Punta Arenas Guide: Map, Things to Do & Local Shops

Name	Its story	People
Main Square	The city's heart, with Magellan in bronze	Ferdinand Magellan, Benjamín Muñoz Gamero, Miguel José Cambiaso, Óscar Viel Toro, José Menéndez, Adrien de Gerlache, Ernest Shackleton
Cathedral	A tower you can see from the Strait	José Fagnano
Sara Braun Palace	A piece of Paris in Patagonia	José Nogueira, Sara Braun
Regional Museum	A wool palace, closed for restoration	José Menéndez, María Behety, Mauricio Braun, Josefina Menéndez Behety
Naval Museum	Charts, ships and Antarctic ice	Ernest Shackleton, Luis Pardo Villalón
Municipal Theatre	An 1899 theatre named for a film pioneer	José Menéndez, José Bohr
Costanera	Walk with the Strait beside you	Luis Pardo Villalón
Prat Pier	The door to Antarctica
Cerro de la Cruz	The best view of the city
Schooner Ancud	The ship that came to claim the Strait	John Williams Wilson, Bernhard Eunom Philippi
Croatian Quarter	The mark of the Croatian immigrants
Salesian Museum	One of Chile's oldest museums	José Fagnano, Maggiorino Borgatello
Cemetery	Cypresses, mausoleums and legends	José Menéndez, Sara Braun, Alexander MacLennan, Antonio Soto Canalejo
Shepherd Monument	Twelve figures against the pampa wind
Zona Franca	Duty-free shopping since 1977
Tres Puentes Wetland	Around a hundred bird species, in town
Nao Victoria	Board the ships that changed history	Ferdinand Magellan, John Williams Wilson, Ernest Shackleton
Magallanes Reserve	The forest that guards the city's water

Name	Who they were	Places
Mulato (Chumjaluwün)d. 1905	Last great Aónikenk chief; lost his land on the Zurdo in 1905
Papón	Aónikenk chief made 'Subdelegate of Patagonia' by the Chilean governor

Name	Who they were	Places
Ferdinand Magellan~1480–1521	Portuguese navigator who sailed through the Strait in 1520	Main Square, Nao Victoria
Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa~1532–1592	Founded Rey Don Felipe in 1584, the town that became Port Famine
John Williams Wilson1798–1857	Captain of the schooner Ancud; claimed the Strait for Chile in 1843	Schooner Ancud, Nao Victoria

Name	Who they were	Places
José de los Santos Mardones~1786–1864	Governor who moved the colony from Fuerte Bulnes and founded Punta Arenas	Mardones Pier
Bernhard Eunom Philippi1811–1852	Naturalist on the Ancud, then a governor who vanished in 1852	Schooner Ancud
Benjamín Muñoz Gamero1817–1851	Naval officer and governor shot in the 1851 mutiny; the main square is his	Main Square
Miguel José Cambiaso~1823–1852	The lieutenant whose 1851 mutiny left Punta Arenas in ashes	Main Square
Óscar Viel Toro~1837–1892	Governor who opened the colony to trade and immigrants (1867–1874)	Main Square
Diego Dublé Almeyda1840–1921	Governor who brought the first Falklands sheep and faced the 1877 mutiny

Name	Who they were	Places
José Fagnano1844–1916	Salesian prefect who founded the Dawson Island mission	Cathedral, Salesian Museum
Henry Reynard1845–1919	The Englishman who raised the Strait's first sheep, on Isabel Island (1877)
José Nogueira~1845–1893	Portuguese sealer who made Magallanes's first great fortune	Sara Braun Palace
José Menéndez1846–1918	The "King of Patagonia", a rancher tied to the Selk'nam killings	Cemetery, Municipal Theatre, Main Square, Regional Museum
María Behety1848–1908	José Menéndez's wife, wounded in the mutiny of 1877	Regional Museum
Maggiorino Borgatello1857–1929	Salesian parish priest who started the museum that bears his name	Salesian Museum
Sara Braun1862–1955	The widow who ran the biggest fortune in Patagonia	Sara Braun Palace, Cemetery
Mauricio Braun1865–1953	Wool and trade magnate whose house is now the Regional Museum	Regional Museum
Adrien de Gerlache1866–1934	Leader of the Belgica, the first expedition to winter in the Antarctic	Main Square
Alexander MacLennan1871–1917	"Chancho Colorado", Menéndez's foreman accused of Selk'nam massacres	Cemetery
Josefina Menéndez Behety1874–1955	Menéndez's daughter, Braun's wife; their house is now the Regional Museum	Regional Museum

