Set along the Strait of Magellan in southern Chile, Punta Arenas was founded in 1848 after Chile moved its earlier settlement from Fort Bulnes farther north to a more practical location. Originally established as a penal colony and military outpost, the city’s purpose was strategic: to secure Chilean control over one of the world’s most important natural sea passages between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. That control later became internationally recognized in the 1881 boundary treaty with Argentina.






















