Merlo Partido
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Merlo is a '' partido'' of
Buenos Aires Province Buenos Aires (), officially the Buenos Aires Province (''Provincia de Buenos Aires'' ), is the largest and most populous Argentine province. It takes its name from the city of Buenos Aires, the capital of the country, which used to be part of th ...
,
Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
. It is located in
Greater Buenos Aires Greater Buenos Aires ( es, Gran Buenos Aires, GBA), also known as the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Area ( es, Área Metropolitana de Buenos Aires, AMBA), refers to the urban agglomeration comprising the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires and the adjac ...
, Argentina, west of the city of
Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...
. Its capital is the city of Merlo. The region of the present-day partido was colonized shortly after the second, and permanent founding of Buenos Aires (1580). In 1730 an interim parish was founded near the
estancia An estancia is a large, private plot of land used for farming or raising cattle or sheep. Estancias in the southern South American grasslands, the ''pampas'', have historically been estates used to raise livestock, such as cattle or sheep. In Pu ...
(landholding) of Francisco de Merlo. In 1755 Merlo founded the town of Villa San Antonio del Camino, which was renamed later in his honour. For many years, the development of Merlo lagged behind the growth of nearby Morón. In 1865 the region was officially declared a partido.


Geography

Merlo covers and is bordered by the partidos of Morón and Ituzaingó (northeast),
La Matanza ''La Matanza'' (Spanish for "The Massacre") refers to a communist- indigenous rebellion in El Salvador that took place between 22 and 25 January 1932. It was succeeded by large-scale government killings in western El Salvador, which resulted ...
(southeast),
Marcos Paz Marcos Paz (1813 – January 2, 1868) was Governor of Córdoba and Tucumán Provinces, an Argentine Senator, and Vice President of Argentina from October 12, 1862, until his death in 1868. Biography Marcos Paz was born to a prominent Tu ...
(southwest), and
Moreno Moreno may refer to: Places Argentina *Moreno (Buenos Aires Metro), a station on Line C of the Buenos Aires Metro *Moreno, Buenos Aires, a city in Buenos Aires Province, Argentina *Moreno Department, a depatnent of Santiago del Estero Province, A ...
and the
Reconquista River The Reconquista River (Spanish, Río Reconquista) is a small river in the province of Buenos Aires, Argentina. Together with the Riachuelo, it is one of the most contaminated watercourses in the country. The Reconquista is part of the Río de la ...
(northwest). Besides the city of Merlo, the significant localities are
San Antonio de Padua San Antonio de Padua, or plainly Padua, is a city in the Greater Buenos Aires, in Argentina. It is located in Merlo Partido. The city has an area of and a population of around 38,000. The name commemorates the village founded by Francisco de Mer ...
, Parque San Martín, Libertad,
Pontevedra Pontevedra (, ) is a Spanish city in the north-west of the Iberian Peninsula. It is the capital of both the ''Comarca'' (County) and Province of Pontevedra, and of the Rías Baixas in Galicia. It is also the capital of its own municipality whi ...
and Mariano Acosta. The city of Merlo was formerly important solely as a railroad junction and trade centre for the surrounding agricultural and pastoral lands. About half of the partido now lies within the Greater Buenos Aires urban area, and the population density is less than that of most of the metropolitan partidos of Buenos Aires Province.


