Puerto Natales is a

city A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agree ...

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

Patagonia Patagonia () is a geographical region that includes parts of Argentina and Chile at the southern end of South America. The region includes the southern section of the Andes mountain chain with lakes, fjords, temperate rainforests, and glaciers ...

. It is the

capital Capital and its variations may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** Capital region, a metropolitan region containing the capital ** List of national capitals * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Econom ...

of both the commune of

Natales Natales (Spanish for "births") is a commune of the Última Esperanza Province in the Magallanes and Antartica Chilena Region of extreme southern Chile. Its capital and only port city is Puerto Natales. Geography The commune's area spans , makin ...

and the

province A province is an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire, Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

of Última Esperanza, one of the four provinces that make up the

Magallanes and Antartica Chilena Region The Magallanes Region (), officially the Magallanes y la Antártica Chilena Region () or Magallanes and the Chilean Antarctica Region in English, is one of Chile's 16 first order administrative divisions. It is the southernmost, largest, and sec ...

in the southernmost part of Chile. Puerto Natales is the only city in the province. It is located northwest of

Punta Arenas Punta Arenas (, historically known as Sandy Point in English) is the capital List of cities in Chile, city of Chile's southernmost Regions of Chile, region, Magallanes Region, Magallanes and Antarctica Chilena. Although officially renamed as ...

. It is the final passenger port of call for the Navimag ferry sailing from

Puerto Montt Puerto Montt (Mapuche: Meli Pulli) is a port city and commune in southern Chile, located at the northern end of the Reloncaví Sound in the Llanquihue Province, Los Lagos Region, 1,055 km to the south of the capital, Santiago. The commune ...

into the Señoret Channel as well as the primary transit point for travellers to

Torres del Paine National Park Torres del Paine National Park () is a national park encompassing mountains, glaciers, lakes, and rivers in southern Chilean Patagonia. The Cordillera del Paine is the park's centerpiece. It lies in a transition area between the Magellanic subpo ...

, Chile. It is located at the opening of

Última Esperanza Sound Última Esperanza Sound (, ‘Last Hope Sound’ or 'Inlet of Last Hope') is an inlet stretching from the mouth of Eberhard Fjord to the outskirts of Monte Balmaceda, within the Magallanes Basin. The navigator Juan Ladrillero named it so in 155 ...

and was originally inhabited by the Kawésqar or Alacaluf people and the Aoniken or Tehuelche people. The first Europeans to visit the area where the city is located were the expeditionaries led by

Juan Ladrillero Juan Ladrillero (b. c. 1490 in Moguer – 1574) was a 16th-century Spanish navigator and explorer who from 1557 to 1559 explored the coast of Chile from Valdivia (39° 48’ S) to the Barbara Channel (54° S, between Clarence Island and Santa ...

, a Spanish explorer who was looking for the

Strait of Magellan The Strait of Magellan (), also called the Straits of Magellan, is a navigable sea route in southern Chile separating mainland South America to the north and the Tierra del Fuego archipelago to the south. Considered the most important natura ...

's western passage in 1557. The city was settled in the late 19th century by European immigrants, primarily

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

, including

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, of or about Wales * Welsh language, spoken in Wales * Welsh people, an ethnic group native to Wales Places * Welsh, Arkansas, U.S. * Welsh, Louisiana, U.S. * Welsh, Ohio, U.S. * Welsh Basin, during t ...

and Scots,

Croats The Croats (; , ) are a South Slavs, South Slavic ethnic group native to Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and other neighboring countries in Central Europe, Central and Southeastern Europe who share a common Croatian Cultural heritage, ancest ...

Greeks Greeks or Hellenes (; , ) are an ethnic group and nation native to Greece, Greek Cypriots, Cyprus, Greeks in Albania, southern Albania, Greeks in Turkey#History, Anatolia, parts of Greeks in Italy, Italy and Egyptian Greeks, Egypt, and to a l ...

Italians Italians (, ) are a European peoples, European ethnic group native to the Italian geographical region. Italians share a common Italian culture, culture, History of Italy, history, Cultural heritage, ancestry and Italian language, language. ...

and

Spaniards Spaniards, or Spanish people, are a Romance-speaking ethnic group native to the Iberian Peninsula, primarily associated with the modern nation-state of Spain. Genetically and ethnolinguistically, Spaniards belong to the broader Southern a ...

