Fuerte Bulnes

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Entrance to the fort with the flags of Chile and the Región de Magallanes y de la Antártica Chilena

The Fuerte Bulnes is a Chilean fortification on the Strait of Magellan . It is located 62 kilometers south of the city of Punta Arenas and a few kilometers north of Cape Froward , the southernmost town on the American mainland.

history

Ever since the Chilean Republic was founded in the early 19th century under Bernardo O'Higgins , the Chilean government had been interested in colonizing the southern tip of the continent. In 1842 the Chilean President Manuel Bulnes decided to send a ship with soldiers to the Strait of Magellan in order to build a fortification there and to support the Chilean territorial claims. Under the leadership of the Anglo-Chilean captain John Williams Wilson , the expedition with 23 men, including the Prussian colonialist Bernardo Philippi , set out from Ancud to the south on May 22, 1843 . They arrived at Punta Santa Ana on September 21, 1843, a bay on the Strait of Magellan. There they built a fortification, the Fuerte Bulnes, which they named after the then president and which was officially founded on October 30, 1843. However, the expedition participants underestimated the difficult climatic conditions at the far end of the continent. Many of the colonialists left Fuerte Bulnes after a short time, so that there was no permanent settlement. That is why Punta Arenas was founded a few kilometers north in a protected location in 1848. In the course of this, the fort gradually fell into disrepair. It was used as a small military post until 1852 before it was set on fire and burned out in the course of the attempted revolution of 1851.

Reconstruction and situation today

In the 1940s the destroyed fort was rebuilt. In 1968 it was declared a Monumento nacional, which was initially administered by CONAF , but later passed into private ownership. It is located in the Parque del Estrecho de Magallanes . The Fuerte is now a popular destination for tourists in Patagonia . In addition, hiking trails, viewpoints and picnic areas have been created in the area around the fort.

Photo gallery

  • Wooden towers of the fort

  • The chapel

  • Cannons

  • Surroundings of the fort

Web links

Commons : Fuerte Bulnes  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ sudo.cl: Bulnes Fort, Chile. Retrieved April 28, 2021 .
  2. ↑ a b El fuerte Bulnes - Memoria Chilena. Retrieved April 28, 2021 (Spanish).
  3. ^ Diego: Fuerte Bulnes: descubriendo los trágicos secretos de la Patagonia. In: Blog Denomades: Información y guía de viajes, qué hacer, ver y visitar. October 11, 2018, accessed April 28, 2021 (European Spanish).
  4. ↑ a b La Prensa Austral: La historia del Fuerte Bulnes se convierte en un plus para el turismo y las artes escénicas. In: La Prensa Austral. September 19, 2018, accessed May 2, 2021 (Spanish).
  5. ↑ hallazgo de cementerio histórico de Fuerte Bulnes. Retrieved April 28, 2021 (Spanish).
  6. ↑ Who made this site: Project Name. Retrieved April 28, 2021 (Spanish).
  7. ↑ Fuerte Bulnes, a orillas del Estrecho de Magallanes. In: Con un par de botas | Blog de viajes. May 27, 2014, accessed April 28, 2021 (Spanish).

Coordinates: 53 ° 37 ′ 49.4 ″  S , 70 ° 55 ′ 2.9 ″  W.