal serving most cities in Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
. There is a train station with two daily trains to Buenos Aires' Estación Constitución
Estación Constitución
Constitución railway station is a large railway terminus in Barrio Constitución in central Buenos Aires, Argentina...
.
Highway 2 connects Mar del Plata with Buenos Aires and Route 11 connects it through the coastline, ending at Miramar
Miramar
Miramar is a place name of Spanish origin. It means "sea-view" or "sea sight" from mira and mar .-Places:Asia*Miramar, Panaji, GoaEurope*Miramar, a hamlet in the commune of Théoule-sur-Mer, France...
, 40 km (25 mi) south of Mar del Plata. Route 88 connects to Necochea
Necochea
Necochea is a port city in the southwest of the province of Buenos Aires, Argentina, located on the Atlantic coast, on the edge of the Quequén Grande river, from Buenos Aires City and southwest from Mar del Plata...
and Route 226 to Balcarce
Balcarce, Buenos Aires
-External links:...
, Tandil
Tandil
-Place name:The name of the city comes from the Mapuche words tan , and lil . It is probably a reference to the Piedra Movediza , a large boulder which stood seemingly miraculously balanced on the edge of a rocky foothill. The Moving Stone toppled on February 29, 1912, and split into two pieces at...
and Olavarría
Olavarría
Olavarría is a city in the province of Buenos Aires, Argentina, located. It is the capital of the Olavarría Partido and has over 111,320 inhabitants, per the ....
.
History
Mapuche
The Mapuche are a group of indigenous inhabitants of south-central Chile and southwestern Argentina. They constitute a wide-ranging ethnicity composed of various groups who shared a common social, religious and economic structure, as well as a common linguistic heritage. Their influence extended...
culture.
1577–1857: First European explorers. Sir Francis Drake made a reconnaissance of the coast and its sea lion
Sea Lion
Sea lions are pinnipeds characterized by external ear-flaps, long fore-flippers, the ability to walk on all fours, and short thick hair. Together with the fur seal, they comprise the family Otariidae, or eared seals. There are six extant and one extinct species in five genera...
colonies; Don Juan de Garay
Juan de Garay
Juan de Garay was a Spanish conquistador.Garay was born in Orduña, Spain. He served under the Spanish crown, in the Viceroyalty of Peru...
explored the area by land a few years later. In 1742, during the War of Jenkin's Ear, eight survivors of , part of Admiral Anson
George Anson, 1st Baron Anson
Admiral of the Fleet George Anson, 1st Baron Anson PC, FRS, RN was a British admiral and a wealthy aristocrat, noted for his circumnavigation of the globe and his role overseeing the Royal Navy during the Seven Years' War...
expedition, and led by Isaac Morris, lived through a ten-months ordeal before being decimated and captured by the Tehuelches, who eventually handed them to the Spaniards. After holding the Englishmen as prisoners, they returned Morris and his companions to London in 1746. First colonization attempt by Jesuit Order near Laguna de los Padres
Laguna de los Padres
Laguna de los Padres is a small lake located about 8 miles west of Mar del Plata, Argentina and roughly 2 from Sierra de los Padres' hills. It has a length of 6,884 feet and a width of 5,670. Its water is shallow and the aquatic flora overpopulates the muddy bottom...
ended in disaster (1751).
1857–1874: The Portuguese
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
entrepreneur Coelho de Meirelles, taking advantage of the country's abundance of wild cattle, built a pier and a factory for salted meat, but the business only lasts a few years.
1874–1886: Patricio Peralta Ramos
Patricio Peralta Ramos
Patricio Peralta Ramos was an Argentine businessman and landowner prominent in the foundation of the seaside Mar del Plata.-Life and times:...
acquired the now abandoned factory along with the surrounding terrain, and founded the town on February 10, 1874. Basque
Basque people
The Basques as an ethnic group, primarily inhabit an area traditionally known as the Basque Country , a region that is located around the western end of the Pyrenees on the coast of the Bay of Biscay and straddles parts of north-central Spain and south-western France.The Basques are known in the...
rancher Pedro Luro bought a part of Peralta Ramos land for agricultural production. First docks also erected around this time.