. It was then settled by

Chilean people Chileans (, ) are an ethnic group and nation native to the country of Chile and its neighboring Insular Chile, insular territories. Most Chileans share a common Culture of Chile, culture, History of Chile, history, Cultural heritage, ancestry ...

, with a substantial number coming from

Chiloé Archipelago The Chiloé Archipelago (, , ) is a group of islands lying off the coast of Chile, in the Los Lagos Region. It is separated from mainland Chile by the Chacao Channel in the north, the Sea of Chiloé in the east and the Gulf of Corcovado in the s ...

, all attracted by the sheep breeding industry. The city was formally founded under the government of

Ramón Barros Luco Ramón Barros Luco (; June 9, 1835 – September 20, 1919) was President of Chile between 1910 and 1915. Barros Luco was born in 1835 in Santiago, Barros Luco was son of Ramón Luis Barros Fernández and Dolores Luco Fernández de Leiva. He gra ...

on May 31, 1911. Nowadays, one of its most important industries is

tourism Tourism is travel for pleasure, and the Commerce, commercial activity of providing and supporting such travel. World Tourism Organization, UN Tourism defines tourism more generally, in terms which go "beyond the common perception of tourism as ...

although the cattle and aquaculture industries are also significant. While winds, colds and thin soils limit

horticulture Horticulture (from ) is the art and science of growing fruits, vegetables, flowers, trees, shrubs and ornamental plants. Horticulture is commonly associated with the more professional and technical aspects of plant cultivation on a smaller and mo ...

in Puerto Natales there is still a small-scale local produce of

zucchini Zucchini (; : ''zucchini'' or ''zucchinis''), courgette () or ''Cucurbita pepo'' is a summer squash, a Vine, vining herbaceous plant whose fruit are harvested when their immature seeds and Fruit anatomy#Epicarp, epicarp (rind) are still soft a ...

cherry tomato The cherry tomato is a type of small round tomato believed to be an intermediate genetic admixture between Solanum pimpinellifolium, wild currant-type tomatoes and domesticated garden tomatoes. Cherry tomatoes range in size from a thumbtip up ...

es,

strawberries The garden strawberry (or simply strawberry; ''Fragaria × ananassa'') is a widely grown hybrid plant cultivated worldwide for its fruit. The genus ''Fragaria'', the strawberries, is in the rose family, Rosaceae. The fruit is appreciated f ...

cucumber The cucumber (''Cucumis sativus'') is a widely-cultivated creeping vine plant in the family Cucurbitaceae that bears cylindrical to spherical fruits, which are used as culinary vegetables.carrot The carrot ('' Daucus carota'' subsp. ''sativus'') is a root vegetable, typically orange in colour, though heirloom variants including purple, black, red, white, and yellow cultivars exist, all of which are domesticated forms of the wild ...

History and current status

The province where Puerto Natales is located was named Última Esperanza (''Last Hope'') by the sailor Juan Ladrilleros, who was seeking the Strait of Magellan in the year 1557. It was his "last hope" to find the Strait after exploring the maze of channels between the waters of the Pacific and the mainland. It was not until three centuries later, in 1830, that another major expedition sailed through the fjords and channels of Última Esperanza: the British expedition of the sloop HMS ''Beagle''. Some of the expedition members such as

Robert FitzRoy Vice-Admiral Robert FitzRoy (5 July 1805 – 30 April 1865) was an English officer of the Royal Navy, politician and scientist who served as the second governor of New Zealand between 1843 and 1845. He achieved lasting fame as the captain of ...

, William Skyring and James Kirke as well as their senior officers are remembered by several place-names in the area. Commander Fitzroy was the captain during the Second voyage of HMS ''Beagle'' (1831–1836). In 1870, interest in the region of Ultima Esperanza was rekindled. Among the daring travelers who ventured to these desolate lands was Santiago Zamora, also known as 'Baqueano' Zamora. He discovered the lakes of the

Torres del Paine The Cordillera Paine is a mountain group in Torres del Paine National Park in Chilean Patagonia. The cordillera is located north of Punta Arenas, and about south of the Chilean capital Santiago. It belongs to the Commune of Torres del Paine ...

area and many wild horses are locally known as ''baguales''. Another was the English traveler and writer

Lady Florence Dixie Lady Florence Caroline Dixie (née Douglas; 24 May 18557 November 1905) was a Scottish writer, war correspondent, and feminist. Her account of travelling ''Across Patagonia'', her children's books ''The Young Castaways'' and ''Aniwee; or, The ...

