Bahía Blanca is located in the southeast of the province of Buenos Aires, Argentina, by the Atlantic Ocean. It has a population of 274,509 inhabitants, according to the 2001 census.

Jacksonville twinned with Bahia Blanca in July, 1967 – becoming Jacksonville’s first Sister City.

Bahía Blanca means "White Bay". The name is due to the typical color of the salt covering the soils surrounding the shores. The bay (which is actually an estuary) was seen by Ferdinand Magellan during the first circumnavigation around the world on the orders of Charles I of Spain, in 1520, as he searched for a canal connecting the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean.

History

The city was founded as a fortress on 11 April 1828 by Colonel Ramón Estomba under the orders of Brigadier-General and subsequent Governor of Buenos Aires, Juan Manuel de Rosas. The original foundation was named Fortaleza Protectora Argentina (Argentine Protective Fortress), intended to protect dwellers and their cattle from native rustling, and also to protect the coast from the Brazilian navy, which had landed in the area the previous year. It was visited by Charles Darwin during his travels through South America in September 1833. The fortress was attacked by malones (incursions of nomadic aboriginals on horseback) several times, most notably in 1859 by 3,000 Calfucurá warriors. It became commercially important after the Buenos Aires Great Southern Railway linked the town to the city of Buenos Aires in 1885. 

Plaza Rivadavia

The city has the common features of all those founded by the Spanish and their descendants: a main square at the centre surrounded by main buildings. The City Hall and the Church are on opposite although facing sides. Buildings of administrative importance also surround the main square or are located nearby. The architecture of Bahía Blanca is notable as well. Public buildings such as the seat of the Banco de la Nación, Bolsa de Comercio de Bahía Blanca (Chamber of Commerce, the stock exchange), the main Post Office, the former building of the local newspaper La Nueva Provincia, the City Hall, the Rectorate and academic departments of Universidad del Sur, its 'Casa de la Cultura', Teatro Municipal (Opera House of the city), Biblioteca Rivadavia and Club Argentino, among others, are well-considered pieces of architecture, most of them extremely well preserved. Some of them are of French neoclassical influence (L'École des Beaux Arts, Paris).
There are excellent monuments and pieces of sculpture scattered all along the city, in the streets, main buildings and green spaces.  

Culture

The city is a developed one including cultural and educational aspects. It has a permanent Symphony Orchestra and a Company of Classical Ballet (Ballet del Sur) with an associate School of Classic Dances. For further education there are two tertiary institutes and two national universities. The first ones are Instituto Superior Juan XXIII (probably linked to the future UNISAL (standing for Universidad Salesiana) of the Salesians) and Instituto Avanza (tertiary institute of humanities). National Universities are Facultad Regional Bahía Blanca Universidad Tecnológica Nacional, devoted mainly to exact sciences and intended for students who do have a job for making a living, with formal activities in the evening; and Universidad Nacional del Sur (National University of the South), founded in January 1956.

Business

The area has a diverse economy, to include 28 banks, plus branches; produces more than  one million tons of raw material; refines oil; offers highly efficient fabric and textiles production; produces 400 tons per day of sunflower oil; has 128 printing offices; and has operations in agriculture – cereals, wheat, corn, livestock (beef cattle) – and mining/construction.