1886–1911: The railway line from Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
, built by the Buenos Aires Great Southern
Buenos Aires Great Southern Railway
The Buenos Aires Great Southern Railway was one of the Big Four broad gauge, , British-owned companies that built and operated railway networks in Argentina...
reached Mar del Plata in 1886; the first hotels started their activity. The upper-class people from Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
became the first tourist of the new born village. They also established a local government that reflected their conservative ideals. Build-up of a French style resort.
1911–1930: The residents, mostly new arrived immigrants from Europe, demanded and obtained the control of the Municipality administration. The socialist were the mainstream political force in this period, carrying out social reforms and public investment. The main port was also built and inaugurated in 1916.
1930–1946: A military coup reinstated the Conservative
Conservatism
Conservatism is a political and social philosophy that promotes the maintenance of traditional institutions and supports, at the most, minimal and gradual change in society. Some conservatives seek to preserve things as they are, emphasizing stability and continuity, while others oppose modernism...
hegemony in politics through electoral fraud and corruption, but in the local level they were quite progressive, their policies viewed in some way as a continuity of the socialist trend. The seaside Casino complex opened in 1939, was designed by architect Alejandro Bustillo
Alejandro Bustillo
Alejandro Bustillo was an Argentine painter and architect who left his mark in various tourist destinations in Argentina, especially in the Andean region of the Patagonia....
, and Highway 2, the main road to Buenos Aires, also dates from this period.
1946–1955: Birth of the Peronist
Peronism
Peronism , or Justicialism , is an Argentine political movement based on the programmes associated with former President Juan Perón and his second wife, Eva Perón...
movement. A coalition between socialists and radicals defeated this new party by a narrow margin in Mar del Plata, but by 1948 the Peronism will dominate the local administration. The massive tourism, triggered by the welfare politics of Perón and the surge of the middle class marked a huge growth in the city's economy.
1955–1970: After the fall of Perón
Revolución Libertadora
The Revolución Libertadora was a military uprising that ended the second presidential term of Juan Perón in Argentina, on September 16, 1955.-History:...
, the socialists
Socialism
Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...
regained the upper hand in local politics; the city reached the peak in activities like construction business and building industry. Massive immigration from other regions of Argentina.
1970–1989: Slight decline of tourism demand, counterbalanced by the increasing of other industries such as fishing and machinery. General infrastructure renewal under the military rule. The centrist Radical Civic Union
Radical Civic Union
The Radical Civic Union is a political party in Argentina. The party's positions on issues range from liberal to social democratic. The UCR is a member of the Socialist International. Founded in 1891 by radical liberals, it is the oldest political party active in Argentina...
becomes the main political force after the return of Democracy in 1983
Argentine general election, 1983
The Argentine general election of 1983 was held on 30 October and marked the return of Democracy after the 1976's dictatorship self-known as National Reorganization Process...
.
1989–present: Though the Peronism replaced the radicals in central government amid a national financial crisis, the latter party continued to rule in Mar del Plata. Some resurge of mass tourism in the early '90s was followed by a deep social crisis in town, with an increase of poverty, jobless rate and emigration. By contrast, the first decade of the 21st century shows an amazingly quick recovery in all sectors of the ailing economy.
On November 2005 the city hosted the 4th Summit of the Americas.
Culture
Mar del Plata is the most popular destination for conventions in Argentina after Buenos AiresBuenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
. Mar del Plata has a wide range of services in this sector. The summer season hosts over fifty theatrical plays.
Shows and festivals
- The Mar del Plata International Film Festival, the only competitive accredited film festival in Latin America.
- The Fiesta Nacional del Mar ("National Sea FestivalNational Sea FestivalThe National Sea Festival is a festival held annually at Mar del Plata, Argentina since 1910, during the month of February to mark the beginning of the summer season...
") with the election and coronation of the Sea Queen and her princesses, which takes place in December as the official inauguration of the summer season. - The Premios Estrella de Mar ("Sea Star AwardsSea Star AwardsAround 1973, the entertainment activities in Mar del Plata’ summer, such as theatrical plays, the so called café-concerts, circus and recitals reached a degree of development that made it one of the most profitable investments of the summer season...
