Alternate capital for Argentina

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General Ripper

Banned
OK, so, what could be the alternate capitol for Argentina? ( something like US District of Columbia- so I presume a planned newly built city- because it's hard to expect from BA to agree that some allready existing city becomes capital intead ).

Like Washington was placed in between North and South, I believe that that alternate capitol of ARgentina should be placed somewhere between Province of Buenos Aires and the rest of the country.

What about name- Ciudad San Martin maybe?
 

Thanksforallthefish

La Plata was built to be, and is, the capital of Buenos Aires (the province), but Dardo Rocha, governor of Buenos Aires also dreamed it could be the national capital. (I assume Buenos Aires city would return to be the capital of the province). His failed bid for the presidency ended that dream.

Between 1853 and 1861, Paraná was the provisional capital of the Argentine Confederation:

Art. 1° La Provincia de Entre-Rios, con los límites que le pertenecen hasta ulterior resolución del Congreso Nacional, con esclusion de la ciudad del Paraná y su circuito declarado Capital Provisoria por la Ley de 3 de octubre de 1859, y mientras de esa manera subsista, es parte integrante de la República conforme á la Constitución Federal de 1853.
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(This law basically states that Entre Ríos province is part of the Confederation, and Paraná becomes federal territory and the provisional capital)

If the constant disputes about Buenos Aires remained unresolved, it might as well become permanent.

Domingo Faustino Sarmiento proposed to build a new city called Argirópolis (literally, 'Silver City') in Martín García Island, in the middle of the Rio De La Plata, to be the capital of the Estados Unidos del Río De La Plata, which, as the name indicates, it was to be based in the United States. It was something of an utopian vision of his (Sarmiento being Sarmiento, it was to be an European utopian state with no Indians or Blacks) and I'm not sure how seriously he took it. In any case, I'm not really sure than Martín García would be a good location for any city; it's 3 x 1,5 kilometers long and the terrain is poor, basically ancient rocky formations and sand and mud from the Rio De La Plata.

And of course, there's Raul Alfonsín's Proyecto Patagonia in 1986, that was to move the federal capital to Patagonia, more specifically to the cities of Viedma and Carmen de Patagones. The Autonomous City of Buenos Aires (our current capital) would be joined with the greater urban area and become the Rio De La Plata province. It never materialized in anything, and the law was quietly removed in 2014. But if you have some atlases from the 80's and early 90's, you can find a striped zone in Patagonia that was to become the new capital. Interestingly, I never found a name for it except for "Projected Federal District"; I assume it would have been chosen later.

And that's about all the alternate Argentine capitals I know of!
 
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General Ripper

Banned
Thanksforallthefish said:
And of course, there's Raul Alfonsín's Proyecto Patagonia in 1986, that was to move the federal capital to Patagonia, more specifically to the cities of Viedma and Carmen de Patagones. The Autonomous City of Buenos Aires (our current capital) would be joined with the greater urban area and become the Rio De La Plata province. It never materialized in anything, and the law was quietly removed in 2014. But if you have some atlases from the 80's and early 90's, you can find a striped zone in Patagonia that was to become the new capital. Interestingly, I never found a name for it except for "Projected Federal District"; I assume it would have been chosen later.

And that's about all the alternate Argentine capitals I know of!
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Viedma-Carmen seem to me as good enough solution. Far enough from BA, maybe even too far from economical center of the country.

But, what about something similar, but closer to BA, like say on border of BA Province and Santa Fe, cities Villa Constitucion and San Nicolas? Or, some other greenfield location, it's easier than to build around allready existing two cities.
 
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TruthfulPanda

Gone Fishin'
Bahia Blanca?
Not far from the proposed Viedma location ...
Also- how about a town in the Andean foothills? Skiing becomes national sport :)
 

General Ripper

Banned
Now, about location, somewhere far from BA, on edge of BA Province, not too far from geographic centre of country, not too far from economic centre of country, it would be good to have some river/lake there, some place with moderate climate, with enough area for future growth etc...
 
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General Ripper

Banned
Do you think that late 19th Century has better chances to achieve that ( alternative capital ) than 1980s? After all, the money was less a problem back then...
 
GauchoBadger

GauchoBadger

Thanksforallthefish said:
And of course, there's Raul Alfonsín's Proyecto Patagonia in 1986, that was to move the federal capital to Patagonia, more specifically to the cities of Viedma and Carmen de Patagones. The Autonomous City of Buenos Aires (our current capital) would be joined with the greater urban area and become the Rio De La Plata province. It never materialized in anything, and the law was quietly removed in 2014. But if you have some atlases from the 80's and early 90's, you can find a striped zone in Patagonia that was to become the new capital. Interestingly, I never found a name for it except for "Projected Federal District"; I assume it would have been chosen later.
Click to expand...
I know this is a bit of a stretch, but if Argentina manages to defeat Britain in the Falklands War (maybe through the divine intervention of Saint Maradona himself), then can this new Patagonian capital be built?
Or was the project conceived out of the Argentine defeat in the war?
 

