Patagonian sheep farming boom
[1] Early sheep farming in Patagonia was oriented towards wool production but changed over time with the development of industrial refrigerators towards meat export.
[6] The first men to realize the potential for large-scale sheep herding in the lands around the Strait of Magellan were a group of British immigrants that settled in Punta Arenas in the 1870s, following its development in the Falkland islands.
[8] These sheep were brought to the Straits of Magellan by Chilean governor Diego Dublé Almeyda who travelled specifically for that purpose to the Falkland Islands in the corvette Chacabuco in 1876.
[6] Strong networks of racialized corruption strengthened the British control on lands, commerce and political influence and favored the displacement of indigenous peoples in the continental area and the selknam genocide in Tierra del Fuego.
As movement of livestock of this magnitude was unheard of the region the feat was later baptised as El Gran Arreo or The Great Herding by writer José Salvador Borerro Rivera.
[11] Attempts to establish a cattle farming business by entrepreneur Daniel Cruz Ramírez around 1899 in Muñoz Gamero Peninsula failed given the humid climate and swampy terrain.
[11] Sociedad Explotadora de Tierra del Fuego became the main landowner in the area establishing its local estancia headquarters in Cerro Castillo.
[13][A] With particular reference to the Última Esperanza area Swedish explorer Carl Skottsberg was also critical of the auctions and the resulting changes in land property, in his book The Wilds of Patagonia (1911) he wrote: "I can hardly believe that the revolution was favourable to Chile's interests, and I daresay that is a rather ugly page in the history of a so-called democratic people.
"[11] Interesting article in Berkshire History Society about the Waldron and Payne families of Lambourn and Peasemore House who were some of the early western settlers https://berksfhs.org/sheep-farming-in-patagonia/ They founded "The Patagonian Wool Company".
During the 1910s, the economy of Magallanes faced several challenges such as the decline in sea traffic as a result of the opening of Panama Canal in 1914 and the establishment of customs in Punta Arenas.