") which honor the best stage plays and shows of the season. - The Valencian FallesFallesThe Falles is a Valencian traditional celebration in praise of Saint Joseph in Valencia, Spain. The term Falles refers to both the celebration and the monuments created during the celebration...
week, a local reenactment of the ValencianValencia (city in Spain)Valencia or València is the capital and most populous city of the autonomous community of Valencia and the third largest city in Spain, with a population of 809,267 in 2010. It is the 15th-most populous municipality in the European Union...
event conducted by the Valencian community. - The Mar del Plata Fashion Show, along with a number of fashion parades that gathers the best haute coutureHaute coutureHaute couture refers to the creation of exclusive custom-fitted clothing. Haute couture is made to order for a specific customer, and it is usually made from high-quality, expensive fabric and sewn with extreme attention to detail and finished by the most experienced and capable seamstresses,...
designers. - The Fiesta Nacional de los Pescadores (National Fishermen's Festival), a colourful display of seamen tradition and cuisine.
- Mar del Plata has also hosted the 1995 Pan American Games1995 Pan American GamesThe 12th Pan American Games were held in Mar del Plata, Argentina, from March 12 to March 26, 1995. After 44 years, this was the Pan American Games first return to the country that hosted the first Games, in 1951.-Overview:...
, the 2003 Parapan American GamesParapan American GamesThe Parapan American Games is a multi-sport event held every four years after every Pan American Games for athletes with physical disabilities. The first Games was held in 1999 in Mexico City, Mexico...
, the 2005 FIBA Under-21 World ChampionshipFIBA Under-21 World ChampionshipThe FIBA Under-21 World Championship was a men's under-21-only basketball competition organized by FIBA. It was formerly the FIBA 22 & Under World Championship before FIBA lowered the age limit to 21 years in December 1998, and had its name changed to World Championship for Young Men. The...
, and co-hosted the 1978 FIFA World Cup1978 FIFA World CupThe 1978 FIFA World Cup, the 11th staging of the FIFA World Cup, was held in Argentina between 1 June and 25 June. The 1978 World Cup was won by Argentina who beat the Netherlands 3–1 after extra time in the final. This win was the first World Cup title for Argentina, who became the fifth...
and the 2001 FIFA World Youth Championship2001 FIFA World Youth ChampionshipThe 2001 FIFA World Youth Championship took place in Argentina between June 17 and July 8, 2001. The 2001 championship was the 13th contested. The tournament took part in six cities, Buenos Aires, Córdoba, Mendoza, Rosario, Salta, and Mar del Plata...
. - Since 1987 Mar del Plata annually hosts the Mar del Plata MarathonMar del Plata MarathonThe Maratón de Mar del Plata is an annual marathon foot-race which takes place in Mar del Plata, Argentina, during the Southern Hemisphere's Summer, usually in December.-History:-References:* from ARRS...
, in early December.
The local Government sponsors a Symphonic Orchestra, as well as a Conservatorium and a School of Classical and Modern Dance.
Nightlife
Museums
- The Juan Carlos Castagnino Municipal Museum of ArtJuan Carlos Castagnino Municipal Museum of ArtThe Juan Carlos Castagnino Municipal Museum of Art is the premier museum of fine arts in Mar del Plata, Argentina.-Overview:Commissioned by the Ortíz Basualdo family of Buenos Aires, among the most prominent landowners in Argentina, the distinctive villa on Mar del Plata's prestigious Stella Maris...
. - The Museum of the Port of Mar del Plata Cleto Ciocchini.
- The Museum of Natural Science Lorenzo Scaglia, specialized in PaleontologyPaleontologyPaleontology "old, ancient", ὄν, ὀντ- "being, creature", and λόγος "speech, thought") is the study of prehistoric life. It includes the study of fossils to determine organisms' evolution and interactions with each other and their environments...
of the QuaternaryQuaternaryThe Quaternary Period is the most recent of the three periods of the Cenozoic Era in the geologic time scale of the ICS. It follows the Neogene Period, spanning 2.588 ± 0.005 million years ago to the present...
species around the region. - The Mar del Plata Museum of the SeaMar del Plata Museum of the SeaThe Museum of the Sea is a museum of marine biology and aquarium in the seaside city of Mar del Plata, Argentina.-Overview:A gift box containing fifteen seashells, and delivered to 18-year-old Benjamín Sisterna from his brother in 1932, created a lifelong fascination with sea shells and...
