Punta Arenas Port

The city centre features the impressive mansions of the sheep barons of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the Palacio Sara Braun and several good museums. Nearby is Fuerte Bulnes is a replica of a wooden fort from 1843 and the Monumento Natural Los Pinguinos on Isla Magdalena where you will find a colony of 60,000 Magellanic penguins.Founded in 1848, Punta Arenas was originally a military garrison and penal settlement. It provided a convenient location for shipping en route to California during the Gold Rush. In the early years, the economy depended on wild animal products but the successful introduction of purebred sheep from the Falkland Islands changed the economy and by the turn of the century, there were nearly two million animals in the territory.