Widely considered a national hero, William Brown is the most famous Irish citizen in Argentina. Creator of the Argentine Navy ("Armada de la República Argentina", ARA) and leader of the Argentine Armed Forces in the wars against Brazil and Spain, he was born in Foxford, County Mayo on 22 June 1777 and died in Buenos Aires in 1857. The is named after him, as well as the Almirante Brown partido, part of the Gran Buenos Aires urban area, with a population of over 500.000 inhabitants.