1516 - Wild Yerba Maté On The Banks Of The Rio de La Plata

At the beginning of the 16th century around 1520 A.D. (After Death), the indigenous groups of Northwestern Argentina had put a stop to the Incas coming through the Andie's from Bolivia. One of the routes was through the Puente De Las Incas. This being essentially a land bridge crossing a tributary of the Mendoza River.

The Spaniard Juan de Solís landed on the shores of the Rio de la Plata in 1516. Just around the same time as Cortes landed in Veracruz, Mexico. Solis's crew sailed away and in 1520, Ferdinand de Magellan stopped on his voyage around the world but did not stay. Following Solis and Magellan both Sebastian Cabot and Diego Garcia sailed up the Rio de La Paraná and Paraguay rivers in 1527 to form a small settlement they called Sancti Spiritus. Noting along the way wild plants among one being yerba maté. Later Local natives destroyed this settlement and both explorers returned to Spain.

Not giving up, the Spaniards tried again. This time, Pedro de Mendoza arrived in 1536, with large force well supplied with equipment and horses. Choosing his site well, he founded a settlement called Santa María del Buen Aire, today known as Buenos Aires. However, the natives were no more pleased with him than his compatriots and Mendoza returned to Spain, leaving behind Juan de Ayolas and Domingo Martínez de Irala. The latter went up river to found Asuncíon in Paraguay and later brought the survivors from Buenos Aires to Asuncíon. Ayolas set off for Peru, already conquered by Pizarro, and is lost to history.

In the late 1570’s forces from Paraguay established Santa Fé in Argentina. On 11 June 1580 Juan de Garay re-founded the settlement at Buenos Aires. Under Garay’s successor, Hernando Arias de Saavedra, Buenos Aires took root and began to prosper.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the continent, expeditions from Peru and Chile, some as early as 1543, followed the old Inca roads into Argentina and created settlements on the eastern slopes of the Andes. Santiago del Estero, Tucumán, Cordoba, Salta, La Rioja and San Salvador de Jujuy are the oldest towns in Argentina.