Name	Who they were	Places
Ernest Shackleton1874–1922	Polar explorer who ran the rescue of his men from here in 1916	Naval Museum, Nao Victoria, Main Square
Luis Pardo Villalón1882–1935	Navy pilot who rescued Shackleton's men in 1916	Costanera, Naval Museum
Gabriela Mistral1889–1957	Nobel poet who ran the Punta Arenas girls' school, 1918–1920
Antonio Soto Canalejo1897–1963	Leader of the Patagonia Rebelde strikes, who lived and died in Punta Arenas	Cemetery
José Bohr1901–1994	Filmmaker and songwriter who grew up here and wrote the city's hymn	Municipal Theatre
Francisco Coloane1910–2002	Chiloé-born writer who told the far south from its ranches and seas
Mateo Martinicb. 1931	Historian of Magallanes, Chile's National History Prize 2000

Main Square

The city's heart, with Magellan in bronze

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Welcome to Muñoz Gamero Square, the heart of Punta Arenas. It bears the name of the governor who made the first sketch of the town in 1851, and was killed in a mutiny that same year. Today the wool barons' palaces ring it. In the middle, since 1920, stands Ferdinand Magellan, raised for the Strait's four hundredth anniversary and paid for by a bequest from the wool baron José Menéndez. At his feet sit bronze figures of the region's first peoples. One has a shining toe: touch it or kiss it, the custom says, and you will come back. It is folklore, but almost nobody resists.

Source: Wikipedia en español, «Plaza Muñoz Gamero». · Consejo de Monumentos Nacionales de Chile, ficha «Hernando de Magallanes». · Royal Museums Greenwich, collections object 1158838 (photograph of the Magellan monument, Punta Arenas). · Universidad de Chile, Antología «Geografía del mito y la leyenda chilenos» (entry on the toe of the indio on the Magellan monument). · El Pingüino, «Beso a la pata del indio: un mito urbano de Punta Arenas famoso en todo el mundo», 14 de febrero de 2016.

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Cathedral

A tower you can see from the Strait

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On a corner of the square stands the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart. The church that stood here before burned down in 1892, just four months after it opened. On the 28th of December that year, work began on this one, in brick, to plans by the Salesian priest Juan Bernabé. There was no kiln in town, so the bricks were made by hand. It opened in 1901, and only became a cathedral in 1947. Its clock has kept time since 1899, and inside, the columns are lenga tree trunks crowned with Corinthian capitals.

Source: Wikipedia en español, «Catedral de Punta Arenas». · Iglesia de Magallanes (Diócesis de Punta Arenas), «120 años de la inauguración de la Iglesia Matriz, la Catedral de Punta Arenas». · Wikipedia in English, «Sacred Heart Cathedral, Punta Arenas». · El Pingüino, «En historias para ver: Catedral de Punta Arenas».

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Sara Braun Palace

A piece of Paris in Patagonia

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This palace, with its steep French roof, looks as if it came from Paris, and in a way it did: the French architect Numa Mayer designed it. Sara Braun came to Punta Arenas as a child, with her Jewish family from Courland, in today's Latvia. She married the Portuguese businessman José Nogueira, rich from shipping, sealing and sheep. He died of tuberculosis in 1893, and two years later the young widow began this house. She ran his businesses and grew the fortune, built on land taken from the Selk'nam. A Historic Monument since 1981, today it holds a hotel and the Club de la Unión.

Source: Wikipedia en español, «Palacio Sara Braun». · Memoria Chilena (Biblioteca Nacional de Chile), «Sara Braun Hamburguer (1862-1955)». · Wikipedia in English, «Sara Braun». · Memoria Chilena (Biblioteca Nacional de Chile), «Sociedad Explotadora de Tierra del Fuego». · Alberto Harambour, article in Cuadernos de Historia (Universidad de Chile), 2018, on sheep-farming colonisation of Selk'nam territory.

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Regional Museum

A wool palace, closed for restoration

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You are at the Braun Menéndez palace, home of Mauricio Braun and Josefina Menéndez, from two families who grew rich on wool and ships, on lands that had been home to the Selk'nam. French architect Antoine Beaulier designed it, and it went up between 1903 and 1906. Today it is the Magallanes Regional Museum, but it has been closed for restoration since June 2023: water got in through the roof, and its tens of thousands of objects are packed away. From the pavement, take in the neoclassical facade and the giant trees that now tower over the house.

