The East Patagonia, Tierra del Fuego and Strait of Magellan Dispute or the Patagonia Question was the boundary dispute between Argentina and Chile during the 19th century for the possession of the southernmost territories of South America on the basis of disagreements over the boundaries corresponding to the uti possidetis juris inherited from the Spanish Empire, which were partly due to contradictory background information.
The extensive territory corresponds to approximately one million square kilometres, which represents 45% of the current surface of Argentina, all of the center and south of that country, and which, according to Chilean historiography, would have implied a loss for Chile of two-thirds of its nominal territory de jure.
Both countries started effectively occupying different parts of the disputed land, Chile the Strait of Magellan and its nearby territory in the Santa Cruz River as well as the Neuquén Valley, and Argentina the Pampas land as well with Chubut settled with Welsh people. Both countries also started having discussions of the legal title of each country on the land inherited from the Spanish Empire, which motivated the signing of the 1856 treaty between both countries that affirmed that both countries were committed to apply the uti possidetis juris on the border; something which they both disagreed on was which territories had been inherited by each of the two nations.
The decade of 1870 saw an intensification of the dispute in the southern part of Patagonia, which saw settlements from both countries in between of each other. The dispute was ended with the Boundary Treaty of 1881 between both countries which divided the territory. At the time of the signing, Chile had already triumphed at the Battle of Miraflores against Peru in the War of the Pacific (1879–1885), demonstrating its position of power; Argentina also started the Conquest of the Desert in 1878, intensifying it when Chile was in the war, occupying several parts of Patagonia.
Background Of occupation by the Spanish Empire Strait of Magellan and surrounding territories
During the 16th-century Spanish explorers and conquerors attempt to found settlements in the Strait of Magellan, Pedro de Valdivia proposed the extension of the governorship of Chile to the strait, which was granted, and prior to this, he continued his expeditions in a southerly direction to found a settlement in the place, something that did not materialize when he encountered the araucanos.
In addition, other Spaniards during that century founded settlements in Primera Angostura, Ciudad Nombre de Jesús and Ciudad del Rey Don Felipe, later known as the port of Hunger due to the death of its inhabitants from food shortages, having planted seeds in the opposite seasons (not knowing that of the southern hemisphere).
During the 16th century the Captaincy General of Chile sought to implement a policy of southern territorial integration to connect Santiago to the Strait of Magellan. There was agreement on the "road to the Strait" project and the policy of founding towns in the south, in addition to the construction of roads for the structuring of the kingdom (Santiago-Concepción, Concepción-Valdivia, Castro-Ancud, Castro-Nahuelhuapi, Chiloé-Valdivia).
Expedition of Juan Ladrillero
The Viceroy of Peru, Andrés Hurtado de Mendoza, aware of Juan Ladrillero's seafaring skills and expertise, and although he was already of advanced age, chose him to accompany his son García Hurtado de Mendoza who would leave for the Kingdom of Chile as governor, and who had as one of his tasks to recognize the western mouth of the Strait of Magellan, which had been ordered by a Royal Decree. The squadron composed of three ships and a galleon set sail from El Callao on February 2, 1557, arrived at Coquimbo and continued its navigation towards the south in demand of Quiriquina Island and then headed to Valdivia to enlist the ships with which it would carry out the reconnaissance of the Strait. Two ships of 50 barrels each and manned by 60 men were enlisted. The ship San Luis was commanded by Juan Ladrillero himself and the other, the San Sebastián, was placed under the command of Francisco Cortés Ojea. It left the city of Valdivia, on Wednesday, November 17, 1557, with Juan Ladrillero as captain and assisted by Captain Francisco Cortés Ojea.Anales Hidrográficos de la Armada de Chile, año vi, 1880
He armed two ships of 450 barrels each and manned by 60 men. Ladrillero took command of the San Luis with Hernán Gallego as pilot and Cortés Ojea commanded the San Sebastián with Pedro Gallego as pilot. They sailed from Valdivia on November 17, 1557, calling at the Golfo de Penas, to which he named the Alcachofado inlet, they entered the Patagonian channels through the Fallos channel, at the exit of which the ships separated and did not meet again.
Cortés Ojea sailed for two months the existing channels between Wellington Island and the Strait of Magellan, in the Golfo Trinidad he dismantled the San Sebastián and with its remains built a small brigantine which he christened San Salvador returning to the north and anchoring in Valdivia on October 1, 1558.
Ladrillero entered the channels through the West Channel He returned to the north through the Wide Channel, the Indian Pass and the English Narrows, and when he reached the Gulf of Penas, he returned south again via the Pacific Ocean.
He reconnoitered the southern coast of Concepción Channel and entered the channels through Nelson Strait and discovered the region of Última Esperanza, navigated the Kirke Channel and explored Obstruction Seno, initially believing that he had reached the Strait of Magellan.