History


1755: Francisco de Merlo and Villa San Antonio del Camino

In the early 17th century the present-day partido was part of the Pago (from the
Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
pagus, country district) of Las Conchas; the territory was traversed by the Reconquista River, known in those days as Río de las Conchas (literally River of Shells) from where the region took its name. The region was largely inhabited by the taluhet people, part of the het nation, a
hunter-gatherer A traditional hunter-gatherer or forager is a human living an ancestrally derived lifestyle in which most or all food is obtained by foraging, that is, by gathering food from local sources, especially edible wild plants but also insects, fungi, ...
society better known by the exonym querandi. In 1636 the territory of today's Merlo was divided into a few
hacienda An ''hacienda'' ( or ; or ) is an estate (or ''finca''), similar to a Roman ''latifundium'', in Spain and the former Spanish Empire. With origins in Andalusia, ''haciendas'' were variously plantations (perhaps including animals or orchards), ...
s, given as
land grants A land grant is a gift of real estate—land or its use privileges—made by a government or other authority as an incentive, means of enabling works, or as a reward for services to an individual, especially in return for military service. Grants ...
by Governor Pedro Esteban Dávila to a few and influential Buenos Aires neighbors. Inside the haciendas the main economical activities were the agriculture and
cattle Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, cloven-hooved, herbivores. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus ''Bos''. Adult females are referred to as cows and adult mal ...
-raising. The fertile land —drained by Las Conchas/Reconquista River— was covered with
wheat Wheat is a grass widely cultivated for its seed, a cereal grain that is a worldwide staple food. The many species of wheat together make up the genus ''Triticum'' ; the most widely grown is common wheat (''T. aestivum''). The archaeologi ...
fields and
orchards An orchard is an intentional plantation of trees or shrubs that is maintained for food production. Orchards comprise fruit- or nut-producing trees which are generally grown for commercial production. Orchards are also sometimes a feature of larg ...
. The bigger hacienda was granted to the
Company of Jesus , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders = ...
and the resulting production provided the Jesuits the financial resources to maintain the schools they had in Buenos Aires. The Jesuit priests
Thomas Falkner Thomas Falkner (6 October 1707 – 30 January 1784) was an English Jesuit missionary, explorer and physician, active in the Patagonia region for nearly forty years. His primary work, ''The Description of Patagonia'', was written towards the idea ...
and Florian Paucke visited the region in the mid 18th century and described the area plenty of herds of feral cattle and horses roaming free on the plains and numerous packs of dogs that feed on them and sometimes attacked the unwarned and helpless travelers. By the 18th century the
Araucanian The Mapuche ( (Mapuche & Spanish: )) are a group of indigenous inhabitants of south-central Chile and southwestern Argentina, including parts of Patagonia. The collective term refers to a wide-ranging ethnicity composed of various groups who sha ...
people were moving from the lap of the
Andes Mountains The Andes, Andes Mountains or Andean Mountains (; ) are the List of mountain ranges#Mountain ranges by length, longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range i ...
to the
Pampas The Pampas (from the qu, pampa, meaning "plain") are fertile South American low grasslands that cover more than and include the Argentine provinces of Buenos Aires, La Pampa, Santa Fe, Entre Ríos, and Córdoba; all of Uruguay; and Brazil ...
, attracted by the numerous cattle and horses herds. The Araucanians looted and sacked the Spanish settlements around Buenos Aires, performing unexpected horse mounted attacks known in the
Southern Cone The Southern Cone ( es, Cono Sur, pt, Cone Sul) is a geographical and cultural subregion composed of the southernmost areas of South America, mostly south of the Tropic of Capricorn. Traditionally, it covers Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay, bou ...
as ''malones'' (s. malón, from
Mapudungun Mapuche (, Mapuche & Spanish: , or Mapudungun; from ' 'land' and ' 'speak, speech') is an Araucanian language related to Huilliche spoken in south-central Chile and west-central Argentina by the Mapuche people (from ''mapu'' 'land' and ''che ...
malocán: “to make war”). By those days the Spanish businessman Francisco de Merlo bought many lands in the region, establishing a big estancia. The settlers scattered throughout the region took refuge around the fortified Merlo's ranch-house, starting a little hamlet in his properties. It made Merlo petitioned King
Philip V of Spain Philip V ( es, Felipe; 19 December 1683 – 9 July 1746) was King of Spain from 1 November 1700 to 14 January 1724, and again from 6 September 1724 to his death in 1746. His total reign of 45 years is the longest in the history of the Spanish mon ...
authorization to found a town in his states. On October 28, 1755 Francisco de Merlo founds the town of ''Villa San Antonio del Camino''. After Merlo's death the town became into an out-back town, isolated from the main commercial routes, remaining within the boundaries of the estancia belonged to the Mercedarian Order, expropriated in 1821 by the State of Buenos Aires and bought in 1852 by the English businessman Thomas Gibson Pearson. After his death the estancia was managed by his stepson Juan Dillon, key figure in the history of Merlo.