, which includes one of the most complete collections of sea snails of the World. - Villa Victoria, a vintage wooden house, the former residence of the late writer Victoria OcampoVictoria OcampoVictoria Ocampo Aguirre was an Argentine writer and intellectual, described by Jorge Luis Borges as La mujer más argentina ....
, now a place for art expositions and classical music.
Notable people
- Alberto Bruzzone (1907–1994), painter, was born in San JuanSan Juan Province (Argentina)San Juan is a province of Argentina, located in the western part of the country. Neighbouring provinces are, moving clockwise from the north, La Rioja, San Luis and Mendoza. It borders with Chile at the west....
but chose Mar del Plata as his home city. - Alfonsina StorniAlfonsina StorniAlfonsina Storni was one of the most important Latin-American poets of the modernist period.-Life:Storni was born in Sala Capriasca, Switzerland to an Argentine beer industrialist living in Switzerland for a few years. There, Storni learned to speak Italian...
(died 1938), famous Argentian Poet, who drowned herself in the waters at Mar del Plate: a statue still was erected near the beach. - Ástor PiazzollaÁstor PiazzollaÁstor Pantaleón Piazzolla was an Argentine tango composer and bandoneón player. His oeuvre revolutionized the traditional tango into a new style termed nuevo tango, incorporating elements from jazz and classical music...
, composer and musician. - Auro Tiribelli (1908–2006), architect, the main representative of the Mar del Plata styleMar del Plata styleThe Mar del Plata style is a domestic architectural style very popular during the decades between 1935 and 1950 mainly in the Argentine resort city of Mar del Plata, but extended to other coastal towns like Miramar and Necochea.-Origins:...
. - Erica Bibbó (1985), the first female commander of a naval unit in the Argentine navyArgentine NavyThe Navy of the Argentine Republic or Armada of the Argentine Republic is the navy of Argentina. It is one of the three branches of the Armed Forces of the Argentine Republic, together with the Army and the Air Force....
. - Gabriel Gaby AmatoGabriel AmatoGabriel Amato is a former Argentine footballer.He began his career in Aldosivi of Mar del Plata, and later he went on to become one of the few players to have played for the three most popular teams in his country: Boca Juniors and River Plate and Independiente.He has played for Spanish clubs...
, former international soccer player. Former forward of Boca JuniorsBoca JuniorsClub Atlético Boca Juniors is an Argentine sports club based in La Boca neighborhood of Buenos Aires. It is best known for its professional football team, which currently plays in the Primera División....
, River PlateClub Atlético River PlateClub Atlético River Plate is an Argentine sports club based in the Nuñez neighborhood of Buenos Aires. It is best known for its professional football team, which currently competes in Nacional B, the second tier of Argentine football....
, Rangers FC and GrêmioGrêmio Foot-Ball Porto AlegrenseGrêmio Foot-Ball Porto Alegrense, commonly known as just Grêmio , is a Brazilian professional association football team based in Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul founded by English and German immigrants on September 15, 1903. Major titles captured by Grêmio include one Intercontinental Cup, two Copa...
. - Germán Mono Burgos, former goalkeeper. He played two World Cups. Currently, he is oriented to music.
- Guillermo VilasGuillermo VilasGuillermo Apolinario Vilas is a retired and former World No. 2 professional tennis player from Argentina. He was the second Latin-American to win a Grand Slam tournament.-Career:...
, top tennisTennisTennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...
star in the 1970s. - Héctor BabencoHector BabencoHéctor Eduardo Babenco is an Argentine-born Brazilian film director, screenwriter, producer and actor.He has worked in several countries including Argentina, Brazil and the United States....
, movie director, who made Hollywood films like Kiss of the Spider Woman and IronweedIronweed (film)Ironweed is a 1987 film directed by Argentine-born Brazilian Héctor Babenco.The picture is based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same title by William Kennedy and concerns the relationship of a homeless couple: Francis, an alcoholic, and Helen, a terminally ill woman during the Great...
. - Homero Cárpena (1910–2001), actor, playwright and filmmaker.
- Inés ArrondoInés ArrondoInés Arrondo is a field hockey player from Argentina, who won the silver medal with the national women's hockey team at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney and a bronze medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens.-External links:* *...
