Fort Bulnes. Punta Arenas - CHILE

Direccion: Camino Y-621, Punta Arenas
Phone: +56 61 272 3195
Web: http://www.parquedelestrecho.cl/

A late sixteenth century the first attempt by the Spanish Crown to populate the strategic Strait of Magellan area failed miserably, to perish from hunger almost all members of the colonizing expedition. The place remained uninhabited until 1843, when the government of President Manuel Bulnes, alerted by the greedy expansionism of the European powers decided to take actual possession of the place.

In May of that year sailed from Ancud schooner with a military contingent, tools, construction materials, food and animals for subsistence. After four months of navigation and exploration, the expedition landed at Punta Santa Ana, and then build the first settlement in the area, the fort.

It protected the complex defensive moat and a palisade of logs. The facilities included its main campus, "the blockhouse, barracks, warehouse, houses the Governor and the officers, chapel, jail, several ranches and stables, among others. The fort had two batteries of two guns each and an underground magazine. Were used in building two systems: logs placed horizontally and overlapped in the corners, and wooden structures filled with champagne. Facilities at the fort were rebuilt according to its original features, as part of the celebration of the centenary of its foundation.

The place housed the fort is the same where they settled three centuries before the Spanish colonizers. The site has undeniable advantages in strategic terms, but did not allow a settlement of the area, be entirely unsuitable for agriculture. This resulted in the founding in 1848 in Punta Arenas, where he moved the whole colony of Fort.