Juan Dillon

Juan Dillon y Calderón was born in Buenos Aires in 1819 and died in 1887. He was son of John Dillon, an Irish immigrant and his second wife, Manuela Calderón. Juan Dillon was a businessman,
absentee landlord In economics, an absentee landlord is a person who owns and rents out a profit-earning property, but does not live within the property's local economic region. The term "absentee ownership" was popularised by economist Thorstein Veblen's 1923 book ...
and public official, member of the prosperous Irish community in Buenos Aires. He married Josefa Ballesteros (b. 1824) and they had eight children. He was a prominent member of
Adolfo Alsina Adolfo Alsina Maza (January 4, 1829 – December 29, 1877) was an Argentine lawyer and Unitarian politician, who was one of the founders of the Autonomist Party and the National Autonomist Party.Ione S. Wright and Lisa M. Nekhom, ''Histori ...
's Autonomist Party. John Dillon, left
Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
and emigrated to
Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...
. In 1807 he settled in the River Plate as a merchant and owner of a meat-curing plant. He loaned his flotilla of boats to Argentina in the war for independence with Spain. He also started the first
brewery A brewery or brewing company is a business that makes and sells beer. The place at which beer is commercially made is either called a brewery or a beerhouse, where distinct sets of brewing equipment are called plant. The commercial brewing of be ...
in the country. John Dillon dies in 1826 and Manuela Calderón married Thomas Gibson Pearson. After Rosas’ fall in 1852, Juan Dillon was appointed ''Juez de Paz'' (Justice of Peace) in Morón (1855–1856) and military commander for the region. He also was elected ''Presidente de Municipalidad'' (Municipal President or
Mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well a ...
) of the same district (1857; 1864–1865). By those days Dillon took charge of his family's estate in Merlo, rebuilt the town and was appointed ''Juez de Paz'' of the newly created Partido of Merlo. After his public life in Merlo, President
Avellaneda Avellaneda (, ) is a port city in the province of Buenos Aires, Argentina, and the seat of the Avellaneda Partido, whose population was 342,677 as per the . Avellaneda is located within the Greater Buenos Aires metropolitan area, and is connected ...
appointed Dillon as Chief Commissioner of Immigration in 1875. During his administration Argentina experienced the first massive European immigration to the country and Dillon received the first
Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...
immigrants,
Volga Germans The Volga Germans (german: Wolgadeutsche, ), russian: поволжские немцы, povolzhskiye nemtsy) are ethnic Germans who settled and historically lived along the Volga River in the region of southeastern European Russia around Saratov ...
and Italians from
Friuli Friuli ( fur, Friûl, sl, Furlanija, german: Friaul) is an area of Northeast Italy with its own particular cultural and historical identity containing 1,000,000 Friulians. It comprises the major part of the autonomous region Friuli Venezia Giulia ...
. After that, Dillon and his family moves to
La Plata La Plata () is the capital city of Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. According to the , it has a population of 654,324 and its metropolitan area, the Greater La Plata, has 787,294 inhabitants. It is located 9 kilometers (6 miles) inland from th ...
when he was elected senator and served during three terms in the Buenos Aires legislature, in which he chaired the budget commission.


