Punta Arenas (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈpunta aˈɾenas], historically known as Sandy Point in English) is the capital city of Chile's southernmost region, Magallanes and Antarctica Chilena.

During the remainder of the 1800s, Punta Arenas grew in size and importance due to the increasing maritime traffic and trade travelling to the west coasts of South and North America.

This city's growth was also due to waves of European immigrants, mainly from Croatia and Russia, attracted by a gold rush and sheep farming boom in the 1880s and early 1900s.

The largest sheep company, which controlled 10,000 square kilometres in Chile and Argentina, was based in Punta Arenas, and its owners lived there.

Since its founding, Chile has used Punta Arenas as a base to defend its sovereignty claims in the southernmost part of South America.

Punta Arenas' geopolitical importance has remained high in the 20th and 21st centuries due to its logistic significance in accessing the Antarctic Peninsula.

Except for the eastern shore, containing the settlements of Guairabo, Rio Amarillo and Punta San Juan, the peninsula is largely uninhabited.

The municipality of Punta Arenas includes all of Brunswick Peninsula, as well as all islands west of the Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego and north of Cockburn and Magdalena channels.

The seasonal temperature in Punta Arenas is greatly moderated by its proximity to the ocean, with average lows in July near −1 °C (30 °F) and highs in January of 14 °C (57 °F).

City officials have put up ropes between buildings in the downtown area to assist pedestrians with managing the strong downdrafts.

[citation needed] Since 1986, Punta Arenas has been the first significantly populated city in the world to be affected directly by the thinning ozone layer.

It failed due to the harsh weather and difficulty in the settlers' obtaining food and water, and the enormous distances from other Spanish ports.

Spain had established these settlements in an attempt to protect its shipping and prevent piracy by English pirates, by controlling the Straits of Magellan.

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.

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.

[20][21] 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 growth of the sheep farming industry and the discovery of gold, as well as increasing trade via sailing ships, attracted many new settlers, and the town began to prosper.

Sindhi merchants began arriving in the area during the early 1900s, and today constitute one of the largest communities of Indians in Chile.

The University of Magallanes was established in 1981 during the neoliberal reforms of Chile's military regime as the successor of Universidad Técnica del Estado's Punta Arenas section.

[29] Since October 2011, the museum has displayed a full-size replica of the James Caird, used by Ernest Shackleton during his Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition with the Endurance.

The Museum of Remembrance of the University of Magallanes Instituto de la Patagonia displays examples of heritage buildings, old machinery and tools.

They are part of an Open Museum, with high attendance and regional identity and a significant number of foreign visitors, especially during the spring, summer and autumn seasons.

It has 8 heritage wooden buildings; 40 antique vehicles and transport of great historical value; machines; and innumerable tools, mainly associated with livestock and oil production.

As a "comuna" (commune) Punta Arenas is a third-level administrative division of Chile administered by a municipal council, headed by an alcalde who is directly elected every four years.

[8] By sea, several cruises and ferries can take visitors to the city, although the costs are higher because they include stops at tourist sites along the route.