Azul (, English: "blue", for the stream Azul, which flows through the area) is the head city of the Azul Partido, located at the center of the

Buenos Aires Province Buenos Aires, officially the Buenos Aires Province, is the largest and most populous Provinces of Argentina, Argentine province. It takes its name from the city of Buenos Aires, the capital of the country, which used to be part of the province an ...

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

, 300 km south of

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

. It has 63,000 inhabitants as per the . Plaza Azul2

Its principal, goods-producing economic activities are

agriculture Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...

and the raising of cattle for meat and leather exports. Home to a dynamic services sector, over 2,000 commercial businesses are registered in the city. The town was founded on December 16, 1832, following Governor

Juan Manuel de Rosas Juan Manuel José Domingo Ortiz de Rozas y López de Osornio (30 March 1793 – 14 March 1877), nicknamed "Restorer of the Laws", was an Argentine politician and army officer who ruled Buenos Aires Province and briefly the Argentine Confedera ...

' orders for the construction of a fort, San Serapio Mártir del Arroyo Azul, to guard against indigenous raids. Subsequent

land grant 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 ...

s led to the development of a stable community, and in 1895, Azul was formally declared a town by provincial authorities. The local cathedral, Nuestra Señora del Rosario, was consecrated in 1906. AzulCementerio

The town's cemetery portal and main slaughterhouse were both designed by architect Francisco Salamone, and contain elements of

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French (), is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design that first Art Deco in Paris, appeared in Paris in the 1910s just before World War I and flourished in the United States and Europe during the 1920 ...

style. Built in the late 1930s, these buildings were some of the first examples of modern architecture in rural Argentina. The town was the scene of an attack on outlying Army barracks by far-left ERP militants on January 19, 1974, the most violent assault of its kind in the country up to that point. Azul is home to the schools of Agronomy and Law of the National University of Central Buenos Aires. The Teatro Español, founded in the city in 1897, is among the most important of the central

pampas The Pampas (; from Quechua 'plain'), also known as the Pampas 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 o ...

area, and in 1992, hosted the

Bolshoi Ballet The Bolshoi Ballet is an internationally renowned classical ballet company based at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, Russia. Founded in 1776, the Bolshoi is among the world's oldest Ballet company, ballet companies. In the early 20th century, it ca ...

. The

Miguel de Cervantes Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra ( ; ; 29 September 1547 (assumed) – 22 April 1616 Old Style and New Style dates, NS) was a Spanish writer widely regarded as the greatest writer in the Spanish language and one of the world's pre-eminent novelist ...

Festival is held there every spring since 2007, and ''Casa Ronco'', an antiquarian library and museum, maintains the country's best collections relating to the noted Spanish writer. ''Casa Ronco'' is named after the collector Bartolomé Ronco. Azul was declared Argentina's "City of Cervantes" by

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

in 2007.''Clarín'' (26 January 2007)

Notable people

* Matías Almeyda (1974) - former football player and manager. * Federico Delbonis (1990) - professional tennis player. * Mateo Banks (1872–1949) - first Argentine

mass murder Mass murder is the violent crime of murder, killing a number of people, typically simultaneously or over a relatively short period of time and in close geographic proximity. A mass murder typically occurs in a single location where one or more ...

er, he killed six relatives and two family's employees in 1922. * Franco Mastantuono (2007) - football player for River Plate.

Climate

References

Tandilfullchat, Gente zona de Azul Pcia.Bs.As.
* {{Authority control Populated places in Buenos Aires Province Populated places established in 1832 Cities in Argentina 1832 establishments in Argentina