Strait of Magellan

The Strait of Magellan has been inhabited by indigenous Americans for thousands of years.[3] The Kawésqar lived on the western part of the strait's northern coast. To the east of the Kawésqar were the Tehuelche, whose territory extended to the north in Patagonia. To the south of the Tehuelche across the strait lived the Selk'nam, who inhabited the majority of the eastern portion of Tierra del Fuego. To the west of the Selk'nam were the Yaghan people, who inhabited the southernmost part of Tierra del Fuego.[4][5]

All tribes in the area were nomadic hunter-gatherers. The Tehuelche were the only non-maritime culture in the area; they fished and gathered shellfish along the coast during the winter and moved into the southern Andes in the summer to hunt.[6] The tribes of the region saw little European contact until the late 19th century. Later, European-introduced diseases decimated portions of the indigenous population.[7]

Selk'nam traditions recorded by the Salesian missionary Giuseppe María Beauvoir relate that the Selk'nam arrived in Tierra del Fuego by land, and that the Selk'nam were later unable to return north as the sea had flooded their crossing.[8] Selknam migration to Tierra del Fuego is generally thought to have displaced a related non-seafaring people, the Haush that once occupied most of the main island.[9] The Selk'nam, Haush, and Tehuelche are generally thought to be culturally and linguistically related peoples physically distinct from the sea-faring peoples.[9]

A replica of Victoria, one of Magellan's ships, in the Museo Nao Victoria, Punta Arenas, Chile

Expeditionaries led by Ferdinand Magellan, an explorer and navigator in the service of Spanish King Charles V, became the first Europeans to navigate the strait in 1520 in what later became the first voyage of global circumnavigation.[10][11] On March 22, 1518, the expedition was organized in Valladolid, naming Magellan captain general of the fleet and governor of all the lands discovered. The fleet would become known as the Armada de Molucas or "Fleet of the Moluccas". The expeditionary fleet of five ships set sail from Sanlúcar de Barrameda in southern Spain on September 20, 1519.[12]

The five ships included La Trinidad (110 tons, 55 crew members), under the command of Magellan; La San Antonio (120 tons, 60 crew members) under the command of Juan de Cartagena; La Concepción (90 tons, 45 crew members) under the command of Gaspar de Quezada (Juan Sebastián Elcano served as boatswain); La Victoria (85 tons, 42 crew members) under the command of Luis de Mendoza; and La Santiago (75 tons, 32 crew members), under command of Juan Rodríguez Serrano (João Rodrigues Serrão). Before the passage of the strait (and after the mutiny in Puerto San Julián), Álvaro de Mesquita became captain of the San Antonio, and Duarte Barbosa of the Victoria. Later, Serrão became captain of the Concepcion (the Santiago, sent on a mission to find the passage, was caught in a storm and wrecked). San Antonio, charged to explore Magdalen Sound, failed to return to the fleet, instead sailing back to Spain under Estêvão Gomes, who imprisoned the captain Mesquita.

Magellan's ships entered the strait on November 1, 1520, All Saints' Day. It was initially called Estrecho de Todos los Santos ("Strait of All Saints"). Magellan's chronicler, Antonio Pigafetta, called it the Patagonian Strait, and others Victoria Strait, commemorating the first ship that entered.[13][12][14] Within seven years, it was being called Estrecho de Magallanes in honor of Magellan.[12][14] The Spanish Empire and the Captaincy General of Chile used it as the southern boundary of their territory.

On All Saints' Day, Magellan planted a flag and claimed the land on behalf of the King of Spain.[15]

There is no historical evidence of the knowledge of the strait prior to the Spanish expedition of Ferdinand Magellan.[16] In 1563, António Galvão reported that the position of the strait was previously mentioned in old charts as Dragon's Tail (Draco Cola):[lower-alpha 1]

[Peter, Duke of Coimbra] brought a map which had all the circuit of the world described. The Strait of Magellan was called the Dragon's Tail; and there were also the Cape of Good Hope and the coast of Africa. ... Francisco de Sousa Tavares told me that in the year 1528, the Infant D. Fernando showed him a map which had been found in the Cartorio of Alcobaça, which had been made more than 120 years before, which contained all the navigation of India with the Cape of Good Hope.[18]

As this would suggest that the strait was mentioned in maps before the Americas were discovered by Europeans, the claim is considered dubious.[16][lower-alpha 2]

View of the capitulaciones granted by Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor in 1534

In the 1530s Charles V divided South America and whatever was to be south of it into a series of grants to different conquistadors. The strait of Magellan and the area south of it went to Pedro Sánchez de la Hoz.[19][lower-alpha 3]

While in a temporary visit to Europe conquistador of Chile Pedro de Valdivia managed to have Charles V extend his governorship all the way to the northern shores of the strait. Meanwhile, Sánchez de la Hoz was executed in Chile by Francisco de Villagra, one of Valdivia's men.

