The birth of tango — the Río de la Plata

In the poor port districts of Buenos Aires and Montevideo — above all in the tenement houses (conventillos) where immigrants lived — people from all over the world came together. Criollos (the native-born), European immigrants, and people of African descent: out of their encounter, tango was born.

Musically, the Argentine milonga, the Spanish-Cuban habanera, and the Afro-Uruguayan candombe melted together into a rhythm and melancholy all its own. Tango was a common language among people of different tongues and backgrounds.