, hockeyField hockeyField Hockey, or Hockey, is a team sport in which a team of players attempts to score goals by hitting, pushing or flicking a ball into an opposing team's goal using sticks...
player, winner along with the national team of an Olympic Silver medal in Sydney 20002000 Summer OlympicsThe Sydney 2000 Summer Olympic Games or the Millennium Games/Games of the New Millennium, officially known as the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event which was celebrated between 15 September and 1 October 2000 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia...
and a Bronze medal in Athens 20042004 Summer OlympicsThe 2004 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad, was a premier international multi-sport event held in Athens, Greece from August 13 to August 29, 2004 with the motto Welcome Home. 10,625 athletes competed, some 600 more than expected, accompanied by 5,501 team...
. - Juan Carlos CastagninoJuan Carlos CastagninoJuan Carlos Castagnino was an Argentine painter, architect, muralist and sketch artist.Born in the city of Mar del Plata, he studied in the Escuela de Bellas Artes in Buenos Aires, and became a disciple of Lino Enea Spilimbergo and Ramón Gómez Cornet.By the end of the 1920s, he became a member of...
, painter. - Juan Eduardo Esnáider, international soccer player. Former forward of Espanyol de Barcelona, Atlético de MadridAtlético de MadridClub Atlético de Madrid, S.A.D., commonly known as Atlético Madrid, is a Spanish football club based in Madrid who play in La Liga. Atlético have won both La Liga and the Copa del Rey on nine occasions, including a double in 1996; in Europe, they won the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1962, were...
, Juventus and River Plate. - Jorge LanataJorge LanataJorge Lanata is an Argentine journalist and writer, born in Mar del Plata in 1960. He co-founded the daily Argentine newspaper Crítica de la Argentina on March 2, 2008, and was its director until April 4, 2009....
, journalist and writer. - Laura Echarte, agricultural engineerAgricultural engineeringAgricultural engineering is the engineering discipline that applies engineering science and technology to agricultural production and processing...
, researcher in cropCropCrop may refer to:* Crop, a plant grown and harvested for agricultural use* Crop , part of the alimentary tract of some animals* Crop , a modified whip used in horseback riding or disciplining humans...
physiologyPhysiologyPhysiology is the science of the function of living systems. This includes how organisms, organ systems, organs, cells, and bio-molecules carry out the chemical or physical functions that exist in a living system. The highest honor awarded in physiology is the Nobel Prize in Physiology or...
studies, winner of a 2007 L'Oréal-UnescoL'Oréal-UNESCO Awards for Women in ScienceThe L'Oréal-UNESCO Awards for Women in Science aims to improve the position of women in science by recognizing outstanding women researchers who have contributed to scientific progress...
international fellowship for Women. - Maria Gabriela Palomo, marine biologistMarine biologyMarine biology is the scientific study of organisms in the ocean or other marine or brackish bodies of water. Given that in biology many phyla, families and genera have some species that live in the sea and others that live on land, marine biology classifies species based on the environment rather...
, also winner of the L'Oréal-UnescoUNESCOThe United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...
junior award in 2003 for her works on port-areas environmental pollutionPollutionPollution is the introduction of contaminants into a natural environment that causes instability, disorder, harm or discomfort to the ecosystem i.e. physical systems or living organisms. Pollution can take the form of chemical substances or energy, such as noise, heat or light...
. - Mario Benedetti (1945), electronics engineer, the main Argentine scientist involved in the Large Hadron ColliderLarge Hadron ColliderThe Large Hadron Collider is the world's largest and highest-energy particle accelerator. It is expected to address some of the most fundamental questions of physics, advancing the understanding of the deepest laws of nature....
project. He is also the owner of Tío Curzio, one of the most fashionable restaurants in the city. - Martin Donovan (not to be confused with American actor Martin DonovanMartin DonovanMartin Donovan is an American stage and film actor. He has had a long collaboration with the director Hal Hartley, appearing in many of his films, including Trust , Surviving Desire , Simple Men , Flirt , Amateur , and The Book of Life...
