). Two early
Spanish settlements were attempted along this coast (on the Straits of Magellan). The first was founded in 1584 and was called
Nombre de Jesús. It failed due to the harsh weather and difficulty in the settlers' obtaining food and water, and the enormous distances from other Spanish ports. A second colony,
Ciudad del Rey don Felipe, was attempted about 80 kilometres south of Punta Arenas. This became known later as
Puerto del Hambre, which translates to
Port Famine. Spain had established these settlements in an attempt to protect its shipping and prevent piracy by
English pirates, by controlling the Straits of Magellan. An English
privateer,
Thomas Cavendish, during his
circumnavigation, rescued the last surviving member of Puerto del Hambre in 1587.
Penal colony In 1843 the
Chilean government sent an expedition to build a fort and establish a permanent settlement on the shores of the Strait of Magellan. It built and commissioned a schooner called
Goleta Ancud which, under the command of
John Williams Wilson of the Chilean Navy, transported a crew of 21 people (
captain, eighteen crew, and two women), plus cargo, to accomplish the mandate. The founding act of the settlement took place on 21 September 1843. The fort was well-positioned on a small rocky
peninsula, but the location could not support a proper civilian settlement. With that in mind, in 1848, the military governor, José de los Santos Mardones, decided to move the settlement to its current location, along the
Las Minas river, and renamed it Punta Arenas. In the mid-19th century, Chile used Punta Arenas as a penal colony and a disciplinary posting for military personnel with "problematic" behaviour. It also settled immigrants there. In December 1851, a prisoners'
mutiny led by Lieutenant Cambiaso, resulted in the murder of Governor Muñoz Gamero and the resident priest, and the destruction of the church and the hospital. The mutiny was put down by
Commander Stewart of assisted by two Chilean ships:
Indefatigable and
Meteoro. In 1867, President
José Joaquín Pérez issued a decree offering land grants in an effort to get Chileans or foreigners to settle around Punta Arenas. The first British immigrants arrived in 1867, and their number increased as
sheep farming grew in the
Chilean Magallanes. The greatest immigration continued to be by the British until 1906, when Croatians surpassed them in numbers. An 1877 mutiny, known as
El motín de los artilleros (Mutiny of the Artillerymen), led to the destruction of a large part of the town and the murder of many civilians not directly associated with the prison. In time the city was restored. The growth of the sheep farming industry and the
discovery of gold, as well as increasing trade via sailing ships, attracted many new settlers, and the town began to prosper.
Economic boom Between about 1890 and 1940, the
Magallanes region became an important sheep-raising region, with one company (
Sociedad Explotadora de Tierra del Fuego) controlling over . In 1910, Sociedad Explotadora merged with Sociedad Ganadera, resulting in a company possessing 3 million
hectares in southern Chile and Argentina, with over two million head of sheep. , a Chilean Naval Officer who led the 1916 expedition to save Sir Ernest Shackleton's crew members, stranded on
Elephant Island, 2023 ==Demography==