Punta Arenas (Chile Antarctica)

Punta Arenas (aka Sandy Point) is a principal seaport and capital city of Chile's Magallanes and Chilean Antartica region (country's southernmost). The city has population around 130,000, ranking it the world's largest located south of the 46th parallel south.

Strategically positioned almost midway between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, the port is located on Brunswick Peninsula at the southern end of mainland Chile and Chilean Fjords. Punta Arenas overlooks Magellan Straits, being on its western side, The city is a center of one of the largest sheep farming areas in the world.

As the biggest seaport for thousands of miles, it serves as a base for Antarctic research vessels and South Atlantic fishing boats. The city centre has impressive mansions of sheep barons of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Palacio Sara Braun, also several museums. Nearby is Fuerte Bulnes (replica of a wooden fort from 1843) and Monumento Natural Los Pinguinos (Isla Magdalena, with its colony of over 60,000 penguins).

Established in 1848, Punta Arenas was previously a military garrison and penal settlement. During the Gold Rush it offered a convenient location for shipping en route to California. In the early years, its economy depended on wild animal products. The successful introduction of purebred sheep from Falkland Islands changed the situation and by the turn of the century, there were around 2 million animals in the territory.

Punta Arenas cruise terminal