1864: Merlo obtains its autonomy

In 1857 the Argentine railway company ''Camino de Hierro de Buenos Aires al Oeste'' opens the first steam locomotive public railway in Argentina and few years later the company was planning to extend the line westward to
Moreno Moreno may refer to: Places Argentina *Moreno (Buenos Aires Metro), a station on Line C of the Buenos Aires Metro *Moreno, Buenos Aires, a city in Buenos Aires Province, Argentina *Moreno Department, a depatnent of Santiago del Estero Province, A ...
. The construction of the railway made land speculation a highly profitable activity. In order to reach Merlo the line had to pass through the land owned by the Pearson Family and Dillon saw the opportunity to make huge profits by selling out parts of the family's estate. Dillon established in Merlo and in 1859 he commissioned the famous architect and engineer Pedro Benoit to design the layout of the town, organizing it on a rectangular grid of streets and blocks. The town was enlarged and endowed with a municipal palace, avenue, train station, school and church. The rail station was opened on August 11, 1859. Dillon and others businessmen and prominent neighbors such as Manuel Rodríguez, Enrique Smith and Fernando Pearson (Juan Dillon's step brother), petitioned to the Governor the erection of a new partido from the old Partido of Morón. On October 11, 1864 the legislature of Buenos Aires sanctions the law 422 creating the Partido of Merlo. Until 1878 the new district included the today's Partido of
Marcos Paz Marcos Paz (1813 – January 2, 1868) was Governor of Córdoba and Tucumán Provinces, an Argentine Senator, and Vice President of Argentina from October 12, 1862, until his death in 1868. Biography Marcos Paz was born to a prominent Tu ...
and comprehended 400 km² approx. The election of the authorities took place in the same year and only sixty-four citizens voted; the first municipal government was integrated by Juan Dillon as ''Juez de Paz'' and Antonio Suárez, Francisco Sullivan, Fernando Pearson and Tomás Gahan as ''Municipales'' or
Councilor A councillor is an elected representative for a local government council in some countries. Canada Due to the control that the provinces have over their municipal governments, terms that councillors serve vary from province to province. Unl ...
s. Thousands of neighbors fled Buenos Aires to the countryside when a
cholera Cholera is an infection of the small intestine by some strains of the bacterium ''Vibrio cholerae''. Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe. The classic symptom is large amounts of watery diarrhea that lasts a few days. Vomiting and ...
epidemic first, and a
yellow fever Yellow fever is a viral disease of typically short duration. In most cases, symptoms include fever, chills, loss of appetite, nausea, muscle pains – particularly in the back – and headaches. Symptoms typically improve within five days. In ...
outbreak later, afflicted the city in 1867 and 1871 respectively. These events brought many
Spaniard Spaniards, or Spanish people, are a Romance ethnic group native to Spain. Within Spain, there are a number of national and regional ethnic identities that reflect the country's complex history, including a number of different languages, both ind ...
,
Basque Basque may refer to: * Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France * Basque language, their language Places * Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France * Basque Country (autonomous co ...
,
Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...
and French immigrants to Merlo, contributing with a highly qualified working force. There was also a small
British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...
community constituted mainly by white collar workers, employed in the British railway companies. By the late 19th century many rural settlements were dispersed throughout the countryside, thriving along the rail tracks. The railway prompted the accelerated development of Merlo in the late 19th and early 20th centuries; San Antonio de Padua, Mariano Acosta, Libertad and even Merlo city grew as
railway town A railway town, or railroad town, is a settlement that originated or was greatly developed because of a railway station or junction at its site. North America During the construction of the First transcontinental railroad in the 1860s, temporar ...
s. Merlo was a
countryside In general, a rural area or a countryside is a geographic area that is located outside towns and cities A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, ...
district until the late 1940s. People from Buenos Aires spent their weekend and summer getaways in
cottage A cottage, during Feudalism in England, England's feudal period, was the holding by a cottager (known as a Cotter (farmer), cotter or ''bordar'') of a small house with enough garden to feed a family and in return for the cottage, the cottager ...
s,
picnic A picnic is a meal taken outdoors ( ''al fresco'') as part of an excursion, especially in scenic surroundings, such as a park, lakeside, or other place affording an interesting view, or else in conjunction with a public event such as preceding ...
king at the Reconquista riverside, playing
golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...
at the Ituzaingó Golf Club and
gliding Gliding is a recreational activity and competitive air sport in which pilots fly unpowered aircraft known as gliders or sailplanes using naturally occurring currents of rising air in the atmosphere to remain airborne. The word ''soaring'' is al ...
at the ''Club Albatros'' and ''Club Cóndor'' gliding clubs. The landscape was spattered with
estancias An estancia is a large, private plot of land used for farming or raising cattle or sheep. Estancias in the southern South American grasslands, the ''pampas'', have historically been estates used to raise livestock, such as cattle or sheep. In Pu ...
and
farms A farm (also called an agricultural holding) is an area of land that is devoted primarily to agricultural processes with the primary objective of producing food and other crops; it is the basic facility in food production. The name is used fo ...
. During the first half of the 20th century the two mayor political forces in the district were the
Radical Civic Union The Radical Civic Union ( es, Unión Cívica Radical, UCR) is a centrist and social-liberal political party in Argentina. It has been ideologically heterogeneous, ranging from social liberalism to social democracy. The UCR is a member of the So ...
and the Conservative Party of Buenos Aires.