), Hollywood screenwriter and producer, co-author of the screenplay of movies like Death Becomes HerDeath Becomes HerDeath Becomes Her is a 1992 American dark slapstick screwball comedy fantasy film directed by Robert Zemeckis and starring Goldie Hawn, Meryl Streep, and Bruce Willis...
and Loving CouplesLoving Couples (1980 film)Loving Couples is a 1980 American romantic comedy film written by Martin Donovan and directed by Jack Smight.The plot offers a comic spin on adultery. When Greg crashes his sports car, doctor Evelyn comes to his rescue, and the two soon are engaged in an affair...
. - Nacha GuevaraNacha GuevaraNacha Guevara is an Argentine singer and actress from Mar de Plata, Buenos Aires, Argentina.Trained as a dancer and actress, she discovered by chance a career as a singer becoming a symbol in the song of protest movement around 1968 in the avant-garde Instituto Di Tella in Buenos Aires, the...
, singer and actress. - Ricardo PigliaRicardo PigliaRicardo Piglia is one of the foremost contemporary Argentine writers, known for his fiction, including several collections of short stories; the novels Artificial Respiration , The Absent City , Burnt Money ; and criticism including Criticism and Fiction , Brief Forms and...
, writer born in AdroguéAdroguéAdrogué is a city in Greater Buenos Aires, Argentina, located 23 km south of Buenos Aires. It is the capital of the Almirante Brown Partido ....
but raised in Mar del Plata.
The common linguistic and social background of the city is that
of the so called rioplatense
Rioplatense Spanish
Rioplatense Spanish or River Plate Spanish is a dialectal variant of the Spanish language spoken mainly in the areas in and around the Río de la Plata basin of Argentina and Uruguay, and also in Rio Grande do Sul, although features of the dialect are shared with the varieties of Spanish spoken...
culture.
Architecture
Picturesque
Picturesque is an aesthetic ideal introduced into English cultural debate in 1782 by William Gilpin in Observations on the River Wye, and Several Parts of South Wales, etc. Relative Chiefly to Picturesque Beauty; made in the Summer of the Year 1770, a practical book which instructed England's...
and later on the art deco
Art Deco
Art deco , or deco, is an eclectic artistic and design style that began in Paris in the 1920s and flourished internationally throughout the 1930s, into the World War II era. The style influenced all areas of design, including architecture and interior design, industrial design, fashion and...
styles. This gave Mar del Plata the nickname of the Argentine Biarritz
Biarritz
Biarritz is a city which lies on the Bay of Biscay, on the Atlantic coast, in south-western France. It is a luxurious seaside town and is popular with tourists and surfers....
. The building industry became the main non-seasonal activity of the town by 1920.
During the '30s,'40s, and beyond, local architects and builders, like Auro Tiribelli, Arturo Lemmi, Alberto Córsico-Picollini and Raúl Camusso recreated and transformed the picturesque values into a middle-class scale, marking the beginning of a vernacular architecture
Vernacular architecture
Vernacular architecture is a term used to categorize methods of construction which use locally available resources and traditions to address local needs and circumstances. Vernacular architecture tends to evolve over time to reflect the environmental, cultural and historical context in which it...
, called Mar del Plata Style, consisting in small samples of the luxury-laden summer residences of high society, built for the summer visitor as well as for the local resident.
These chalet
Chalet
A chalet , also called Swiss chalet, is a type of building or house, native to the Alpine region, made of wood, with a heavy, gently sloping roof with wide, well-supported eaves set at right angles to the front of the house.-Definition and origin:...
s were built with stone façades
Facade
A facade or façade is generally one exterior side of a building, usually, but not always, the front. The word comes from the French language, literally meaning "frontage" or "face"....
, gable
Gable
A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of a sloping roof. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system being used and aesthetic concerns. Thus the type of roof enclosing the volume dictates the shape of the gable...
s roofs covered with Spanish or French tiles, prominent eaves
Eaves
The eaves of a roof are its lower edges. They usually project beyond the walls of the building to carry rain water away.-Etymology:"Eaves" is derived from Old English and is both the singular and plural form of the word.- Function :...
and front porch
Porch
A porch is external to the walls of the main building proper, but may be enclosed by screen, latticework, broad windows, or other light frame walls extending from the main structure.There are various styles of porches, all of which depend on the architectural tradition of its location...
es. This gives the town some distinctive urban character compared with other Argentine
Architecture of Argentina
The Architecture of Argentina can be said to start at the beginning of the Spanish colonisation, though it was in the 18th century that the cities of the country reached their splendour...
cities, despite the fact that the growing mass of tourists in the '60s imposed the construction of large apartment buildings and skyscrapers as the predominant architectural style downtown.