, commemorated in the city's present-day ''Hotel Lady Florence Dixie''. Dixie wrote the book ''Across Patagonia'', where she relates the first tourist expedition to Torres del Paine (the three granite spires) which she named as Cleopatra's needles. The Singular Patagonia demo

Puerto Natales was founded in May 1911 as a port for the sheep industry. During the last half of the 20th century the sheep industry declined and many people from Puerto Natales started to work in the coal mines of Río Turbio in

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

. During the zenith of the sheep industry in Patagonia, two large "frigorificos" or cold-storage plants were constructed in the Natales area, of which one has survived. The plant at

Puerto Bories Puerto Bories, about 5 km from downtown Puerto Natales, was a small "company town" whose focus was a "frigorifico"—a sheep meat and wool processing plant belonging to the Sociedad Explotadora de Tierra del Fuego. In addition to the plant ...

, about 4 km NW from Puerto Natales, was a project of the Sociedad Explotadora de Tierra del Fuego. The Puerto Bories site was inaugurated in 1913 and was in production until 1993. The Cold-Storage Plant was constructed in "Post Victorian Industrial" architectural style and features of number of British machinery examples which reflect the technology of the beginning of the 20th century. The Cold-Storage Plant complex is part of the industrial history of the Puerto Natales area. A restoration project made by The Singular Hotels, was started on the complex in 2010 in order to transform the cold storage plant into a luxury hotel, called The Singular Patagonia. In 1919, a strike by the ''

Federación Obrera de Magallanes ''Federación Obrera de Magallanes'' ('Workers Federation of Magallanes', abbreviated FOM) was a trade union movement based in Punta Arenas, Chile, active between 1911 and the mid-1920s. FOM was targeted in a deadly arson attack in 1920. Establish ...

'' resulted in the workers taking control of the town. The strike was later suppressed by the government.

Tourism

;Torres del Paine National Park Puerto Natales has many tourist facilities, and it has become a common base for excursions to the world-renowned

, one of the most popular national parks in Chile. Its main feature, the mountainous “towers” ("torres"), are an impressive and unique rock formation known as "Torres del Paine". They comprise the Torre Central (Central Tower), 2,800 meters high; Torre Sur (South Tower) 2,850 m; and Torre Norte (North Tower) 2,248 m. Named a

Unesco The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

World Biosphere Reserve, the park is home to hundreds of different birds and many species of mammals, as well as the third-largest ice field on the planet. The national park is open all year round but best season to visit the park is from October to April, the southern hemisphere spring and summer. This season has more sunny days with less rain and more than 16 hours of daylight. ;Cueva del Milodón Natural Monument Twenty four kilometres (15 mi) northwest of Puerto Natales, along the flanks of the Cerro Benitez Mountains, lies the

Cueva del Milodón Natural Monument Cueva del Milodón Natural Monument is a Natural Monument located in the Chilean Patagonia, northwest of Puerto Natales and north of Punta Arenas. The monument is situated along the flanks of Cerro Benitez. It comprises several cave ...

.C. Michael Hogan, ''Cueva del Milodon'', Megalithic Portal, 13 April 200

It comprises several

cave Caves or caverns are natural voids under the Earth's Planetary surface, surface. Caves often form by the weathering of rock and often extend deep underground. Exogene caves are smaller openings that extend a relatively short distance undergrou ...

s and a rock formation called the ''Silla del Diablo'' (Devil's Chair). The main cave, used by prehistoric tribes, is notable for the discovery in 1895 of skin, bones and other parts of a giant

ground sloth Ground sloths are a diverse group of extinct sloths in the mammalian superorder Xenarthra. They varied widely in size with the largest, belonging to genera '' Lestodon'', ''Eremotherium'' and ''Megatherium'', being around the size of elephants. ...

known as the

Mylodon ''Mylodon'' is an extinct genus of ground sloth belonging to the family Mylodontidae, known from southern South America. With a total length of 3 to 4 m and a body mass of 1-2 tonnes, it is one of the largest mylodontids (though it was considerab ...

(''Mylodon darwini''), today extinct. The area includes the

Bernardo O'Higgins National Park Bernardo O'Higgins National Park () is the largest of the protected areas in Chile, covering an area of , in both the Aysén del General Carlos Ibáñez del Campo Region, Aysén and Magallanes and Antartica Chilena Region, Magallanes and Antárti ...