Merlo becomes part of Greater Buenos Aires

In the second half of the 20th century Merlo experienced an important influx of immigrants from the provinces. Between 1947 and 1960 the district quintuplicates its population, initiating a rapid process of urbanization and incorporating Merlo into the Greater Buenos Aires. This period coincided with the rise of the
Peronism Peronism, also called justicialism,. The Justicialist Party is the main Peronist party in Argentina, it derives its name from the concept of social justice., name=, group= is an Argentine political movement based on the ideas and legacy of Ar ...
in Argentina and since then the district becomes a Peronist stronghold.


Cities

According to the legislation of Buenos Aires, the status of city should be declared by law. The town must have a minimal population and a determined infrastructure. The partido has six cities.


Government

The mayor until 2015 was Raúl Alfredo Othacehé, a lawyer and local peronist politician. He was elected mayor in 1991 and reelected in 1995, 1999, 2003 and 2007. In María O'Donnell's non-fiction book ''El Aparato'' (The
Political Machine In the politics of Representative democracy, representative democracies, a political machine is a party organization that recruits its members by the use of tangible incentives (such as money or political jobs) and that is characterized by a hig ...
) an entire chapter is dedicated to Othacehé, portraying him as a corrupt politician. The Council is controlled by the peronist party and its allies.


Economy

According to the 1993 National Economic Census the manufacture industry represented 50.2% of the local economy. The transnational groups Philip Morris and
Pirelli Pirelli & C. S.p.A. is a multinational tyre manufacturer based in Milan, Italy. The company, which has been listed on the Milan Stock Exchange since 1922, is the 6th-largest tyre manufacturer and is focused on the consumer production of tyre ...
have a cigarette plant and a tire plant —respectively— in the
industrial park An industrial park (also known as industrial estate, trading estate) is an area zoned and planned for the purpose of industrial development. An industrial park can be thought of as a more "heavyweight" version of a business park or office park, ...
, at the surroundings of Merlo railway station. Wholesale and retail trade, repair of motor vehicles 10.32%; transport, storage and communication 5%; financial intermediation, real estate and renting 13.72%. The agriculture and livestock industry only represented 0.15% of the economy. The main activities are
dairy farming Dairy farming is a class of agriculture for long-term production of milk, which is processed (either on the farm or at a dairy plant, either of which may be called a dairy A dairy is a business enterprise established for the harvesting or ...
,
market gardening A market garden is the relatively small-scale production of fruits, vegetables and flowers as cash crops, frequently sold directly to consumers and restaurants. The diversity of crops grown on a small area of land, typically from under to ...
(
flower farming Floriculture, or flower farming, is a branch of horticulture concerned with the cultivation of flowering and ornamental plants for gardens and for floristry, comprising the floral industry. The development of new varieties by plant breeding is ...
and organic vegetable farming),
poultry Poultry () are domesticated birds kept by humans for their eggs, their meat or their feathers. These birds are most typically members of the superorder Galloanserae (fowl), especially the order Galliformes (which includes chickens, quails, a ...
and
beekeeping Beekeeping (or apiculture) is the maintenance of bee colonies, commonly in man-made beehives. Honey bees in the genus '' Apis'' are the most-commonly-kept species but other honey-producing bees such as ''Melipona'' stingless bees are also kept. ...
, organized in
small and medium enterprise Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) or small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) are businesses whose personnel and revenue numbers fall below certain limits. The abbreviation "SME" is used by international organizations such as the World Bank ...
s (SMEs).