García Jofré de Loaiza was the second captain to navigate the strait and the first to discover that Tierra del Fuego was an island. Thereafter, Governor of Chile Pedro de Valdivia dispatched Francisco de Ulloa to survey and explore the strait, thereby facilitating navigation from Spain to Chile. In October 1553, Ulloa sailed from the city of Valdivia in the first expedition to enter the strait from the west. After reaching Woods Bay, Ulloa recognized the steep coastline and lack of provisions. Fearing entrapment in the strait during the winter, Ulloa turned around, returning to Chilean ports in February 1554.[15]

In October 1557, Governor of Chile García Hurtado de Mendoza sent out another exploratory squad of 70 men under the command of Juan Ladrillero. They were charged with mapping the coastline and surveying the region's flora, fauna, and ethnography. On August 16, 1558, Ladrillero arrived in the Atlantic Ocean, becoming the first navigator to cross the Strait of Magellan in both directions.[15]

Twenty years later, English navigator Francis Drake crossed the strait, creating fear among Pacific coast inhabitants that an attack was imminent. In order to seal the passage, Viceroy of Peru Francisco de Toledo sent a squadron with two ships under Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa. They scrupulously explored the strait, trying to ferret out English invaders, while surveying where to build fortifications.[15] This data was concealed, but new explorations to the area were still organized.[15] In 1599 it took five ships under Simon de Cordes - his pilot was William Adams - four months to pass it; Sebalt de Weert returned before the end.

The first map of the Pacific Ocean, Maris Pacifici from 1589, depicts the strait as the only route between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

Gradual southward colonization by the Spanish in Chile halted after the conquest of Chiloé Archipelago in 1567. The Spanish are thought to have lacked incentives for further conquests south.[20] The indigenous populations were scarce and had ways of life that differed from the sedentary agricultural life the Spanish were accostumed to.[20] The harsh climate in the fjords and channels of Patagonia may also have deterred further expansion.[20] Indeed, even in Chiloé did the Spanish encounter difficulties to adapt as their attempts to base the economy on gold extraction and a "hispanic-mediterranean" agricultural model failed.[21]

In 1584, Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa founded two colonies in the strait: Nombre de Jesús and Ciudad del Rey Don Felipe. The latter was established north of the strait with 300 settlers.[22][23] That winter, it became known as Puerto del Hambre, or "Port Famine"—most of the settlers were killed by cold or starvation.[24] When Sir Thomas Cavendish landed at the site of Rey Don Felipe in 1587, he found only ruins of the settlement. He renamed it Port Famine.

The Spanish failure at colonizing the Strait of Magellan made Chiloé Archipelago assume the role of protecting western Patagonia from foreign intrusions.[25] Valdivia, reestablished in 1645, and Chiloé acted as sentries, being hubs where the Spanish collected information and rumors from all over Patagonia.[26]

In 1616, Dutch travelers, including Willem Schouten and Jacob Le Maire, discovered Cape Horn and recognized the southern end of Tierra del Fuego. Years later, a Spanish expedition commanded by brothers Bartolomé and Gonzalo Nodal verified this discovery[15] making in the way also the first circumnavigation of Tierra del Fuego.[27] After this there would be 150 years before the next ship from Spain would traverse the strait.[27] In 1620, one hundred years after European discovery, at least 55 ships had traversed the strait including 23 Spanish, 17 English and 15 Dutch.[27]

