cabecera (county seat) and partido (county), of Gran (Greater) Buenos Aires, southeast of the city of Buenos Aires, in Buenos Aires provincia (province), eastern Argentina, near the Río 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 Río 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 county was established in 1730 out of the pago (country district) of La Magdalena. In 1806 British troops disembarked on the coast of the county 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 Cervecería 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. The birthplace of naturalist William Henry Hudson (Hudson, W H) is nearby. Pop. (2001) city, 111,575; county, 518,788.