Source: Museo Regional de Magallanes, «Visitas al museo suspendidas» (a partir del 1 de junio de 2023). · Zona Zero, «Museo Regional de Magallanes abrirá sus puertas recién en el 2029 y completará seis años cerrado», julio de 2025. · Servicio Nacional del Patrimonio Cultural, «Braun-Menéndez Family Mansion: icon of a golden age» (Magallanes Regional Museum). · Servicio Nacional del Patrimonio Cultural, «Museo Regional de Magallanes del Serpat cumple 56 años», diciembre de 2025. · El Pingüino, «Museo Regional de Magallanes prepara licitación para reparar techumbre y avanza en embalaje de 65 mil piezas», 24 de agosto de 2026. · Wikipedia en español, «Museo Regional de Magallanes».

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Naval Museum

Charts, ships and Antarctic ice

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You are at the Naval and Maritime Museum on Pedro Montt street, in the old Naval Command headquarters, built between 1908 and 1910. With sea charts, ship models and instruments, the Chilean Navy tells the story of the Strait, its lighthouses and its Antarctic voyages. Its great story: in August 1916 the little tug Yelcho, under pilot Luis Pardo, sailed from this port and rescued Shackleton's twenty-two men from Elephant Island. For centuries the Strait was the sheltered doorway between two oceans.

Source: Registro de Museos de Chile, «Museo Naval y Marítimo de Punta Arenas». · Interpatagonia, «Naval and Maritime Museum», Punta Arenas. · Armada de Chile, «98° aniversario de la gran hazaña del Piloto Pardo», 2014. · Wikipedia in English, «Luis Pardo».

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Municipal Theatre

An 1899 theatre named for a film pioneer

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You are at the José Bohr Municipal Theatre, on Magallanes street. It opened in 1899, built for José Menéndez, one of the great wool pioneers, and the city took it over in 1905. It carries the name of José Bohr, a songwriter and film pioneer who started out playing piano for silent films in Punta Arenas, wrote the city's hymn and went on to make films abroad. It closed in 2009 and reopened, restored, in 2012. If there is a show tonight, go in: few things are as warm as a full theatre on a windy night.

Source: BioBioChile, «Histórico teatro regional de Punta Arenas reabrió sus puertas», 13 de septiembre de 2012. · Radio Polar, «El Teatro Municipal José Bohr, candidato a tesoro cultural de Punta Arenas», 2018. · Memoria Chilena (Biblioteca Nacional de Chile), «José Bohr (1901-1994)». · Andreas Praefcke, Carthalia – Theatres on Postcards, «Punta Arenas: Teatro Municipal».

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Costanera

Walk with the Strait beside you

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You are on the Costanera, the city's great seaside promenade, opened in December 2010 on the town's birthday. Here the wind is in charge. Those black posts in front of you are what is left of the Loreto pier. In the early 1900s, a little steam railway brought coal down to it from the Loreto mine, eight and a half kilometres up the valley, and steamers refuelled here, even ships bound for Antarctica. The pier worked until the mid-1940s, and in 1947 the track was pulled up. Today the posts belong to the cormorants.

Source: Wikipedia en español, «Ferrocarril de Punta Arenas a Mina Loreto». · Instituto Antártico Chileno (INACH), «Circuito centro de Punta Arenas» (guía del circuito antártico), 2013. · La Prensa Austral, «Empresa Portuaria Austral y el patrimonio histórico regional», 21 de octubre de 2020 (cita a Mateo Martinic, Ingenieros e ingeniería en Magallanes, 2009). · El Pingüino, «Av. Costanera: la obra frente al Estrecho», 18 de diciembre de 2015. · Radio Polar, «Avenida Costanera del Estrecho será inaugurada oficialmente para el día del aniversario de Punta Arenas», 11 de diciembre de 2010.

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Prat Pier

The door to Antarctica

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You are at the Arturo Prat Pier, the town's door to Antarctica. For more than a century, polar expeditions have come and gone through this waterfront. Work on the pier began in 1920, and in 1948 President Gabriel González Videla came back to this shore from Antarctica: the first head of state anywhere to set foot there. Antarctic ships still take on supplies here before heading south. And since the end of 2025, cruise ships up to three hundred metres long can tie up right alongside.

Source: Instituto Antártico Chileno (INACH), «Circuito centro de Punta Arenas» (guía del circuito antártico), 2013. · La Prensa Austral, «Empresa Portuaria Austral y el patrimonio histórico regional», 21 de octubre de 2020 (cita a Mateo Martinic, Ingenieros e ingeniería en Magallanes, 2009). · El Mostrador, «Hace 72 años un presidente chileno fue el primer mandatario en el mundo en visitar la Antártica», 18 de febrero de 2020. · Wikipedia in English, «Chilean Antarctic Expedition». · Ovejero Noticias, «Del Muelle Prat al Mardones: la evolución del puerto que impulsó el desarrollo de Punta Arenas», julio de 2026. · El Mostrador, «Hito portuario en Punta Arenas: crucero de 285 metros estrena nueva capacidad del Muelle Prat», 5 de enero de 2026.