John Narborough's 1670 explorations in Patagonia caused the Spanish to launch various maritime expeditions to western Patagonia from 1674 to 1676.[28][29] In the last and largest one, Pascual de Iriate led a party to Evangelistas Islets at the western entrance to the strait. At Evangelistas sixteen men of the party disappeared on February 17 including the son of Pascual de Iriarte.[30][31] The ill-fated men had attempted to reach one of the islets to install a metal plaque indicating the King of Spain's ownership of the territory.[31] Viceroy of Peru Baltasar de la Cueva issued orders to the governments of Chile, Chiloé and Río de la Plata to inquire about the men who disappeared at Evangelistas Islets.[32] However no information about their fate came forth and it is presumed that the boat wrecked in the same storm that forced the remaining party to leave the area.[32][33] Overall a total of 16–17 men perished in it.[20][33][31] While by 1676 rumours about English bases in Western Patagonia had been dispelled, that year new rumours appeared claiming that England was preparing an expedition to settle the Straits of Magellan.[34] The focus of Spanish attention to repel tentative English settlements shifted from the Pacific coast of Patagonia to the Straits of Magellan and Tierra del Fuego.[34] Such a change, from the western archipelagoes to the strait, meant that any English settlement could be approached by Spain by land from the north, which was not the case for the islands in western Patagonia.[34]

In February 1696, the first French expedition under the command of M. de Gennes reached the Strait of Magellan. The expedition is described by the French explorer, engineer, and hydrographer François Froger in his A Relation of a Voyage (1699).

In the 18th century further explorations were done by English explorers John Byron and James Cook. The French sent Louis Antoine de Bougainville and JSC Dumont D'Urville.[15] By 1770 the focus of a potential conflict between Spain and Britain had shifted from the strait to Falkland Islands.

From 1826 to 1830, the strait was explored and thoroughly charted by Phillip Parker King, who commanded the British survey vessel HMS Adventure. In consort with HMS Beagle, King surveyed the complex coasts around the strait. A report on the survey was presented at two meetings of the Geographical Society of London in 1831.[13][35]

Richard Charles Mayne commanded HMS Nassau on a survey expedition to the strait from 1866 to 1869.[36] The naturalist on the voyage was Robert Oliver Cunningham.[37] Charles Darwin requested the Lords of the Admiralty to ask Mayne to collect several boatloads of fossils of extinct quadruped species. Admiral Sulivan had previously discovered an astonishingly rich accumulation of fossil bones not far from the strait. These remains apparently belonged to a more ancient period than collections made by Darwin on HMS Beagle and other naturalists, and therefore were of great scientific interest. Many of these fossils were collected with the aid of hydrographer Richards R. N. and deposited in the British Museum.[38] The Admiralty compiled advice to mariners of the strait in 1871.[39]

Chile took possession of the Strait of Magellan on May 23, 1843. President Manuel Bulnes ordered this expedition after consulting the Chilean libertador Bernardo O'Higgins, who feared an occupation by Great Britain or France. The first Chilean settlement, Fuerte Bulnes, was situated in a forested zone on the north side of the strait, and was later abandoned. In 1848, Punta Arenas was founded farther north, where the Magellanic forests meet the Patagonian plains. In Tierra del Fuego, across the strait from Punta Arenas, the village of Porvenir emerged during the Tierra del Fuego gold rush in the late 19th century. Until the opening of the Panama Canal, the town was an important supply stop for mariners.[2] It has been claimed that Chile's annexation of the area originated from a fear of occupation by Great Britain or France.[13][40]

In the Boundary treaty of 1881 between Chile and Argentina, Argentina effectively recognized Chilean sovereignty over the Strait of Magellan. Argentina had previously claimed all of the strait, or at least the eastern third of it.

In the Treaty of Peace and Friendship of 1984 between Chile and Argentina the conflicts between two countries were settled and Argentina ratified the strait as Chilean.[41]

In 1840, the Pacific Steam Navigation Company became the first to use steamships for commercial traffic in the strait.[13] Until the Panama Canal opened in 1914, the Strait of Magellan was the main route for steamships traveling from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific. It was often considered the only safe way to move between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, as the Drake Passage separating Cape Horn from Antarctica is notorious for turbulent and unpredictable weather, and is frequented by icebergs and sea ice. Ships in the strait, protected by Tierra del Fuego to the south and the coast of continental South America to the north, crossed with relative ease, and Punta Arenas became a primary refueling port that provided coal for steamships in transit. Sailing ships, partly because of variable winds and currents in the strait, generally preferred the Drake Passage, where they had more room to maneuver.