QUILMES

cabecera (principal built-up area) and partido (political subdivision), of Gran (Greater) Buenos Aires, southeast of the city of Buenos Aires, in Buenos Aires province, Argentina, near the Ro de la Plata estuary. Colonization of the area began with the second and permanent founding of Buenos Aires (1580). In 1666 Jose Martinez de Salazar (governor of Ro de la Plata) established the Indian reduccione (work mission) called Santa Cruz de los Quilmes. The mission existed until 1812, when the junta governing Buenos Aires disbanded the mission and freed the Indians. The partido was established in 1730 out of the Pago (country district) de la Magdalena. The present-day partido covers 48 sq mi (125 sq km) and is bordered by the Ro de la Plata (northeast) and by the partidos of Berazategui and Florencio Varela (southeast), Almirante Brown and Lomas de Zamora (southwest), and Lans and Avellaneda (northwest). Besides the cabecera of Quilmes, the major localities are Bernal, Ezpeleta, Don Bosco, and San Francisco Solano. In 1806 British troops disembarked on the coast of the partido to capture Buenos Aires. In two naval battles off the shores of Quilmes in 1826 and 1827, Argentine warships repulsed attacks by Brazilian fleets. In 1871, Pres. Domingo Faustino Sarmiento founded a 20,000-volume library in the town of Quilmes. In 1916, the town was declared a city and planned as a residential suburb of Buenos Aires. Since then, diversified industry has developed, including one of the world's largest breweries, the Cervecera Argentina (Argentine Brewery). Textiles, ironware, and glass are also manufactured. Quilmes has a museum devoted to transportation in Argentina and also a boarding school for English-speakers. Pop. (1980) partido, 446,587.