Buenos Aires was founded twice:
The first foundation was in 1536. Don Pedro de Mendoza, a Spanish colonizer, established the first settlement. He named it Ciudad del Espíritu Santo y Puerto Santa María del Buen Ayre. The second, and final, foundation was in 1580. Juan de Garay called the site Ciudad de Trinidad.
In the 19th. century, the port was the arrival point for the great migratory wave promoted by the Argentine State to populate the nation. Spanish, Italian, Syrian-Lebanese, Polish and Russian immigrants provided Buenos Aires with the cultural eclecticism that is so characteristic of the city.
During the 20th. century, successive immigrations - from the provinces, other Latin American countries and Eastern countries - completed the picture of Buenos Aires as a cosmopolitan city in which people with different cultures and religions live together.