Information about Punta Arenas

Punta Arenas is the most populous and cosmopolitan city of the Chilean Patagonia. Within it are all the services and amenities of large cities, so it has a free zone which allows its residents to enjoy great benefits.
Quality of life stands out as the best of all Chile, ended up with the second highest per capita income of the country. The Magallanes region is characterized by regional feeling (the Magellanic call their region the "Independent Republic of Magellan") and attachment to the land, has its own flag, motto and anthem, what makes it a very particular area been demonstrated in the 2005 parliamentary elections when elected Chiles first independent senator.

The layout of the city for the Spanish classic checkerboard design or "checkerboard" but with distance from the center of the city suburbs acquire more modern tracks. The center of the city presents an architecture that is more like European cities with neo classical buildings and the streets are spacious and wooded. In the suburbs, most of the houses are Georgian.

History of Punta Arenas

Punta Arenas was founded as a military fort in 1849 to strengthen Chiles claim of sovereignty over the Strait of Magellan and coming from the Fuerte Bulnes, as this was not appropriate for the settlement of a stable population.

The consolidation of the town is marked between the years 1875 and 1885, after several riots that destroyed it. From that time the city went to livestock development, which brought successive waves of immigrants.

In 1927 it was renamed Magellan, but in 1938, was returned to its original name.

In 1945 he discovered the existence of oil wells, which changed her face to the city, turning it into a residential and administrative center of the municipal representatives of the farm.

Before the opening of the Panama Canal in 1914 was the main port in shipping between the Pacific and Atlantic to be located in the Strait of Magellan, from here standing his heyday, which made a great cosmopolitan and commercial center the southern tip of South America. This has made it a European city in its design and architecture is not comparable to any other city in Chile. In the region emphasizes the scientific work conducted by the University of Magallanes.