He returned to the Pacific looking for the entrance to the Strait, but this time he continued south, recognizing the Desolación Island, he entered the Strait navigating surely the Abra Channel. At Cape Possession, where he arrived on August 9, 1558, he performed the ceremony of taking possession of it. After exploring the eastern mouth, it returned to the north, enduring all kinds of calamities, lack of food and death of its crew members, managing to land in the Bahía de Concepción where it anchored with only the captain, a sailor and a black servant, who died a few days later, except Ladrillero who died in mid-1574.
Nahuelhuapi Province and explorations in the interior of Eastern Patagonia
During the Hispanic period there were numerous expeditions to the Magellanic lands as part of the jurisdiction of the Kingdom of Chile, crossing the mountain ranges of Valdivia and Chiloé seeking the subjugation and evangelization of the Puelche, Poyas and Tehuelche Indians of Eastern Patagonia and the search for the mythical City of the Caesars. Thanks to the missionaries Nicolás Mascardi, Van der Meeren (Laguna), Zúñiga, Guglielmo and Elguea, the Todos los Santos Lake, the Vuriloche Pass and the Nahuelhuapi Lake, where there was a Catholic temple, were discovered. Father Mascardi spent four years as a missionary among the indigenous people of the area, who were not only Poyas, but also Pehuenches and Puelches. At that time, the process of Araucanization of these peoples had not yet begun.
During those years he undertook three explorations to the south and east, in search of the City of the Caesars. There is not much data on the regions he would have visited. The most optimistic authors consider him to have reached the Santa Cruz River or Puerto San Julián, passing through Musters Lake. Other authors, more moderate, suppose that he would have explored only certain places in the northwest of the current province of Chubut. In all these explorations he was accompanied by native guides. But, once he tried to return briefly to Old Chile, the guides refused to lead him to that destination, so as not to be deprived of his presence.
The last of his explorations was carried out in 1673, up to the vicinity of a lake that has not been specified. In that place, perhaps in the month of September, he was attacked by a rival Tehuelche partiality of the Poyas, and killed by blows of boleadora and arrows. The guides who accompanied him managed to bury him and fled; to return two years later, guiding Spanish explorers who rescued his corpse and some religious ornaments.
The Captaincy General of Chile continued sending expeditions to the area, even after the death of Mascardi in the area of the Deseado River. Legally, the area around Nahuelhuapi was considered part of the Kingdom of Chile and was considered part of the section of the future road to the Strait of Magellan.
The Franciscan missionary Fray Francisco Menéndez, in 1783 explored the mountain range of the province of Chiloé, and from 1791 made trips to the Nahuelhuapi province, continuing with the missions started by the Jesuits in the previous century.
In addition, the construction of the Castro-Nahuelhuapi road was contemplated from the Kingdom of Chile.
Atlantic coast of Patagonia
In 1768, Captain General Ambrosio O'Higgins, sent a letter to the Council of the Indies urgently requesting authorization to found settlements on the Patagonian Atlantic coast to take possession of the area and prevent foreign nations such as Great Britain from advancing, textually "attending to the internal defense of the Kingdom".
The following year the letter was presented at an extraordinary meeting of the Council of the Indies in Madrid in which the attorney general expressed:
The recommendations of Ambrosio O'Higgins on the foundation of establishments in Atlantic Patagonia were listened to and put into practice by King Charles III of Spain, who ordered the viceroys of Buenos Aires, from 1778 onwards, the foundation of these on the said coasts. According to Chilean historiography, these settlements were depending accidentally on the viceroyalty due to reasons of proximity, without this altering the political jurisdiction of the Atlantic Patagonian coast, making it explicit as part of the kingdom of Chile in the royal order of June 8, 1778. According to Argentine historiography, the settlements remained permanently dependent on the Viceroyalty because they were within its jurisdiction.
In the instructions for establishing forts and settlements on the coast that runs from the Río de la Plata to the Strait of Magellan, dated June 8, 1778, signed by the Universal Minister of the Indies, José de Gálvez, and which accompanied the Royal Order of March 24, 1778, it is stated that:
To alter altering this jurisdiction, the sovereign created a new job for those who would direct the new settlements, that of commissioner-superintendent, reserving for himself the power to appoint them and not to the viceroys.
Parliaments with the indigenous people of the region
In addition Ambrosio O'Higgins sought the incorporation of the Indians pampas, present in Eastern Patagonia who participated in the parliaments held between 1771 and 1793 and convened by Ambrosio and later ones such as the Parliament of Negrete of 1803 held with the "Indians of Chile" and which reaffirms the prohibition of incursions on the Pampa south of Buenos Aires, where these mentioned indigenous tribes inhabited.
In 1793, Governor O'Higgins, held the Parliament of Negrete in which he sought to parley with indigenous tribes on both sides of the Andes, including the Patagonian pampas, considering them part of the kingdom. Ambrosio proposed to build a road between the southern part of old Chile and Buenos Aires to promote trade between these domains and also to further incorporate the Pampas Indians.
Territories east of the mountain range in the Talca area In 1736, the intendant of Concepción, on behalf of the judge of vacant lands of the audience of Santiago, ordered the judges of the party of Maule, to put in possession to a Mr. Jiron, of some colts located in the eastern foothills of the Andes, bordering the province of Talca.
Legal 16th Century