Demographics

Villa San Antonio del Camino started with 101 inhabitants grouped into twelve families, most of them Spaniard and
Criollo Criollo or criolla (Spanish for creole) may refer to: People * Criollo people, a social class in the Spanish race-based colonial caste system (the European descendants) Animals * Criollo duck, a species of duck native to Central and South Ameri ...
people. At the dawn of 19th century more than fifty
black African Black is a Racialization, racialized classification of people, usually a Politics, political and Human skin color, skin color-based category for specific populations with a mid to dark brown complexion. Not all people considered "black" have ...
people lived in Merlo as slaves of the mercedarian friars. After his death Francisco de Merlo left five African slaves to the hospice. Many Irish and Basque immigrants settled in Merlo around the mid 19th century, the first ones after left Ireland because of the
Great Irish Famine The Great Famine ( ga, an Gorta Mór ), also known within Ireland as the Great Hunger or simply the Famine and outside Ireland as the Irish Potato Famine, was a period of starvation and disease in Ireland from 1845 to 1852 that constituted a ...
and British oppression, and the second ones fleeing from Spain's
Carlist Wars The Carlist Wars () were a series of civil wars that took place in Spain during the 19th century. The contenders fought over claims to the throne, although some political differences also existed. Several times during the period from 1833 to 187 ...
. Both communities lived basically in the surrounding estancias; the Irish-Argentine community integrated Merlo's
ruling class In sociology, the ruling class of a society is the social class who set and decide the political and economic agenda of society. In Marxist philosophy, the ruling class are the capitalist social class who own the means of production and by exten ...
and four of the five members of the first municipal government belonged to this national affiliation. The Basques worked basically as
dairy farmers Dairy farming is a class of agriculture for long-term production of milk, which is processed (either on the farm or at a dairy plant, either of which may be called a dairy) for eventual sale of a dairy product. Dairy farming has a history th ...
. More than half of the population can trace its origins from the Italian and Spaniard immigrants that arrived to Merlo from the late 19th century and continued well into the 20th century. By the mid 20th century many
market garden A market garden is the relatively small-scale production of fruits, vegetables and flowers as cash crops, frequently sold directly to consumer A consumer is a person or a group who intends to order, or uses purchased goods, products, or s ...
s were run by members of the
Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...
and
Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...
communities. Looking for better jobs and well-paid salaries, people from the provinces and neighbor countries started to settle in Merlo in the late 1940s and 1950s. These people are from
mestizo (; ; fem. ) is a term used for racial classification to refer to a person of mixed Ethnic groups in Europe, European and Indigenous peoples of the Americas, Indigenous American ancestry. In certain regions such as Latin America, it may also r ...
ascendancy and constitute - at the present days- the principal ethnic group in Merlo. By the same time many
Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken *Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...
families arrived to Merlo at the end of
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
. In the present days −and as a curious note− many supermarkets in the district are run by
Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...
people.


