Discovery of Chile

The first European to discover Chile was Ferdinand Magellan, in 1520, following the passage in the Strait which bears his name on a wall, at the southern tip of Latin America.

However, as the indigenous people were hostile to the Spanish foreigners, especially with the Mapuche tribes viewing them very negatively, violence between the parties erupted, culminating with the Battle of Reynogüelén (1536), which compelled a retreat through the Atacama Desert.

Trying for recruitment, Valdivia failed to acquire a large force, partly due to the region's scarcity of wealth and attitudes of the indigenous peoples.

Juan Sebastián Elcano, informing Charles V about the Strait of Magellan, prompted the king to organise a fleet, to which he assigned the command to Fray García Jofré de Loaysa.

During the process, the first recorded shipwreck in Chile occurred when the ship Santic Espíritus, commanded by Juan Sebastián Elcano, sank miles west of the current Dungeness Point.