Bahía Blanca is a city located by the Atlantic Ocean, in Buenos Aires Province, in the east of Argentina. It has an important sea port 40 feet deep almost at the head of the bay - actually an estuary - where the Stream Naposta drains. Its name means "White Bay" in English, so-called because of the typical colour of the salt covering the soils surrounding the shores. It has a population of 274,509 inhabitants according to the last (2001) census and is the head town of the department named after it, Bahía Blanca Partido.

The city was founded as a fortress in 1828 by Colonel Ramon Estomba under the orders of the Governor of Buenos Aires, Juan Manuel de Rosas, being named Fortaleza Protectora Argentina ('Argentine Protective Fortress'), intended to protect dwellers and their cattle from native rustling and also intended to protect the coast from Brazil's navy which had landed in the area the previous year. The fortress was attacked by the malones (hordes of nomad natives mounted on horseback) several times, most notably in 1859 by 3,000 Calfucurá warriors. It became commercially important after the construction of a railroad by the British in 1885 linking the city of Buenos Aires to the town. In doing so, the trade of grain from the Pampas was much facillitated. The fast growth of the local economy, the remarkably benign Argentine laws towards immigration from Europe and the abundance of natural resouces of the country attracted many immigrants, mainly from Spain and [[Italy] and a remarkable amount from France who settled in Pigüé, about 125 km to the North of the city.

Bahía Blanca is an important trans-shipping and commercial center, handling the large export trade of grains and wool from the southern area of Buenos Aires Province, oil from Neuquén Province, and fruit from the Río Negro Valley. Its group of sea ports is one of the most important in the country, as the only ports that are naturally 10-metre (33 feet) deep, although its depth is kept at 40 feet by regular maintenance. Along the north shore of the bay, these ports are Puerto Ingeniero White for grain, and Puerto Galván, a smaller one specialising in sunflower and soy oil, and chemicals such as urea. One of the largest urea industrial producers in the world, Profertil, is located there. Between these two main ports, several industrial and chemical plants operate their own piers. Puerto Belgrano, located 29 km to the southwest, is Argentina's largest naval base. Its construction started with a secret decree signed by Argentine President José Evaristo Uriburu. It was designed and built by the turn of the 19th century (1898-05-12 to 1902-03-08) by Engineer Luigi Luiggi, born in Genoa, Italy and carried out by a Dutch company named Dirks, Dates & Van Hattem.

The city is a developed one, with cultural and educational aspects. It has a permanent Symphonic Orchestra, Classical Ballet (Ballet del Sur), a tertiary education institute which is due to become a university shortly (Instituto Juan XXIII, the future University Don Bosco), a tertiary institute of humanities (Instituto Avanza) and two National Universities: Universidad Tecnologica Nacional (National Technological University), devoted mainly to exact sciences for students who work, with formal activities in the evening, and an important national university named National University of the South (Universidad Nacional del Sur), founded in January 1956, with associated internationally-known institutes of research in biological and biochemical sciences and technological sciences (INIBIB and Instituto de Oceanografia, among others). Both national universities are free of charge for all students. Free education is granted by the state although there are semi-private and private schools.

The educational system has been transformed by the Province of Buenos Aires and it is still being modified. What used to be a system with primary (mandatory) and secondary (non-mandatory) education before pursuing university studies (the 'French model') became basic general education (mandatory) and polimodal education (the 'Spanish-Catalan model') although nowadays it is being reviewed and likely to be modified again.

The city has a neoclassical cathedral which is the See of the Archdiocese of Bahía Blanca, which covers Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego. The Archbishop is, as of 2005, Monsignor Guillermo José Garlatti whose Pallio was imposed by Pope John Paul II in a Formal Mass of Imposition at St Peter's Square on 28 June 2003 (St Peter's & St Paul's Day). The vast majority of the inhabitants of the city are Roman Catholics alhough there are Protestant churches and a synagogue. There is no mosque in Bahía Blanca although there are Muslims. There is religious tolerance with little sign of discrimination by religious belief.

