Southern Cone Under the British



Rosario

     

     Rosario, along the Parana River upstream from Buenos Aires, is the largest city in the province of New Lancashire and is 320 kilometres from Buenos Aires, having 1,500,000 people in the metropolitan area – in Auchmuty-Whitelocke World (AWW).  It has always had a rivalry with Santa Fe (along with Wilsonton) within the province ever since it was founded in the late 1600s.  It has also had a rivalry with Cordova City for being the second-biggest city in Argentina.  The local area code for calling is 0341 (formerly 041), within the +54 country code.  

     After the British conquered and took over the River Plate in 1807, Rosario capitulated to British control.  Since the mid-19th century, it has served as a major interior port for both freight and immigrants, earning its nickname “the Chicago of Argentina”.  Ernesto “Che” Guevara was originally from Rosario.  In 1982, it hosted the South American Games, and in 1994, it hosted the Commonwealth Games.       

     The populace in Rosario is overwhelmingly angloparlant – almost 80% in fact, owing largely to the fact that there were very few Spanish-speakers to begin with when the area started receiving British settlers.  The rest is either Spanish-speaking (just over 4%) or those whose mother tongue is neither Spanish nor English.  In a real sense, Rosario is a “second  Buenos Aires”, having obtained immigrants from many countries and religions.  Many ethnicities, including the Chinese, Italians, Greeks, and Ashkenazic Jews, have their biggest Argentine concentrations outside Buenos Aires in Rosario.  While Protestantism is the single-biggest religious representation in Rosario, there are also large Catholic, Orthodox Christian, and Jewish communities, along with some other religions.  The people in Rosario are known as Rosarians in English, and as rosarinos in Spanish.    

     Transportation is plentiful in the Rosario area, both in going to/from it and within it.  Rosario is served by Fisherton International Airport, North Rosario Train Station, and Morley Bus Station.  Public transit within Rosario includes a city bus network and a trolleybus system, plus two bus rapid transit lines with their own roadways, and two light rail lines.    

     Rosario, just like all major cities, has its share of attractions.  Its buildings are largely early-20th-century or art deco architecture, especially in and around the city centre.  The main cathedral is Saint Bartholomew’s (Anglican).  Among the sites to see are the Rosario Educational and Astronomical Complex, and the Waterfront (all along the Parana).  Museums include the Parana and Islands Museum, the New Lancashire Historical Museum, the City Museum, the Kaster Museum of Fine Arts, the Museum of Decorative Arts, and the Museum of Contemporary Art of Rosario (an annex of the Kaster Museum).               

     Neighbourhoods within Rosario include Usborne (home of many of the rich families early in the 20th century), Belgrave, Echesortu, Batten Cottage, Uniondale, and Fisherton.  The main arterial streets are Thornton Boulevard (running north-south) and Sanford-Penn Avenue (running east-west).  At the intersection of these two streets not far from downtown is Confederation Park.  In the northern part of the city is another major park, Allen Park.  Major squares include Gore Square and Prince Albert Square.   

     Some of the festivities include Flag Day (on June 20), Rosario Week (first week of October), and the Cultural Communities Festival (in November).  Also, the International Meeting of Wood-Stone-Iron Sculpture, the Rosario Latin American Video Festival, and the International Poetry Festival all take place in September.  The Rosario Jazz Festival is in June; and the Rosario Marathon is in November.  The renowned Rosarian Shakespeare Festival is another local event, as is the International Digital Arts Festival.

     The top sports in Rosario are cricket, rugby, and soccer.  The cricket team is the Cornsuckers, and the rugby team is the Shooters.  Soccer teams are Newell’s Old Boys (traditionally angloparlant) and Rosario Central (hispanoparlant).

     There is a stock exchange in Rosario, but it is not overall as important as the one in  Buenos Aires.  However, Rosario houses the largest futures exchange in Argentina, as well as the biggest commodities exchange in the country.  The most important industries in Rosario are steel manufacturing, oil refining, and port importing/exporting.  Other industries exist in the city also.

     The principal theatre and concert hall in Rosario is the acclaimed Circle Theatre; the Rosario Symphony Orchestra and the Rosario Chamber Orchestra are also superb.  

     There is plenty of shopping at the Century, Upper Rosario, and Portal Malls, and the Palace Garden Shopping Centre, plus at places like the Low Flea Market. 

     Rosario is fortunate to be served by many hospitals.  Among the leading ones, while Hospital Clemente Alvarez is predominantly Hispanic, Rosario General Hospital, Pierce Memorial Hospital, and Bernstein Jewish Hospital all service the much larger Anglo population. 

     The primary newspaper in Rosario is the English-language Citizen.  The relatively small hispanoparlant population is served by the small daily La Confederación.

     As far as education is concerned, there is plenty of it in Rosario in English, but not enough in Spanish.  The most important angloparlant private schools are Kingbourne Academy, Stewart Hall School, Miss Tarleton’s School, Strathcona School, Saint Richard’s Boys’ School, Saint Paul’s Boys’ School, Rose Garden School, Saint Adalbert’s Girls’ School, and Newell Memorial Commercial School.  Likewise, higher education is mainly in English; the universities include the University of Rosario, McNeile Unversity, the bilingual Latin American Education Centre, and a campus of Inter-American Open University (also bilingual).  English liberal-arts colleges in Rosario are Duffy and Grisham Colleges. 

     Luxury hotels in Rosario include the Ashley Hotel and Riviera Hotel.

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Nearby

     There are relatively few places to see around Rosario.  One such place is San Lorenzo, 32 kilometres upstream, with the San Carlos Borromeo Convent. That place also houses the museum commemorating the Battle of San Lorenzo, one of the early major battles in the Anglo-Plate War, which took place in the aftermath of the successful British invasions of the River Plate.

     The countryside around Rosario and in southern New Lancashire is a primary wheat-producing area of Argentina.  There are important agriculture-related events in that area – for example, Ruffin hosts the national Ranching Festival.  Moreover, the town of One Eye Deer was founded by Irish immigrants in the latter half of the 19th century.  The main shopping centre, Casey Plaza Shopping Centre, is named after the town's founder, Edward Casey.

     Going from Rosario across the Parana River is a bridge complex built in the 1990s that connects the city with the town of Victoria, in South Mesopotamia.  Victoria itself is not a big town, but it has some charm to it.

      Much of the information on this page, especially about the tourist attractions, shopping, hospitals, theatres, and hotels, is derived from the Lonely Planet Guide - Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay, Lonely Planet Publications, 4^th edition, 2002, and other sources, and is altered for AWW conditions.

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