Magallanes y la Antártica Chilena Region
The Región de Magallanes y Antártica Chilena de la (Region XII) is the southernmost region of Chile. It consists of two parts, the Magallanes Region and Chilean Antarctica claimed by Chile since 1940. The region's capital is Punta Arenas and covers an area of 132,291.1 km ² (without the Chilean Antarctic with 1.25 million km ² ) and 155 332 inhabitants (including Antarctica ) according to the census of 2012.
Magallanes is named after Ferdinand Magellan, who discovered the Strait of Magellan 1520. Patagonia are the most famous regions in this area. In the north, bordering the Magallanes Region XI Aisen, on the east by Argentina.
History
The first Paleo- Indians already arrived between 9800 BC and 8280 BC to Tierra del Fuego. In the 17th century, the time of arrival of the first Europeans in Tierra del Fuego, four groups of indigenous people can be distinguished: the land of nomads Selk'nam ( Ona ) and the Haush (or: Manek'enk ), the inland and in the south west the main island and the sea nomads settled the Alakaluf and Yámana ( Yaghan ) who lived on the western and southern coastal strip. The exact number of individual populations can be estimated because of their lifestyle as hunters and gatherers for the 17th century to a total of 12,000.
The Portuguese Captain-General Ferdinand Magellan discovered the Strait of Magellan on his circumnavigation of the globe with a fleet of five ships and 237 crew members. On October 21, 1520, the day the 11,000 virgins, Magellan sighted near the 52nd parallel a cape and call it "Cape of the Virgins " - Cabo Virgenes. A terrible, more than 36 hours of permanent storm drives on All Saints Day (November 1 ) in 1520 two of his ships in a bay, which proved to be a passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean in the further course. Magellan gave this channel initially the name Estreito de Todos los Santos ( All Saints' channel ).
A landing party was sent to the North Coast, in those harsh and cold area, Magellan had earlier called Patagonia. But aside from an ancient burial with two hundred human skeletons could discover nothing the sailors. In the south of the strait, however, says Pigafetta, Magellan's chronicler, " we saw in the night many fires ". The captain-general called the country according to " Tierra del Fuego ," Land of Fire.
Juan Fernández Ladrillero 1557 explored the area around the Strait of Magellan. The Spaniards began from 1579 with the construction of small military bases on the Straits of Magellan. The Puerto Hambre was founded in March 1584 by Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa who called Rey Don Felipe. The first Spanish settlers died of starvation due to the sparse vegetation. The English pirate Thomas Cavendish was in 1587 the ruins of the settlement. Some 300 settlers were starved or froze to death.
1843 Fuerte Bulnes was founded, among the founders was the German naval officer Bernhard Philippi (Spanish: Bernardo Philippi ) as a research assistant to the expedition. This company secured the inclusion of the Strait of Magellan in the territory of Chile.
1848 was moved from Fuerte Bulnes to the better situated Punta Arenas, followed by the creation of Porvenir in 1894, Puerto Natales Puerto Williams in 1911 and 1953.
The Adventurer and Captain Hermann Eberhard traveled 1892 West Patagonia and founded the first German settlement in southern Chile called Puerto Consuelo. There he built a large sheep farm. In 1895 he discovered west of the National Park Torres del Paine in the Cave of Milodon the skeleton of a giant sloth. The cave is now one of the most visited tourist destinations in the area of Puerto Natales. In honor of Hermann Eberhard a fjord was named after him, the Fjordo Eberhard. Eberhard applicable in Chile as one of the great personalities in the development of the Magallanes Region.
As of 1893, the border issues with Argentina intensified after Bolivia has assigned a portion of the Puna de Atacama Argentina. This was occupied since the saltpeter from Chile. Between Chile and Argentina, there was an arms race. Only the British King Edward VII in 1902 could settle the border dispute. Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego were redistributed, it fell 54000 km ² and 40,000 km ² in Chile to Argentina.
The Beagle conflict escalated in December 1978 with warlike threats of Argentina against Chile. The islands Lennox, Picton and Nueva in the Beagle Channel were a point of contention, especially since in the area major oil reserves were suspected. The dispute was resolved peacefully only through the mediation of Pope John Paul II. The friendship and peace treaty of 1984 between Chile and Argentina was signed in Rome on 29 November 1984, later ratified in both countries.
Administrative structure
The XII Region consists of four provinces with 11 towns ( Comunas ):
Provinces
Settlements
The major cities and towns are (number of inhabitants according to the 2002 census, each actual core settlement ):
- Punta Arenas, 116 005 inhabitants
- Puerto Natales, 16 978 inhabitants
- Porvenir, 4,734 inhabitants
- Puerto Williams, 1,952 inhabitants
List of municipalities
Geography and climate
The west coast of Magallanes is crossed by numerous islands, the largest of Tierra del Fuego. Large parts of the north of the region on the border with Argentina are glaciated and are in huge National Park Bernardo O'Higgins. Welfare of the most famous national park in Chile is the National Park Torres del Paine north of Puerto Natales.
Punta Arenas is located on the Brunswick Peninsula on the Strait of Magellan, it is the largest and most important city in the region. Then begins Tierra del Fuego, the western and southern part belong to Chile, here is the town of Porvenir. Puerto Williams, the southernmost city in the world allegedly, lies on the island of Navarino.
The mountain range Cordillera Darwin is almost 2,500 m high mountains the last great mountain range of the Andes in South America.
The southernmost point of Chile are the Diego Ramirez Islands, 100 kilometers south of Cape Horn.
The annual temperature in Punta Arenas fluctuate around 6 ° C, the precipitates are spread over the whole year, with about 425 mm / year fall. In the region of the Andes and glaciers already prevail freezing temperatures, here are the amounts of rain already with 2000 mm / year is quite high. Still higher they are on the west coast with up to 3500 mm / year.
Tourism
Tierra del Fuego and Torres del Paine are certainly the most frequented tourist destinations. Punta Arenas is usually the output for field trips by ferry or plane. Puerto Williams serves as the starting point for Cape Horn, in the Chilean Antarctic and the penguin colonies.
Economy
In addition to tourism the main income sources are raw materials such as oil, natural gas, limestone and coal.