1915 Bemporat Map of Buenos Aires, Argentina

This c. 1915 map is an early example Aquiles Bemporat's map of Buenos Aires, issued as the city was undergoing a period of during a period of cultural and economic florescence. Bemporat was one of the most prominent 20th century cartographers of his home city and country, and this beautiful example is one of the finest we have seen of his work.

A Closer Look

Oriented towards the west, the map employs vivid chromolithographic color to shade different blocks (manzanas) of the city according to their density and function, with public buildings, train stations, barracks, armories, the city's aerodrome, and the like appearing in dark orange. Parks, cemeteries, golf courses, and sports stadiums are also clearly distinguished. The city's extensive tramway and recently-opened underground network, for which it was world-renowned at the time, is displayed prominently in red lines. The rail network leading into and through the city, and emanating to points throughout South America, which was also world class, is readily apparent. Three inset maps oriented towards the west display the city's electoral, administrative, and judicial districts. On either side of the map, a detailed index of street names appears, corresponding to a grid surrounding the map. At right are lists of plazas, parks, and government offices. Some of the urban development displayed here is speculative, especially in the city's southwest, as ghosted in streets and buildings overlie rivers and existing buildings that did not conform to the city's near geometric grid.

Tramways and Subways

At the time of this map's publication, Buenos Aires and Argentina as a whole were rightly regarded as world leaders in the development of railways, tramways, and underground railways. Infrastructure, industrialization, and immigration went hand-in-hand, and Buenos Aires became a great magnet for money and people in the late 19th century. New neighborhoods sprang up in a handful of years, and the city grew rapidly, necessitating the development of tramways extending throughout the city. The Buenos Aires Underground (Subte for short), opened in 1913, was the first in Latin America, first in the Southern Hemisphere, and first in the Spanish-speaking world.

Publication History and Census

This map was published by Aquiles Bemporat in 1915 or shortly thereafter. A small circle at bottom-left notes that Bemporat was awarded a gold medal at the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco, indicating that this map was produced shortly afterwards (it is unclear if the award was for this map in particular or for his general output). The lack of a date or edition number make it difficult to establish a census, but other Bemporat plans of Buenos Aires from the era that we have been able to locate include either a date or an edition number, suggesting that this is an unrecorded example.