; and the Alacalufes National Reserve. The latter is the site of the

Fjord of the Mountains Fjord of the Mountains, also known as "Channel of the Mountains" (Spanish Canal de las Montañas), is located to the west of Puerto Natales, Chile and inside the boundaries of the Alacalufes National Reserve. It stretches 66 km from north to ...

Cordillera Riesco The Cordillera Riesco is a mountain range located in the Chilean Patagonia to the west of Puerto Natales. It extends in north–south direction on the eastern shore of the Fjord of the Mountains and parallel to the Cordillera Sarmiento. The rock t ...

and

Cordillera Sarmiento The Cordillera Sarmiento is a mountain range located in the Chilean Patagonia to the west of Puerto Natales named after Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa, who was a Spanish explorer who navigated the region's waterways between 1579 and 1580. It extends ...

. ;Nao Victoria Museum A museum in nearby

. The

Nao Victoria ''Victoria'' or Nao ''Victoria'' ( Spanish for "Victory") was a carrack famed as the first ship to successfully circumnavigate the world. ''Victoria'' was part of the Spanish expedition to the Moluccas (now Indonesia's Maluku Islands) comman ...

was one of the five ships (and the only one that survived) that sailed in the Spanish

Armada de Molucca The Magellan expedition, sometimes termed the MagellanElcano expedition, was a 16th-century Spanish expedition planned and led by Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan. One of the most important voyages in the Age of Discovery, its purpose wa ...

expedition which discovered the meeting point the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. A realistic, technically and historically accurate replica of the ship commemorates the expedition and allows visitors to experience the historic voyage. ; Navigate the fjords Companies offering boat trips through the Patagonian fjords depart from Puerto Natales Pier and take tourists to view the region’s many icebergs. ; Bike, horseback and kayak expeditions Bike trips around Torres del Paine National Park are a quiet way to admire the nature and the majestic sights. On horseback you can visit the characteristic farms that dot the countryside around Puerto Natales. Kayaks offer a quieter alternative to boat trips and are a perfect platform to admire the landscapes of the fjords from a different point of view. ;Facilities Today, there are dozens of camping sites, hostels, hotels, bed & breakfasts, restaurants and transportation services to fit a variety of budgets. ;How to get there There are daily LATAM flights from

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile (), is the capital and largest city of Chile and one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is located in the country's central valley and is the center of the Santiago Metropolitan Regi ...

, Chile’s capital city, to the

Presidente Carlos Ibáñez del Campo International Airport Presidente Carlos Ibáñez International Airport () is an airport serving the city of Punta Arenas in southern Chile in the Patagonia region of South America. The airport is shared with the Chilean Air Force The Chilean Air Force () is the air ...

. The smaller

Sky Airline Sky Airline, styled as SꓘY, is an airline based at Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport in Santiago, Chile. It is the second largest airline in the country behind flag-carrier LATAM Airlines and the first airline to operate under a lo ...

offers direct flights to the

Teniente Julio Gallardo Airport Teniente Julio Gallardo Airport (), is an airport serving Puerto Natales, a city in the Magallanes Region of Chile. The airport is north-northwest of Puerto Natales, which is on the Admiral Montt Gulf (es), a long fjord that reaches inland clo ...

near Puerto Natales three times a week. Overland, Puerto Natales is from

, from

and from

Coyhaique Coyhaique (), also spelled Coihaique in Patagonia, is the Capital (political), capital List of cities in Chile, city of both the Coyhaique Province and the Aysén Region of Chile. Founded by settlers in 1929, it is a young city. Until the twentiet ...

Demographics

Parroquia Maria Auxiliadora Puerto Natales

According to the 2002

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

carried out by the Chilean National Statistics Institute, the Natales commune has a population of 19,116 inhabitants (10,068 men and 9,048 women). Of these, 16,978 (88.8%) lived in the city’s

urban area An urban area is a human settlement with a high population density and an infrastructure of built environment. Urban areas originate through urbanization, and researchers categorize them as cities, towns, conurbations or suburbs. In urbani ...

and 2,138 (11.2%) in

rural area In general, a rural area or a countryside is a geographic area that is located outside towns and cities. Typical rural areas have a low population density and small settlements. Agricultural areas and areas with forestry are typically desc ...

s. The population grew by 10.7% (1,841 persons) between the 1992 and 2002 censuses. The commune comprises 96.3% of the provinces’s total population of 19,855. Its population density is only .

