Magdalena () is a town in

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. It is the headquarters town for the Magdalena Partido.

History

Founded in 1611, the hamlet grew slowly until the late nineteenth century. The Parish of Santa María Magdalena (

Mary Magdalene Mary Magdalene (sometimes called Mary of Magdala, or simply the Magdalene or the Madeleine) was a woman who, according to the four canonical gospels, traveled with Jesus as one of his followers and was a witness to crucifixion of Jesus, his cr ...

), consecrated in 1776, inaugurated its current temple in 1860. The

Italianate The Italianate style was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. Like Palladianism and Neoclassicism, the Italianate style combined its inspiration from the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century It ...

City Hall, designed by Pedro Cavalli, was completed in 1877, and the Teatro Español, in 1899. The nearby Parque Costero del Sur, site of the ''El Ancla''

pre-Columbian In the history of the Americas, the pre-Columbian era, also known as the pre-contact era, or as the pre-Cabraline era specifically in Brazil, spans from the initial peopling of the Americas in the Upper Paleolithic to the onset of European col ...

settlement, was declared a

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 ...

World Heritage Site World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...

in 1984. The largest freshwater

oil spill An oil spill is the release of a liquid petroleum hydrocarbon into the environment, especially the marine ecosystem, due to human activity, and is a form of pollution. The term is usually given to marine oil spills, where oil is released into th ...

in history occurred on January 15, 1999 after the German ship Sea Paraná hit the Estrella Pampeana ship of the

Shell Shell may refer to: Architecture and design * Shell (structure), a thin structure ** Concrete shell, a thin shell of concrete, usually with no interior columns or exterior buttresses Science Biology * Seashell, a hard outer layer of a marine ani ...

company. More than 30,000 cubic meters of

hydrocarbon In organic chemistry, a hydrocarbon is an organic compound consisting entirely of hydrogen and carbon. Hydrocarbons are examples of group 14 hydrides. Hydrocarbons are generally colourless and Hydrophobe, hydrophobic; their odor is usually fain ...

s were spilled, along with 5.4 million litres of oil floating on the waters of the

Rio de la Plata Rio or Río is the Portuguese and Spanish word for "river". The word also exists in Italian, but is largely obsolete and used in a poetical or literary context to mean "stream". Rio, RIO or Río may also refer to: Places United States * Rio, Fl ...

. This ruined the ecosystem of the surrounding areas, and tourism does not exist anymore. In 2002, the municipality filed a claim for 35 million dollars to the Shell company, but it was not backed up by the

national National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, c ...

or provincial governments. As a compromise, the company agreed to pay 10 million dollars and aid to the town. The two sides agreed to sign on those terms, but the money and "aid" have still not been received. The lack of help is still prevalent in the town whose waters are now only used for residents who choose to bathe in them.

References

Municipal website
Populated places in Buenos Aires Province Populated places established in 1611 {{BuenosAiresAR-geo-stub