Climate
The weather pattern for the region is that of an oceanic climateOceanic climate
An oceanic climate, also called marine west coast climate, maritime climate, Cascadian climate and British climate for Köppen climate classification Cfb and subtropical highland for Köppen Cfb or Cwb, is a type of climate typically found along the west coasts at the middle latitudes of some of the...
(Cfb, according to the Köppen climate classification
Köppen climate classification
The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by Crimea German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen himself, notably in 1918 and 1936...
), with humid and moderate summers and relatively cool winters, although polar air masses from Antarctica are frequent. The average temperatures for January reach 20 °C (68 °F) and 8 °C (46 °F) for July. The West-Southwest winds bring down the temperature below 0 °C (32 °F), while the Southeast ones (the so called Sudestada
Sudestada
Sudestada is the Spanish name for a climatic phenomenon common to the Río de la Plata and its surrounding region. The phenomenon consists of a sudden rotation of cold southern winds to the south-east...
) are stronger, producing coastal showers and rough seas, as well as strong squalls, but the cold is much less intense.
Among the most best known such occurrences were the 1975 and 1991 snowstorms, but there were also snow accumulations in 1994 and 1997, in the highest hills area of Sierra de los Padres
Sierra de los Padres
Sierra de los Padres is a string of rocky hills and ridges about 10 miles west of Mar del Plata. They are part of the Tandilia's mountain range, actually a series of low hills extended from the central Buenos Aires Province to Cabo Corrientes, a cape on the shores of Mar del Plata.These peaks are...
, in 1995 along the southern coast, and other two during the first hours of July 10, 2004 and July 15, 2010. There were two flurries
Snow flurry
A snow flurry is a brief instance of light snow, with very little or no accumulation of snow on the ground.-External links:* *...
in September 1986 and June 2007.
There is fog
Fog
Fog is a collection of water droplets or ice crystals suspended in the air at or near the Earth's surface. While fog is a type of stratus cloud, the term "fog" is typically distinguished from the more generic term "cloud" in that fog is low-lying, and the moisture in the fog is often generated...
in the last days of fall, and springtime is often marred by sea winds and sudden temperature's changes. There are some ten days of 30 °C (86 °F) each summer,
certainly milder values than the rest of the pampas region. Usually, the summer nights are cool and pleasant, with values between 13 °C (55 °F) to 17 °C (63 °F). The record high is 41 °C (106 °F) on January 1957 (105 Fahrenheit). The wet season
Wet season
The the wet season, or rainy season, is the time of year, covering one or more months, when most of the average annual rainfall in a region occurs. The term green season is also sometimes used as a euphemism by tourist authorities. Areas with wet seasons are dispersed across portions of the...
occurs during spring and summer, specially in January, with values between the 70 and 80 mm. The average annual rainfall is 780 mm.
Government
General Pueyrredón Partido
General Pueyrredón Partido is a partido located on the Atlantic coast of Buenos Aires Province, Argentina.The partido covers 1,453 km² and has a population of 564,056 , most of whom live in the large coastal resort of Mar del Plata....
. The current Mayor
Mayor
In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....
of the city and department is Gustavo Pulti, of the local party Acción Marplatense.
The Honorable Concejo Deliberante (the town council
Town council
A town council is a democratically elected form of government for small municipalities or civil parishes. A council may serve as both the representative and executive branch....
) has some legislative powers. The term of office for both the Mayor and council members is four years.
In 1919, Mar del Plata became the first town in South America to have a Socialist Mayor, a son of Italian Immigrants, Teodoro Bronzini
Teodoro Bronzini
Teodoro Bronzini was an Argentine politician, affiliated with the Socialist Party, and one of the more distinguished Mayors in the history of the city of Mar del Plata, where he developed a public and private activity for more than 60 years...
