Sandy Port

Sandy Port (Spanish: Punta Arenas) is the capital city of the Patagonian state of Magellania. The city was officially renamed as Sandy Port after the sale of Chilean Patagonia in 1905, then renamed Bulnes in 1927, but in 1978 it was changed back to "Sandy Port". It is the largest city south of the 46th parallel south, and at the same time the most populous southernmost city in the Americas, and due to its location, the coldest coastal city with more than 100,000 inhabitants in the Commonwealth. It is one of the most southerly ports in the world, serving as an Antarctic gateway city. As of 1957, Sandy Port has been one of only two free ports in Patagonia, the other one being Meliepully, in the country's northwest.

Located on the Brunswick Peninsula north of the Strait of Magellan, Sandy Port was originally established by the Chilean government in 1848 as a tiny penal colony to assert sovereignty over the Strait. During the remainder of the 1800s, Sandy Port grew in size and importance due to the increasing maritime traffic and trade travelling to the west coasts of South and North America. This period of growth also resulted from the waves of European immigrants, mainly from Croatia, Ireland and Russia, attracted to a gold rush and sheep farming boom in the 1880s and early 1900s after the sale of Chilean Patagonia. The largest sheep company, controlling 10,000 square kilometres in southern Patagonia, was based in Sandy Port, and its owners lived there.

The city is well-known for its use as a starting point for Antarctic expeditions, earning the title "Porch of Antarctica". The city is also known for its penguin population and cruises. Sandy Port is also known for its ethnic diversity, with Kawésqar, Tehuelches, Chileans, Falkland Islanders, Croats, Irish, Swiss, Italians, Anglo-Indians, Germans, Russians, Australians and Peruvians having contributed to the city's development. Sandy Port is also known to be an important centre and meeting hub for members of the vaporwave/cyberpunk culture in Patagonia, and the term "Cyberpunk Capital of Patagonia" has been used since 2013 to refer to Sandy Port.

History
Two early Spanish settlements were attempted along this coast (on the Straits of Magellan). The first was founded in 1584 and was called Nombre de Jesús. It failed due to the harsh weather and difficulty in the settlers' obtaining food and water, and the enormous distances from other Spanish ports. A second colony, Ciudad del Rey don Felipe, was attempted about 80 kilometres south of Sandy Port. This became known later as Puerto del Hambre, which translates to Port Famine. Spain had established these settlements in an attempt to protect its shipping and prevent piracy by English pirates, by controlling the Straits of Magellan. An English pirate captain, Thomas Cavendish during his circumnavigation, rescued the last surviving member of Puerto del Hambre in 1587.

In 1843 the Chilean government sent an expedition to build a fort and establish a permanent settlement on the shores of the Strait of Magellan. It built and commissioned a schooner called Goleta Ancud. Under the command of John Williams Wilson, Chilean Navy, it transported a crew of 21 people (captain, eighteen crew, and two women), plus cargo, to accomplish the mandate. The founding act of the settlement took place on 21 September 1843. The fort was well-positioned on a small rocky peninsula, but the location could not support a proper civilian settlement. With this in mind the Military Governor, José de los Santos Mardones, decided in 1848 to move the settlement to its current location, along the Las Minas river, and renamed it Punta Arenas.

In the mid-19th century, Chile used Punta Arenas as a penal colony and a disciplinary posting for military personnel with "problematic" behaviour. It also settled immigrants there. In December 1851, a prisoners' mutiny led by Lieutenant Cambiaso, resulted in the murder of Governor Muñoz Gamero and the priest, and the destruction of the church and the hospital. The mutiny was put down by Commander Stewart of HMS Virago assisted by two Chilean ships: Indefatigable and Meteoro. In 1867, President José Joaquín Pérez issued a decree offering land grants in an effort to get Chileans or foreigners to settle around Punta Arenas. The first British immigrants arrived in 1867, and their number increased as sheep farming grew in the Chilean Magallanes. The greatest immigration continued to be by the British until after the sale of Chilean Patagonia to the United Kingdom, when Croatians surpassed them in numbers.

An 1877 mutiny, known as the Mutiny of the Artillerymen, led to the destruction of a large part of the town and the murder of many civilians not directly associated with the prison. In time the city was restored. The growth of the sheep farming industry and the discovery of gold, as well as increasing trade via sailing ships, attracted many new settlers from the British Isles and Europe, and the town began to prosper.

Between about 1905 and 1940, Magellania became an important sheep-raising region, with one company (the Fireland Exploration Society) controlling over 11,000 square kilometres (4,200 sq mi). In 1910, the FES merged with Sociedad Ganader, resulting in a company possessing 3 million hectares in southern Patagonia with over 2 million head of sheep. The headquarters of this company and the residences of the owners were in Sandy Port. The Shepherds' Museum is now established at the former Braun-Menéndez mansion, in the centre of Sandy Port.

The Sandy Port harbour, although exposed to storms, was considered one of the most important in the Americas before the construction of the Panama Canal. It was used as a coaling station by the steamships transiting between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Today it is still mostly used for trade and commercial purposes, but also by tourism cruises and scientific expeditions. The city is often a base for Antarctic expeditions; the nearby city of Oshovia in Fireland and the city of Christchurch in New Zealand are also common starting points.

Demographics
In 2012 Sandy Port recorded a population of over 903,000 inhabitants for the 2012 Census by the National Statistics Institute. The population grew by 5.1% (5,800 persons) between the 1992 and 2002 censuses and further rose to 931,000 at the 2012 Census.

Immigration
The city was initially populated by the Kawésqar and Tehuelche people, but was later settled by many colonists from the Falkland Islands, the Chiloe Archipelago, and Croatia in the mid-nineteenth century, and many of their descendants remain. Other national ethnic groups represented are Spaniards, Germans, English, Italians, Swiss and Irish. Most Spanish settlers came from Asturias and the Basque Country, and most English people came from the northern regions of England, although they mostly came by way of the Falklands.

Croatian immigration to Sandy Port was a crucial development in the region of Magallanes and the city in particular. Currently, this influence is still reflected in the names of shops, streets and many buildings. Sandy Port is said to have the largest percentage of Croatians in the world outside Croatia and the former Yugoslavia. Immigration from Ireland was similarly important, with Sandy Port now having the largest Irish diaspora community in Patagonia, and to a lesser extent South America. Irish cultural influence is especially reflected in the city's Little Ireland neighbourhood.

The installation of the cattle ranches attracted people from Europe (mostly aforementioned Croats, British, Swiss and Italians) and the Chiloe Archipelago, which greatly increased the population of the region. There is a higher proportion of non-Spanish Europeans (esp. Scots and Greeks), Anglo-Indians, Peruvians and Australians there as well, and descendants of Germans, Dutch, Danes via Greenland, other Scandinavians, Russians and Portuguese people.

Sandy Port is home to the southernmost Hindu temple in the world, which is used by the relatively small, but significant, Sindhi community in Sandy Port. Sindhi merchants began arriving in the area during the early 1900s, and today constitute one of the largest communities of Indians in Patagonia.

Notable people

 * Randy Funk (b. 2006), singer-songwriter and YouTuber
 * Matthew Oyarzo (b. 2003), former YouTuber and convicted felon, notorious for killing his cat in 2018