, Santa Cruz. Made by the long-vanished Toldense people, they are 13,000–9,000 years old. The
Tehuelches inhabited these lands before the arrivals of the
Spanish colonisation. In 1520
Ferdinand Magellan arrived to what is currently known as
San Julián Bay. 15 years later Martín de Alcazaba explored the area near the Chico River, which he named
Gallegos River. Because of the attacks of
British privateers, and after the visit of
Francis Drake in 1578, the
Spaniards sent
Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa to fortify and map the
Strait of Magellan and prevent access to Spanish posts in the
Pacific. In the middle of the 18th century, the
Jesuits settled in the area, establishing a few
missions. When the
Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata was created in 1776, the region was set under the rule of
Buenos Aires. Antonio de Biedma founded
Nueva Colonia near present
Puerto Deseado and
Floridablanca not far from
Puerto San Julián, both of them shut down later by Viceroy Vertíz. Between 1825 and 1836 there were a series of explorations of the regions, including that of
Charles Darwin in 1834. In 1860 commander
Luis Piedrabuena established a base on
Isla Pavón in the estuary of Puerto Deseado. In 1878 the Government of
Patagonia was created, with capital in
Viedma, but six years later it was split into smaller entities, with the territory declared
National Government of Santa Cruz, whose capital was the city of Santa Cruz. In 1901 the capital was moved to its current location at the city of
Río Gallegos. At the beginning of the 20th century, a large
European immigration began to arrive to the almost uninhabited zone; Spanish,
Germans, British and
Slavs were the most numerous among them. They came mainly to escape the growing conflicts of
World War I, and were attracted by the wool industry of the area. The beginning of the war meant a sharp reduction in the amount of exports, bringing a serious economic crisis to Santa Cruz. ''. Based on an ill-fated local strike in 1922, the 1974 epic was made with the encouragement of Santa Cruz's governor. The ideals of
progressivism, brought by the Spanish immigrants, grew among the workers who, working in Santa Cruz's harsh environment under often sub-human conditions, decided to
strike in 1922. The strike was severely and harshly repressed by the government, culminating in the events of the
Patagonia Trágica ("Tragic Patagonia"), the execution of dozens of strikers. In 1944, the
Military zone of Comodoro Rivadavia was created, which encompassed the northern part of the
National Government of Santa Cruz and the southern part of
Chubut Province. This jurisdiction lasted until the abolition of the measures in 1955. The Territory of Santa Cruz acquired province status in 1957. In 1973, voters in Santa Cruz elected
Jorge Cepernic, a
Peronist. An advocate of labor rights, Gov. Cepernic worked with film maker
Osvaldo Bayer to make
La Patagonia Rebelde ('"Rebellion in Patagonia"), a documentary drama on the ill-fated 1922 sheep ranch laborers' strike. For this, Gov. Cepernic was imprisoned following the March 1976
coup. (
center) in conference with fellow
Patagonia-area lawmakers. The return to democracy in Argentina in 1983 brought new, mostly young leadership to Santa Cruz's elected posts, among them a well-known local
country lawyer named
Néstor Kirchner, elected that year to the
Río Gallegos City Council. Elected mayor in 1987 and governor in 1991, Kirchner helped negotiate a US$535 million payout for his province following the 1993 privatization of the state-owned oil concern
YPF. Earning plaudits for his careful administration of the funds, Kirchner was elected president of Argentina in April 2003, following the withdrawal of
Carlos Menem from a runoff which Kirchner was projected to win handily. Presiding over four years of expansion totalling 42% (the best performance for the Argentine economy since the 1880s), Pres. Kirchner steered record spending into public works (particularly those in his province, as is customary for Argentine presidents). In the Province there is a
border dispute with Chile in the Southern Patagonian Ice Field, in 1898 the border was defined and wasn't objected during the
1902 Arbitral award of the Andes which defined most of the border on the current Province territory. Both experts,
Francisco Pascasio Moreno from Argentina and
Diego Barros Arana from Chile agreed on the border between
Mount Fitz Roy and
Cerro Daudet. However the border started being questioned by Argentina later on which started the dispute between both countries. In 1998 a border redraw is agreed, being pending to this day the part between Mount Fitz Roy and
Cerro Murallón, however a new border was drawn between
Cerro Murallón and
Cerro Daudet. In the 20th century both countries had another
dispute over the Del Desierto Lake which was resolved in favor of Argentina in 1994 and had its climax in 1965 when Lieutenant
Hernán Merino Correa was killed by
Argentine Gendarmerie. ==Geography==