Fuerte Bulnes

Fuerte Bulnes is a Chilean fort located by the Strait of Magellan, 62 km south of Punta Arenas. It was founded in 1843 on a rocky hill at Punta Santa Ana, and named after President Manuel Bulnes Prieto.

The fort was built to further the president's colonization policies in Southern Chile and protect the Strait of Magellan. He directed construction to ward off claims by other nations. Chiloé's intendant (governor), Domingo Espiñeira Riesco, ordered construction of a schooner to sail to that location. He originally commissioned it in the president's name, but Bulnes had the ship renamed Ancud, for where it was built.

She sailed from Ancud on May 22, 1843, under command of John Williams Wilson, a British-born Chilean Navy officer. Ancud arrived at Punta Santa Ana on September 21, 1843, about 2 km from Puerto del Hambre. Williams directed the construction of a fort here, using mainly logs and dirt and grass 'bricks'.

Text adapted from “Fuerte Bulnes” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Fuerte Bulnes ranks #2,454 of 3,691 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #2 of the 2 mapped in Chile. Founded 1843, it is older than 10% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 221 atlas entries founded in the 19th century. See how Chile compares in the castle statistics.

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Read the full history on Wikipedia ↗