Demographic data

Population: 469,985 (2001 census)
Median age A population pyramid (age structure diagram) or "age-sex pyramid" is a graphical illustration of the distribution of a population (typically that of a country or region of the world) by age groups and sex; it typically takes the shape of a pyramid ...
:
total: 29.6 years
male: 28.7 years
female: 30.4 years Urbanized Population: 99.7% (2001) Population by origin: (2001)
''born in Buenos Aires Province:'' 60.2%
''born in the rest of Argentina:'' 34.6%
''foreign-born population:'' 5.74%
Total fertility rate The total fertility rate (TFR) of a population is the average number of children that would be born to a woman over her lifetime if: # she were to experience the exact current age-specific fertility rates (ASFRs) through her lifetime # she were t ...
: 2.1 children born/woman (2001)
Literacy Literacy in its broadest sense describes "particular ways of thinking about and doing reading and writing" with the purpose of understanding or expressing thoughts or ideas in written form in some specific context of use. In other words, huma ...
:
''definition:'' age 10 and over can read and write (2001)
''total population:'' 98.19%
''male:'' 98.27%
''female:'' 98.11% Educational level: (population 15 years and more, 2001)
Population that never attended school: 3.97%
Basic needs The basic needs approach is one of the major approaches to the measurement of absolute poverty in developing countries globally. It works to define the absolute minimum resources necessary for long-term physical well-being, usually in terms of c ...
poverty rate: 23.4% (2001)
Dependency ratio The dependency ratio is an age-population ratio of those typically not in the labor force (the ''dependent'' part ages 0 to 14 and 65+) and those typically in the labor force (the ''productive'' part ages 15 to 64). It is used to measure the press ...
: (2001)
''total:'' 60.1%
''population under 15 years:'' 48.9%
''population over 65 years:'' 11.1%
Crime rate Crime statistics refer to systematic, quantitative results about crime, as opposed to crime news or anecdotes. Notably, crime statistics can be the result of two rather different processes: * scientific research, such as criminological studies, vi ...
: 188 per 10,000 inhabitants (2005)


Argentine Air Force


Public services

According 2001 National Census 95.22% of the population had access to the electric grid and only 55.2% had access to pipeline-supplied gas. The water supply and sanitation conditions were appalling: 49.54% of the population was supplied with potable water and only 21.85% was connected to the public sewerage system.


Internet connection

In 2001 only 4.14% of the homes were connected to
Internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...
.Provincial Statistics Office