Thanksforallthefish

General Ripper said:
Do you think that late 19th Century has better chances to achieve that ( alternative capital ) than 1980s? After all, the money was less a problem back then...
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La Plata was an attempt to do that.

As for location, Rosario seems a good one. The third largest city of Argentina, mostly independent from its province and located in a favorable climate with access to the Paraná and Rio de La Plata and the Pampas region. It was never considered as a capital as far as I know, but I believe some Rosarinos have raised the idea of becoming an Autonomous City like Buenos Aires, since they feel their province (Santa Fe) does not pay attention to them.

Some other cities were built practically from scratch, like Mar Del Plata, Resistencia and I'm sure a couple more.

GauchoBadger said:
I know this is a bit of a stretch, but if Argentina manages to defeat Britain in the Falklands War (maybe through the divine intervention of Saint Maradona himself), then can this new Patagonian capital be built?
Or was the project conceived out of the Argentine defeat in the war?
Click to expand...

No relation at all with the war. Raúl Alfonsín was a democratic president (the first since the return of democracy in 1983, after the war) and it was a project from his administration. The militares had nothing to do with it.
 
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General Ripper

Banned
What if, they built La Plata as OTL, but not on OTL place, but say somewhere between Bahia Blanca and Mar Del Plata or maybe in center of BA Province, so pretty far from BA, and then federal government takes her over and she becomes the federal capital?
 
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General Ripper

Banned
General Ripper said:
What if, they built La Plata as OTL, but not on OTL place, but say somewhere between Bahia Blanca and Mar Del Plata or maybe in center of BA Province, so pretty far from BA, and then federal government takes her over and she becomes the federal capital?
Click to expand...

After looking a bit on the map, Necochea/Quequen area seems as good enough.
 
juanml82

juanml82

General Ripper said:
Do you think that late 19th Century has better chances to achieve that ( alternative capital ) than 1980s? After all, the money was less a problem back then...
Click to expand...
The problem at that point is political, between the Porteños (initially the natives of the province of Buenos Aires, eventually the term changed to those born in the city of Buenos Aires, while those born in the province are bonaerenses) and the rest of the country. It could be achieved as some sort of compromise: Buenos Aires remains the capital of the province of Buenos Aires and the Federal Government establishes itself somewhere else, maybe Rosario, Parana or Cordoba. The Porteños would have the most to loose from that in the long run, but it avoids federalizing the city.

General Ripper said:
What if, they built La Plata as OTL, but not on OTL place, but say somewhere between Bahia Blanca and Mar Del Plata or maybe in center of BA Province, so pretty far from BA, and then federal government takes her over and she becomes the federal capital?
Click to expand...
That area remained very underdeveloped by 1880. Communications would be a problem.
 
juanml82

juanml82

Thanksforallthefish said:
Domingo Faustino Sarmiento proposed to build a new city called Argirópolis (literally, 'Silver City') in Martín García Island, in the middle of the Rio De La Plata, to be the capital of the Estados Unidos del Río De La Plata, which, as the name indicates, it was to be based in the United States. It was something of an utopian vision of his (Sarmiento being Sarmiento, it was to be an European utopian state with no Indians or Blacks) and I'm not sure how seriously he took it. In any case, I'm not really sure than Martín García would be a good location for any city; it's 3 x 1,5 kilometers long and the terrain is poor, basically ancient rocky formations and sand and mud from the Rio De La Plata.
Click to expand...
Making Martin Garcia the capital also means people can't protest in front of the Congress or the Government House - they'd have to take a ferry first. I also doubt the island has room for the national administration/bureaucracy - and I guess a long bridge connecting it to the mainland would end up necessary for people working there to make it to their jobs.

OTOH, a national convention center for whenever the government wants to make a big diplomatic event and cut downtown Buenos Aires for security reasons would be a great idea for everyone who wants to move around downtown those days.
 

General Ripper

Banned
juanml82 said:
The problem at that point is political, between the Porteños (initially the natives of the province of Buenos Aires, eventually the term changed to those born in the city of Buenos Aires, while those born in the province are bonaerenses) and the rest of the country. It could be achieved as some sort of compromise: Buenos Aires remains the capital of the province of Buenos Aires and the Federal Government establishes itself somewhere else, maybe Rosario, Parana or Cordoba. The Porteños would have the most to loose from that in the long run, but it avoids federalizing the city.

That area remained very underdeveloped by 1880. Communications would be a problem.
Click to expand...

Yes, BA will lose something, but I don't think that will seriously hamper them. OTOH, they will reduce enimity of the rest of the country. They might also get Province of BA divided.
 

General Ripper

Banned
About communications, well you just build a railway to there and that's it. That's the time whe railways sre starting to coming there, anyway.
 
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