Geography

Puerto Natales is situated along the shore of Última Esperanza Sound and has views northward into the Cerro Benitez peaks of the

Cerro Toro Cerro Toro is a Cretaceous landform of the Magallanes Foreland in the Patagonian region of southeastern Chile. The Cerro Toro is an element of the southern Andes and a product of the Andean orogeny, caused by the subduction of the Nazca Plate be ...

formation within the

Cordillera Manuel Señoret A cordillera is a chain or network of mountain ranges, such as those in the west coast of the Americas. The term is borrowed from Spanish, where the word comes from , a diminutive of ('rope'). The term is most commonly used in physical geograp ...

. The city of Puerto Natales exists within the larger Natales commune, one of eleven communes in the Magallanes Region. Since the entire province of Última Esperanza () is divided into only two communes, the result is a rather large but sparsely populated area for the Natales commune. The commune's area is , which renders it one of the largest communes in Chile, larger than seven regions of the country. Its altitude is .

Climate

Puerto Natales has an

oceanic climate An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate or maritime climate, is the temperate climate sub-type in Köppen climate classification, Köppen classification represented as ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of co ...

(Köppen: ''Cfb/Cfc''), with cool, short summers, and chilly, wet winters. It is the city with most rainy days per year in Chile, averaging 161.

Note

Administration

The city of Puerto Natales is the capital of the Natales commune and the Última Esperanza Province. As a commune, Natales is a third-level

administrative division of Chile The administrative division or territorial organization of Chile exemplifies characteristics of a unitary state. State administration is functionally and geographically decentralized, as appropriate for each authority in accordance with the law ...

administered by a

municipal council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, borough cou ...

, headed by an

alcalde ''Alcalde'' (; ) is the traditional Spanish municipal magistrate, who had both judicial and Administration (government), administrative functions. An ''alcalde'' was, in the absence of a corregidor (position), corregidor, the presiding officer o ...

who is directly elected every four years. The 2016-2020 alcalde is Fernando Paredes Mansilla (

UDI Udi may refer to: Places * Udi, Enugu, a local government areas and city in Nigeria * Udi Hills, Enugu State, Nigeria * Udi, a place in the Etawah district of Uttar Pradesh, India People Given name * Udi Aloni (born 1959), Israeli-American film ...

), and the councilors are: * Ana Mayorga Bahamonde (UDI) * Veronica Pérez Magdalena (IND-UDI) * Daniel Cordova Cordova (IND-UDI) * Alfredo Alderete Flores (IND-Nueva Mayoría) * José Cuyul Rogel (PS) * Guillermo Ruiz Santana (PS) Within the

electoral divisions of Chile This article covers the electoral division of Chile, which involves two distinct systems: # Chamber of Deputies of Chile, Chamber of Deputies and Senate of Chile, Senate: Chile is divided into electoral districts and senatorial constituencies for ...

, Puerto Natales is represented in the

Chamber of Deputies The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures. Description Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourb ...

by Carolina Goic (PDC) and Miodrag Marinovic ( Ind.) as part of the 60th electoral district, which includes the entire Magallanes and Antartica Chilena Region. The commune is represented in the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

by Carlos Bianchi Chelech (Ind.) and Pedro Muñoz Aburto (PS) as part of the 19th senatorial constituency (Magallanes Region).

Gallery

File:PtoNatales(Chile).jpg,

Flamingo Flamingos or flamingoes () are a type of wading bird in the family Phoenicopteridae, which is the only extant family in the order Phoenicopteriformes. There are four flamingo species distributed throughout the Americas (including the Caribbe ...

s in Puerto Natales File:Homes of Puerto Natales (5464057776).jpg, Typical houses in Puerto Natales File:Muelle - Puerto Natales.JPG, A pier File:Vista de Puerto Natales.JPG, A view of the city File:Placa a Juan Ladrillero 1.jpg, Monument to explorer

in Puerto Natales

Notes

External links

Panoramic virtual tour of Última Esperanza Sound from Puerto Natales

Puerto Natales at Join Chile

Puerto Natales at the Tourist Board of Chile
{{Communes in Magallanes Region Última Esperanza Province Port cities in Chile Capitals of Chilean provinces Populated places established in 1911 Populated places in Última Esperanza Province Populated places in the fjords and channels of Chile