Magallanes Region
The Magallanes Region (locally [maɣaˈʝanes]), officially the Magallanes y la Antártica Chilena Region (Spanish: Región de Magallanes y de la Antártica Chilena),[4] is one of Chile's 16 first order administrative divisions. It is the southernmost, largest, and second least populated region of Chile. It comprises four provinces: Última Esperanza, Magallanes, Tierra del Fuego, and Antártica Chilena.
Magallanes y la Antártica Chilena Region
Región de Magallanes y de la Antártica Chilena
132,291.1 km2 (51,077.9 sq mi)
1
3,623 m (11,886 ft)
0 m (0 ft)
165,593
15
1.3/km2 (3.2/sq mi)
$3.021 billion (2014)
$18,447 (2014)
0.864[3]
very high
Official website (in Spanish)
Magallanes's geographical features include Torres del Paine, Cape Horn, Tierra del Fuego island, and the Strait of Magellan. It also includes the Antarctic territory claimed by Chile. Despite its large area, much of the land in the region is rugged or closed off for sheep farming, and is unsuitable for settlement. 80% of the population lives in the capital Punta Arenas, a major market city and one of the main hubs for Antarctic exploration.
The main economic activities are sheep farming, oil extraction, and tourism. It is also the region with the lowest poverty level in Chile (5.8%); households in Magallanes have the highest income of any region in Chile.[5]
Since 2017, the region has had its own time zone. It uses the summer time for the whole year (UTC−3).[6]
The population of Magallanes is one of the lowest in Chile, as one of the last regions colonized.
In the 1854 census counted 158 settlers, concentrated in Punta Arenas. The native population in 1830, according to King, amounted to approximately 2,200, with about 400 in western Patagonia and approximately 1,600 in the southern Straits.
The census of 1875 recorded 1,144 inhabitants and in 1895 the population had risen to 5,170 inhabitants, mostly concentrated in the city of Punta Arenas and its surroundings.
The installation of the cattle ranches attracted people from Europe (mostly Croats, British, Swiss and Italians) and southern Chile (mostly from Chiloé Archipelago), which greatly increased the population of the region.
Punta Arenas is said to have the largest percentage of Croatians in the world outside Croatia and the former Yugoslavia; Punta Arenas also has the largest percentage of residents of British descent in the whole Chile. There is a higher proportion of non-Spanish Europeans there as well (esp. Scots and Greeks), and descendants of Germans, Dutch, Danes and other Scandinavians, Russians and Portuguese peoples.
From the late 18th century to the opening of the Panama Canal in 1914, thousands of trans-oceanic voyages stopped by Punta Arenas as the most convenient strait between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. The settlement of Punta Arenas and the Magellan and Chilean Antarctica Region is a result of its historic use as a hub for international travel.
In the 1907 census, the Territory of Magellan had 17,330 inhabitants, distributed as follows:
– City of Punta Arenas: 12,785 hab.
– Patagonia Chilena: 1,094 hab.
– Pen. of Brunswick: 1,062 hab.
– Tierra del Fuego: 1,626 hab.
– Beagle Channel: 184 inhabitants.
– Last Hope: 392 inhabitants.
– Baker River: 187 inhabitants.
This proportional distribution has persisted, with the bulk of the regional population in the city of Punta Arenas, and in the provincial capitals Puerto Natales, Porvenir (Spanish for "future") and Puerto Williams, one of the world's southernmost cities.
In the past 50 years, the population has increased moderately as shown below, but the region still has one of the lowest population densities in the country. The population remains mostly urban and concentrated in Punta Arenas.
Census
The most populated cities (2002 census) are Punta Arenas (116,005 inhabitants), Puerto Natales (16,978) Porvenir (4,734), Puerto Williams (1,952), and Cerro Sombrero (687).
Education[edit]
University of Magellan (UMAG) is a university in the southern Chilean city of Punta Arenas. It is part of the Chilean Traditional Universities. The University of Magellan was established in 1981 during the economic reforms of Chile's military regime as the successor of Universidad Técnica del Estado's Punta Arenas section. Universidad Técnica del Estado had established the Punta Arenas section in 1961. The University of Magellan have campuses in Punta Arenas and Puerto Natales as well as a university centre in Puerto Williams. University of Magellan publishes the humanities and social sciences journal Magallania twice a year.
The Chilean settlement of Villa Las Estrellas on King George Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica.
Media related to Category:Magallanes y Antártica Chilena Region at Wikimedia Commons