The architecture of the city is notable as well. Public buildings such as the Banco de la Nación, Bahía Blanca Chamber of Commerce (the stock exchange), the main Post Office, the former building of the local newspaper La Nueva Provincia [1], the city hall, the Rectorate and academic departments of Universidad del Sur, its 'Casa de la Cultura' and Teatro Municipal (Opera House of the city), amongst others, are well-considered pieces of architecture, most of them extremely well preserved. Some of them are of French Neoclassical influence (L'Ecole des Beaux Arts, Paris).

Two shopping centres are located at the outskirts of the city and many shops in the centre itself are quite active and offer a variety of first line goods and products. There is also a variety of megastores, some of them locally and regionally developed competing with branches of international companies. Most of them are open even on Sundays, although this is now under review and local unions have lobbied for businesses and shops to close on Sundays. The interim city mayor seems also to favour this initiative.

There are several museums in the city which include the Port Museum, the History Museum, the Fine Art Museum and the Contemporary Arts Museum, the last headed by Betiana Gerardi. There are also two zoos: a municipal one, with a variety of species and permanent veterinarians and personnel looking after them and a private one, in the outskirts of the town. Areas of interest include the Barrio Inglés ('English Quarter') where the British foremen and technicians who built the railways and ports lived. Villa Harding Green is a suburb where the railway and port managers lived.

At the shores close to the city there are recreational places such as "Balneario Maldonado" and "Colón" although the characteristics of the estuary are not ideal for pleasant beaches with sand given which the inhabitants of the city must reach the south east limits of the estuary, about 100 km away, named Pehuén-Có and Monte Hermoso. Both are fantastic beaches of warm waters.

Nobel laureate César Milstein was raised in Bahía Blanca until the age of nine. Then he moved to Buenos Aires where he completed his education and university degree, starting his research in Biochemistry at Instituto Malbran, after which he moved to the United Kingdom, becoming Professor at Cambridge University, where he was awarded Nobel Prize for the discovery and development of monoclonal antibodies for which he did not register any patent, which may otherwise have made him very rich. He thought his discovery was intellectual property of mankind and as such he left his intellectual legacy: of no financial but only scientific interest.

Ever since the 1950s, Bahía has been considered the capital city of Argentine basketball. Emanuel Ginóbili (NBA, San Antonio Spurs, Texas), "Pepe" Sanchez (playing at present), Alberto Cabrera (deceased) and Atilio Fruet (retired) are well-known at national and international levels. The city's main football (soccer) team, Olimpo, played in the Argentine first division until relegation in 2006. Argentina national football team coach Alfio Basile is also a bahiense.

The illiteracy rate of the city, as well as the neonatal mortality rate, is among the lowest in the country. There is one local and regional newspaper (already cited) and regularly published indexed scientific journals such as "Revista de la Asociación Médica de Bahía Blanca" (Bahía Blanca Medical Association Medical Journal [2] written in Spanish although with available abstracts in English.

It has a large regional provincial hospital named "Hospital Interzonal Dr Jose Penna" and a municipal one, also large named "Centro de Salud Dr Leonidas Lucero", both of them tertiary centres for assistance and referalls throughout the region. The health care system is free of charge to any legal resident of the nation. Public health is the responsibility of both the Province of Buenos Aires and the City, which have a chain of public clinics throughout the city and the region taking care of people as primary health carers. There are also private health care institutions in the city. There is one physician for every 266 inhabitants. Public health is coordinated between the Ministry of Health of the Province of Buenos Aires, who has a delegate in Bahia Blanca (Zona Sanitaria X), and the city administration under the supervision of the local Secretary of Health appointed directly by the city mayor.

• Template:En icon Bahía Blanca Port
• Template:En icon Construction of Puerto Belgrano