La Plaza Federal

I have found several Web sources for Argentina's change history. To help evaluate their contents, here are some reformatted excerpts from each page.

The Electronic Government page on the formation of the Argentine state (source [4]) says:

1776: R?o de la Plata viceroyalty (virreinato) formed.

1803: R?o de la Plata viceroyalty divided into eight intendencies (intendencias) by the Royal Ordinance of Governors (Real Ordenanza de Intendentes). Three of these intendencies correspond to parts of present-day Argentina: C?rdoba del Tucum?n, Salta del Tucum?n, and Buenos Aires.

1816: United Provinces of South America (Provincias Unidas de Sudam?rica) declare independence from Spain. In the ensuing period, the General Constitutional Congress (Congreso General Constituyente) drafts a constitution.

1820: General Constitutional Congress dissolved; Buenos Aires council (Cabildo) resumes control of the city and province of Buenos Aires.

1826-12: New constitution drafted for an Argentine Republic, but failed to take effect when ratified only by Banda Oriental.

1831: Federal Pact adopted by Santa Fe, Buenos Aires, and Entre R?os provinces. Soon the other provinces join, forming an Argentine state, organized as a republic.

1852-04-06: Protocol of Palermo signed by emissaries from Buenos Aires, Santa Fe, Corrientes, and Entre R?os provinces.

1853-07-09: Constitution for a confederation ratified by all provinces except Buenos Aires.

1859 or 1860: Buenos Aires province joins the confederation.

The Electronic Government page on the history of the Argentine provinces (source [5]) says:

1776-07-27: R?o de la Plata viceroyalty provisionally created by King Carlos III. It consisted of seven provinces: Buenos Aires, Tucum?n, Cuyo (consisting of territory which is part of modern Argentina), Paraguay, Potos?, Santa Cruz de la Sierra, and Charcas.

1782-01: Viceroyalty divided into eight intendencies (intendencias). The three intendencies comprising parts of modern Argentina included the first fourteen Argentine provinces. Buenos Aires intendency consisted of Buenos Aires, Santa Fe, Entre R?os, Corrientes, Misiones, and Banda Oriental provinces. C?rdoba del Tucum?n intendency included C?rdoba, Mendoza, San Juan, San Luis, and La Rioja provinces. Salta intendency covered Salta, Jujuy, Tucum?n, Santiago del Estero, and Catamarca provinces.

1812-01-13: Buenos Aires province given a separate government.

1813-10: Cuyo province formed. Its capital was Mendoza.

1814-09-10: Provinces of Entre R?os and Corrientes created.

1814-10-08: Tucum?n province split from Salta.

1819-04-12: Peace (treaty?) of San Lorenzo signed, as a result of which Santa Fe province split from Buenos Aires.

1819-11-11: A military mutiny occurs, leading to a new constitution for Tucum?n, which declares it an independent republic.

1820-01-17: C?rdoba province proclaimed independence.

1820-01-24: La Rioja province split from C?rdoba.

1820-02: National government dissolved by the defeat of General Jos? Rondeau, leaving the fourteen provinces independent.

1820-03-01: San Juan province proclaimed its autonomy.

1820-04: Santiago del Estero province split from Tucum?n.

1820-09: Entre R?os Republic formed from Entre R?os and Corrientes provinces and Misiones territory. It was dissolved later that year or in 1821.

1821: Misiones province formed.

1821-08-25: Catamarca province split from Tucum?n.

1821-08-28: Republic of Tucum?n falls. Province of Tucum?n established to replace it in 1822-05.

~1823: San Luis province created.

1827: Corrientes province annexed Misiones by force.

1834: Jujuy province split from Salta.

1853: Constitution of Argentine Republic adopted.

1862-10: Under law no. 28, all territories not lying within some province as of 1853-05-01 became national territory.

1872: Chaco government (gobierno) created following the War of the Triple Alliance.

1874: Chaco gobierno divided; the territory south of the Bermejo River became Chaco gobernaci?n under law no. 686.

1878: U.S. President Rutherford B. Hayes arbitrates territorial dispute between Argentina and Paraguay. Subsequently, the territory north of the Bermejo River (formerly in Chaco gobierno) became Formosa gobernaci?n.

1878-10: Gobernaci?n created in the Patagonian national territories.

1881-12: Borders of Corrientes province established by law no. 1149, leaving part of its former land as national territory.

1884: Law no. 1532 divided national territory into the goverments (gobernaciones) of La Pampa, R?o Negro, Neuqu?n, Chubut, Santa Cruz, Tierra del Fuego, Misiones, Formosa, and Chaco.

1899-03-10: Los Andes territory formed in land ceded to Argentina by Bolivia.

1902: Salta ceded land to Los Andes including the city of San Antonio de los Cobres, which became capital of Los Andes.

1943: Los Andes territory split up among Salta, Catamarca, and Jujuy provinces.

1951-08: Chaco and La Pampa territories changed to provinces under law no. 14037. Capital of La Pampa was Santa Rosa.

1953-12: Missiones territory became a province under law no. 14294.

1955-06: Formosa, Neuqu?n, and Rio Negro became provinces under law no. 14408. At the same time, the maritime gobernaci?n of Tierra del Fuego and the military gobernaci?n of Comodoro Rivadavia were suppressed, and two more provinces, Chubut and Patagonia, were created for the territories delimited by the same law. The capitals of these provinces, excluding Formosa, were provisionally set as Neuqu?n, Viedma, Rawson, and R?o Gallegos.

