La Plata
La Plata names 3 different subjects across the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf. Each is set out below. 1 of them is described by more than one encyclopedia.
La Plata RIO DE (rēō dā)
Described by 2 of the 6 encyclopedias.
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
RIO DE (rēō dā), a America, between BIO DE (reo dà), n wide estuary of South the N. and the Argentine South America, between Uruguay on S., through which the N. and the Argentine the Republic on the Paraná and the Uruguay through which waters of the ocean; length about and the Uruguay sweep down to the N. shore is somewhat on Probabilities" ocean; length about N. shore is somewhat 200 miles. The but that along the provand flat. steep and lofty, but that along the provtem- Aires is low ince of Buenos Aires is low and flat. The estuary has no shelter from the the S. shelter from the temnat come from the S. pestuous storms that come from and even the only good harbor, that good harbor, that W.; at Montevideo, is open to the S. E.' The of the La Plata drain an area to the S. E. The affluents , and ta drain an area square miles, and estimated at 1,600,000 square miles estuary is calculated azy is calculated the outflow of the cubic feet per minat about 52,000,000 exceeded only by that of feet per minute-a volume Amazon. The estuary was discov- , aly by that of the by Diaz de Solis my was discovered in 1515 or 1516 shortly afterward roasted and Diaz de Solis, who was ard roasted and eaten by the Indians on its bank. bank.
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
la-pla'ta, a river of South America . The name is Spanish signifying the broad. It is really a tidal estuary into which the united waters of the Uruguay and the Parana flow. It is 143 miles wide at its mouth and is about 190 miles long. It discharges a volume of water comparable with that of the Amazon. Harbors are few. That of Montevideo is the only safe anchorage on the northern shore. Buenos Ayres and La Plata are on the Argentine shore. The La Plata is a magnificent ocean gateway, rivaling the St. Lawrence.
La Plata a city of Argentina
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
a city of Argentina. It is situated on the wide La Plata, here an estuary of the ocean, about twenty-four miles southeast of Buenos Ayres . When the capital of Argentina was located definitely in Buenos Ayres, then the seat of the province of that name, the local legislature of the province decided to found a new city for a provincial capital which should be independent of the national capital. A sandy shore was selected. The city was founded in 1882. The streets were laid off in squares, intersected by diagonals, after the manner of Washington, D. C. Forty million dollars were expended in provincial buildings. A cathedral, museum, astronomical observatory, and other institutional buildings were erected. The growth of the city has been phenomenal. It is now the focus of the Argentine railway system, and is the chief port of the republic. Enormous elevators, warehouses, and wharves are busy transferring meats, hides, wheat, butter, wool, ores, forest products, linseed, and fruits, to steamships. Ships come to La Plata and Buenos Ayres not only from the United States , but from the United Kingdom , Germany, Belgium, Spain, France, and Italy, and are laden yearly with nearly $300,000,000 worth of foods, beverages, oils, textiles, paper, iron, carriages, hardware, pottery, electrical apparatus, and chemicals, needed by the cities, ranches, farms, and forests of the republic.
La Plata the capital of Buenos the capital of the Argentine province 1882
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
the capital of Buenos the capital of the Argentine province 1882, after Buenos of Buenos Aires, founded in been made the federal 1882, after Buenos Aires city had buildings of note are made the federal capital. The only capitol and other offices of ngs of note are bitol and other offices of the handsome observatory, several the government, an railway station; has observatory, several chapels and a fine , inns, and cafés; a colrailway station; has scores of hotels the manufactories alinns, and cafés; a colallege, etc.; among is one of cotton and the manufactories ready established ; a canal connects a haris one of cotton and woolen tissues been constructed at La canal connects a harbeen constructed at La Enbor which has outer harbor at En- Plata with a larger river; pop. about ger outer harbor at Plata river; pop. about senada, on the La Plata 90,500.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
Collier's put La Plata's population at about 90,500 in 1921; the city today has roughly 650,000 people, with about 800,000 in the wider partido, and between 1952 and 1955 it was officially renamed Eva Peron before reverting. Aiton's claim in 1910 that it was "the chief port of the republic" did not hold: Buenos Aires kept that role, and La Plata's traffic runs through the Ensenada harbour works as an oil and container port. The estuary itself is unchanged in shape but no longer the untended waterway of these accounts ", it was the scene of the Battle of the River Plate in December 1939, when the German pocket battleship Admiral Graf Spee was scuttled off Montevideo, and its boundary and shipping channels were finally fixed by the Argentina-Uruguay Rio de la Plata Treaty of 1973. Collier's story of Diaz de Solis, killed by Indigenous people on the bank in 1516, is still the standard account of the estuary's European discovery.
Written for this edition, 2026.