Transport

The principal
arterial road An arterial road or arterial thoroughfare is a high-capacity urban road that sits below freeways/motorways on the road hierarchy in terms of traffic flow and speed. The primary function of an arterial road is to deliver traffic from collector ro ...
is the Rivadavia Avenue which was known in the colonial times as the Camino Real del Oeste or the Western Royal Road. Throughout the partido its name changes to ''Presidente Perón Avenue''. The journey to Buenos Aires downtown takes one and a half hours by bus. The head town connects with the Acceso Oeste Highway by an
alternate route An official alternate route is a special route in the United States that provides an alternate alignment for a highway. They are loop roads and found in many road systems in the United States including the U.S. Highway system and various state an ...
, such as the Camino de la ribera which crosses along the Reconquista River. The
Sarmiento Sarmiento may refer to: Places Argentina *Sarmiento Department, San Juan, a subdivision of the San Juan Province *Sarmiento Department, Santiago del Estero, a subdivision of the Santiago del Estero Province *Sarmiento Department, Chubut, a subdivi ...
Railway Line runs alongside the Rivadavia Avenue and transports the vast majority of commuters to and from Buenos Aires. The Sarmiento line is managed by
Trenes de Buenos Aires Trenes de Buenos Aires (TBA) (In English: Trains of Buenos Aires) was a private company that operated commuter rail services over the broad gauge Sarmiento and Mitre lines of Buenos Aires. The company, owned by Claudio and Mario Cirigliano, also ...
(TBA). The mainline has two railway stations in the partido: Merlo and San Antonio de Padua. The journey takes 45 minutes to Estación Once in Buenos Aires. The line uses
electric locomotives An electric locomotive is a locomotive powered by electricity from overhead lines, a third rail or on-board energy storage such as a battery or a supercapacitor. Locomotives with on-board fuelled prime movers, such as diesel engines or gas t ...
which are powered by electricity picked up from
third rail A third rail, also known as a live rail, electric rail or conductor rail, is a method of providing electric power to a railway locomotive or train, through a semi-continuous rigid conductor placed alongside or between the rails of a railway t ...
s. Merlo is the railway
terminal station A train station, railway station, railroad station or depot is a railway facility where trains stop to load or unload passengers, freight or both. It generally consists of at least one platform, one track and a station building providing such ...
of a
branch line A branch line is a phrase used in railway terminology to denote a secondary railway line which branches off a more important through route, usually a main line. A very short branch line may be called a spur line. Industrial spur An industri ...
that ends at
Lobos Lobos is the headquarters city of the Lobos Partido in Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. It was founded on 2 June 1802 by José Salgado. Background Located 100 km from Buenos Aires, Lobos is currently a fertile agricultural area known ma ...
city. Its trains are powered by diesel engines, known as
diesel locomotives A diesel locomotive is a type of railway locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engine. Several types of diesel locomotives have been developed, differing mainly in the means by which mechanical power is conveyed to the driving wheels ...
. The Belgrano Sur line, formerly the
Buenos Aires Midland Railway The Buenos Aires Midland Railway (BAM) was a British-owned railway company which operated in Argentina, where it was known as Ferrocarril Midland de Buenos Aires. The company built and operated the gauge ( metre gauge) line between Puente Alsin ...
, is used by a reduced number of people. It is commonly known as the “death’s train” and it stretches from Buenos Aires to the outskirts of the partido. The line is managed by Transportes Metropolitanos it had not received investments in the past years and its trains and stations are practically abandoned. The petty robberies, rapes and assassinations are very commonly in this line. Its trains are powered by diesel engines.


Sports


Sport Clubs

*Club Atlético San Antonio de Padua * Club Atlético Ferrocarril Midland *
Club Atlético Argentino de Merlo Club Atlético Argentino (mostly known as Argentino de Merlo) is an Argentine football club from Merlo, Buenos Aires. The squad currently plays in Primera D Metropolitana, the regionalised five division of the Argentine football league system. ...
*Club Social y Deportivo Merlo *Club Ferrocarril Oeste de Merlo


Golf Clubs

*Ituzaingó Golf Club *Libertad Golf Club


Auto Racing Tracks

*Circuito Ciudad de Merlo


Hydrography

Merlo's creeks are both tributaries Reconquista River, Reconquista and Matanza River, Matanza Rivers. The 54% of the territory belongs to the Reconquista drainage basin and the following creeks or ''arroyos'' drain in the Reconquista River: Arroyo Gómez, Cañada de Smith, Arroyo Torres and Arroyo de La Cañada del Molino; the following creeks drain in the Matanza River: Arroyo Saladero, Aroyo de Las Víboras, Arroyo del Pantano Grande, Cañada del Bajo Hondo and Cañada 11 de Octubre. Most of those water courses are highly contaminated. The Reconquista floods were recurrent in the past, the biggest in recent years were in 1985 and 2000; these ones affected to the poorest population, established at its riverside.


References


Further reading

* *


External links


Merlo Portal

Merlo Newspaper

Mariano Acosta Newspaper

InfoBAN - Noticias de Merlo

City of San Antonio de Padua

City of Libertad

City of Pontevedra

Asociación Civil Arte y Cultura de Merlo
{{Partidos of Buenos Aires Province Merlo Partido, 1864 establishments in Argentina Partidos of Buenos Aires Province