~1955: Provisional government of the 1955 revolution divided the territory of Patagonia in two parts. Modifying law no. 14408, it created Santa Cruz province (capital R?o Gallegos), with the same land as the old Santa Cruz territory, before the military gobernaci?n of Comodoro Rivadavia was formed. Soon afterward, Tierra del Fuego, Ant?rtida e Islas del Atl?ntico Sur national territory created by annexing Argentine claims to the Malvinas and Antarctica to Tierra del Fuego.

The Fundaci?n MAPFRE TAVERA (source [6]), devoted to preservation of historical documents of the Iberoamerican community, says:

1776: La Plata viceroyalty (virreinato) created. Its jurisdiction included the old provinces of Tucum?n, Buenos Aires, and Paraguay, the governments (gobiernos) of Upper Peru, and the region of Cuyo, which split from the old Captaincy General of Chile. Its territory corresponds roughly to modern Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay, and the eastern part of Uruguay.

1782: The viceroyalty was subdivided into the general superintendency of Buenos Aires and the intendencies of Asunci?n, C?rdoba del Tucum?n (C?rdoba, la Rioja, and Cuyo), Salta del Tucum?n (Salta, Jujuy, Santiago del Estero), Chaves or Chuquisaca, Potos?, Cochabamba, and La Paz.

The Argentine Embassy to Spain (source [8]) says:

1880: Buenos Aires, the city, was federalized under the name "Capital Federal".

1882: La Plata was founded as capital of Buenos Aires province.

Ambitoweb, a travel service (source [7]), says:

1617: Buenos Aires became capital of the Government (Gobierno) of R?o de la Plata.

1776: R?o de la Plata viceroyalty created.

1816: National independence proclaimed. Buenos Aires declared capital of the United Provinces of R?o de la Plata.

1880: Congress constituted a federal state with Buenos Aires as capital.

1887: Buenos Aires (city) separated administratively from Buenos Aires province, whose capital moved to La Plata. Buenos Aires's chief executive was always designated by the National President until the Constitutional Reform of 1994 gave rise to the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires.

Previously known changes:

1776: R?o de la Plata viceroyalty (virreinato) formed, with Buenos Aires as capital.

1878-10-11: Patagonia gobernaci?n (territory) created, with Mercedes de Patagones as capital

1879-07-04: Name of capital of Patagonia changed from Mercedes de Patagones to Viedma

1880: City of Buenos Aires split from Buenos Aires province

1884-10-16: Patagonia split into Chubut, Neuqu?n, R?o Negro, Santa Cruz, and Tierra del Fuego gobernaciones. At the same time, the gobernaciones of Chaco, Formosa, La Pampa, and Misiones were created

1904: Ushuaia became the capital of Tierra del Fuego

~1920: Capital of Neuqu?n moved from Chos Malal to Neuqu?n

~1935: Capital of La Pampa moved from General Acha to Santa Rosa

1943-09-23: Los Andes territory (capital: San Antonio de los Cobres) divided among Catamarca, Jujuy, and Salta provinces. In the division, Catamarca received the departamento of Antofagasta de la Sierra, about 27,886 sq. km.; Jujuy got Susques departamento, 9,554 sq. km.; and Salta got Pastos Grandes and San Antonio de los Cobres departamentos, 25,200 sq. km.

1946: Comodoro Rivadavia territory split from Chubut, taking approximately the southern half of the territory. They were reunited in 1957.

1950: Chaco territory renamed Presidente Juan Per?n

1951-08-10: Status of Presidente Juan Per?n and La Pampa changed from territories to provinces

1952-01-29: Name of La Pampa province changed to Eva Per?n (unromantically, the two Per?n provinces were about 750 km. apart at their closest)

1953: Misiones changed from territory to province

1955-06-15: Chubut, Formosa, Neuqu?n, and R?o Negro changed from territories to provinces; Patagonia province formed by merging Santa Cruz and Tierra del Fuego

1956-04-27: Presidente Juan Per?n and Eva Per?n provinces renamed Chaco and La Pampa, respectively

1957: Patagonia province split to form Santa Cruz province and Tierra del Fuego national territory, officially named Tierra del Fuego, Ant?rtida e Islas del Atl?ntico Sur

1991-06-01: The status of Tierra del Fuego was changed from national territory to province (its constitution took effect on this date)

1996-08-06: Under the constitutional reform of 1994, Distrito Federal gained a new constitution. Its official name is now "Ciudad de Buenos Aires" or, with equal standing, "Ciudad Aut?noma de Buenos Aires" (Autonomous City of Buenos Aires). The date I have chosen to mark this transition is that when the Chief and Vice-chief of Government assumed their duties. It is also the date of the first issue of the Official Bulletin, reporting appointments made on that date.

The names Distrito Federal and Capital Federal have both been used for this entity. From the documents I have available, it appears that its official name was Distrito Federal when it split from the province of Buenos Aires in 1880. Capital Federal is undoubtedly common in popular use, even under the new constitution, but it doesn't necessarily follow that it is or ever has been the official name. The Statesman's Year-Book calls it "Federal Capital", and has at least since 1957, but this represents an English translation of the name and may not be an indication of the Spanish original. The Rand McNally New International Atlas used the name Distrito Federal at least until 1990. The Office of the Geographer (source [10]) says, "the accompanying map [dated 1963-12] lists the Capital Federal. This has been recently changed to the Distrito Federal". The CIA World Factbook used the name Distrito Federal until at least its 2000 edition, but currently calls it "Buenos Aires Capital Federal". I would be grateful if anyone can provide me with documentation proving that the official name was ever Capital Federal, or better yet, specifying the date on which it became official.

There have also been minor boundary adjustments over the years, both external (with Chile) and internal (between adjacent provinces, especially in the north and west).