Abrazo de Maipú is a refuge located on the

Trinity Peninsula Trinity Peninsula is the northernmost part of the Antarctic Peninsula. It extends northeastward for about 130 km (80 mi) to Cape Dubouzet from an imaginary line connecting Cape Kater on the north-west coast and Cape Longing on the sou ...

of the

Antarctic Peninsula The Antarctic Peninsula, known as O'Higgins Land in Chile and Tierra de San Martin in Argentina, and originally as Graham Land in the United Kingdom and the Palmer Peninsula in the United States, is the northernmost part of mainland Antarctica. ...

. It was built for the first time on September 7, 1967, by Argentina and subsequently destroyed. The refuge, rebuilt in July 2003, is a

container A container is any receptacle or enclosure for holding a product used in storage, packaging, and transportation, including shipping. Things kept inside of a container are protected on several sides by being inside of its structure. The term ...

fitted with kitchen, bathroom and bedrooms, accommodating 8. Its aim was to guarantee and facilitate rescue, scientific and patrolling activities carried out jointly by the personnel of O'Higgins Base and

Esperanza Base Esperanza Base (, 'Hope Base') is a permanent, all-year-round Argentine research station in Hope Bay, Trinity Peninsula (in Graham Land on the Antarctic Peninsula). It is the only civilian settlement on the Antarctic mainland (the Chilean Vil ...

. It was managed jointly by the

Chilean Army The Chilean Army () is the land arm of the Chilean Armed Forces. This 80,000-person army (9,200 of which are conscripts) is organized into six divisions, an army aviation brigade and a special operations brigade. In recent years, and after sever ...

and the

Argentine Army The Argentine Army () is the Army, land force branch of the Armed Forces of the Argentine Republic and the senior military service of Argentina. Under the Argentine Constitution, the president of Argentina is the commander-in-chief of the Armed For ...

. Its name, which means "the Maipú embrace", commemorates a meeting in which Argentine general

José de San Martín José Francisco de San Martín y Matorras (; 25 February 177817 August 1850), nicknamed "the Liberator of Argentina, Chile and Peru", was an Argentine general and the primary leader of the southern and central parts of South America's succe ...

and Chilean general

Bernardo O'Higgins Bernardo O'Higgins Riquelme (; 20 August 1778 – 24 October 1842) was a Chilean independence leader who freed Chile from Spanish rule in the Chilean War of Independence. He was a wealthy landowner of Basque people, Basque-Spanish people, Spani ...

embraced in 1818 after winning the

Battle of Maipú The Battle of Maipú () was fought near Santiago, Chile on 5 April 1818, between South American rebels and Spanish royalists, during the Chilean War of Independence. The Patriot rebels led by Argentine general José de San Martín effectively de ...

, a key event in the

independence of Chile The Chilean War of Independence ( Spanish: ''Guerra de la Independencia de Chile'', 'War of Independence of Chile') was a military and political event that allowed the emancipation of Chile from the Spanish Monarchy, ending the colonial period ...

. On September 28, 2005 three Chilean soldiers died falling into a crevasse. They were moved from the Abrazo de Maipú refuge to the O'Higgins Base. The Refuge was closed in 2010.

References

External links

Dirección Nacional del Antártico

Official website Instituto Antártico Chileno
Outposts of Antarctica Chilean Antarctic Territory Argentine Antarctica {{Antarctica-geo-stub

See also

References

External links