. The Socialist Party
Socialist Party (Argentina)
The Socialist Party is a social-democratic political party in Argentina. The history of socialism in Argentina began in the 1890s, when a group of people, notably Juan B. Justo, expressed the need for a greater social focus....
would dominate the city political landscape for most of the 20th century.
The Government official page has a comprehensive listing
of all Mayors and Commissioners of Mar del Plata from 1881 to the present.
There is an extensive but interesting work by the American sociologist
Susan Stokes about the democratic process in Mar del Plata since 1983 in comparison to other regions of Argentina. One of the main thesis
Thesis
A dissertation or thesis is a document submitted in support of candidature for an academic degree or professional qualification presenting the author's research and findings...
of her articles is that the social and economic development of Mar del Plata was quite atypical, with a strong prevalence of middle-class values that discouraged the policy of clientelism
Political machine
A political machine is a political organization in which an authoritative boss or small group commands the support of a corps of supporters and businesses , who receive rewards for their efforts...
that is the common background in other urban environments of Argentina.
Sister cities
Viña del MarViña del Mar
Viña del Mar , is a city and commune on central Chile's Pacific coast. Its long stretches of white sandy beaches are a major attraction for national and international tourists. The city is Chile's main tourist attraction. Known as "La Ciudad Jardín" , Viña del Mar is a Chilean Municipality located...
, Chile Tianjin
Tianjin
' is a metropolis in northern China and one of the five national central cities of the People's Republic of China. It is governed as a direct-controlled municipality, one of four such designations, and is, thus, under direct administration of the central government...
, China La Habana, Cuba Corunna
A Coruña
A Coruña or La Coruña is a city and municipality of Galicia, Spain. It is the second-largest city in the autonomous community and seventeenth overall in the country...
, Spain Biarritz
Biarritz
Biarritz is a city which lies on the Bay of Biscay, on the Atlantic coast, in south-western France. It is a luxurious seaside town and is popular with tourists and surfers....
, France
Bari
Bari
Bari is the capital city of the province of Bari and of the Apulia region, on the Adriatic Sea, in Italy. It is the second most important economic centre of mainland Southern Italy after Naples, and is well known as a port and university city, as well as the city of Saint Nicholas...
, Italy Ischia
Ischia
Ischia is a volcanic island in the Tyrrhenian Sea. It lies at the northern end of the Gulf of Naples, about 30 km from the city of Naples. It is the largest of the Phlegrean Islands. Roughly trapezoidal in shape, it measures around 10 km east to west and 7 km north to south and has...
, Italy San Benedetto del Tronto
San Benedetto del Tronto
San Benedetto del Tronto is a city and comune in Marche, Italy, in the province of Ascoli Piceno. It lies on the Adriatic Sea. San Benedetto del Tronto is an important little town on the Marche coast, an active fishing port and one of the main seaside resorts on the central Adriatic coast.Located...
, Italy Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...
, Russia Fort Lauderdale, USA
Further reading
- Cacopardo, Fernando A. & others: Mar del Plata, Ciudad e Historia. Alianza Editorial S.A./UNMDP, Madrid/Buenos Aires, 1997. ISBN 9504001556.
- Rocatagliata, Juan A. & others: Mar del Plata y su Región. Sociedad Argentina de Estudios Geográficos, Buenos Aires, 1984.
- Anniversary Editions of La Capital newspaper: 1955, 1980, 1985, 2005.
- Barili, Roberto T.: Mar del Plata, Reseña Histórica. Published by the Municipality of Gral. Pueyrredón, Mar del Plata, 1964.
- Zago, Manrique: Mar del Plata, Argentina. Manrique Zago Ed., 1997. (Bilingual Edition)
- Stokes, Susan C.:Do Informal Institutions Make Democracy Work? Accounting for Accountability in Argentina. University of Chicago. Prepared for presentation at the conference, "Informal Institutions in Latin America". University of Notre Dame, April 23–24, 2003.
- Shapiro, Ian and Bedi, Sonu : Political Contingency: Studying the Unexpected, the Accidental, and the Unforeseen. New York University Press, 2007. ISBN 0814740448
- Helmke, Gretchen and Levitsky, Steven: Informal Institutions and Democracy:Lessons from Latin America. Johns Hopkins University Press, 2006. ISBN 0801883512