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Cerro de la Cruz

The best view of the city

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Climb to the Cerro de la Cruz lookout and catch your breath over the whole city. This was once the edge of town, the Hill of Sowings, where settlers are said to have grown oats and potatoes. In 1877 the garrison's artillerymen mutinied, people were killed, the young town burned, and hundreds hid in these hills. In 1881 a wooden cross went up here, and in 1897 the Salesian Maggiorino Borgatello blessed it: hence the name. Below you, coloured roofs tumble down to the Strait, and on a clear day Tierra del Fuego rises across the water.

Source: Wikipedia en español, «Punta Arenas». · La Prensa Austral, «Cerro de la Cruz: el barrio que mira hacia el Estrecho», 27 de junio de 2022. · Sky Airline blog, «Todo lo que debes saber sobre el Cerro de La Cruz». · El Pingüino, «Cerro de la Cruz: el panóptico de Punta Arenas».

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Schooner Ancud

The ship that came to claim the Strait

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You are facing the schooner Ancud, her bow bursting out of the rock. She was built in 1843 on Chiloé to carry the Chilean expedition that would take possession of the Strait of Magellan. They set out in midwinter and, four months later, on the 21st of September 1843, raised the Chilean flag south of here. The next day a French warship, the Phaéton, sailed in. In Chile the story goes: we got here first, by one day. They founded Fuerte Bulnes, and in 1848 the colony moved here: that is how Punta Arenas was born. Look at the crew, braced on deck.

Source: Wikipedia en español, «Goleta Ancud». · Memoria Chilena (Biblioteca Nacional de Chile), «Goleta Ancud». · Emol, nota sobre la goleta Ancud y la soberanía chilena en Magallanes (183.º aniversario de la toma de posesión), 21 de septiembre de 2026. · Wikipedia en español, «Punta Arenas».

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Croatian Quarter

The mark of the Croatian immigrants

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You are in the Croatian Quarter, a few blocks back from the Strait, north of the Río de las Minas. Most Croatians in Magallanes came from one island, Brač, in Dalmatia. Phylloxera was killing its vines, young men were fleeing long service in the Austro-Hungarian army, and from here came news of gold on Tierra del Fuego and the islands to its south. By 1907 there were more than seventeen hundred. Many settled here as bakers, carpenters, boat builders and masons; nearby Calle Croacia was once Calle Progreso. Their surnames are still all over the city.

Source: Consejo de Monumentos Nacionales de Chile, ficha «Inmigrantes Croatas». · Gobierno de Chile, Embajada en Croacia, «El embajador Cristián Streeter realizó visita a la isla de Brač, cuna de…», 2021. · Memoria Chilena (Biblioteca Nacional de Chile), «Inmigración croata en Chile (1864-1930)». · Visitando Punta Arenas, «Barrio Croata». · barriocroata.cl, «Historias / Límites» and «El barrio Croata». · La Prensa Austral, «Deportivo Progreso: 78 años de historia en el Barrio Croata», 23 de diciembre de 2020.

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Salesian Museum

One of Chile's oldest museums

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The Salesian Museum Maggiorino Borgatello opened in 1893. Part of its collection comes from the Salesian missions, such as San Rafael, on Dawson Island, from 1889 to 1911. Most of the first were Kawésqar, canoe people of the channels; then Selk'nam, driven off Tierra del Fuego by sheep farms. About a thousand went in. The mission's own records count eight hundred and sixty-two deaths, most from disease. When it closed, the last twenty-five Selk'nam left with the missionaries. Look at what remains of their world, and judge for yourself the story told around it.

Source: Wikipedia en español, «Museo Salesiano Maggiorino Borgatello». · Museo Salesiano Maggiorino Borgatello, «Quiénes somos» (official website). · Mateo Martinic Beros, «Centenario del cierre de la Misión de Dawson», Magallania 39(2), 2011. · El Mostrador, «El placer genocida de Dios en isla Dawson: estudio cuestiona a religiosos que salvaban selknam», 17 de septiembre de 2025 (on Harambour & Orellana, Magallania 2025).

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Cemetery

Cypresses, mausoleums and legends

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You are at the Sara Braun Municipal Cemetery, opened in 1894. You enter through a portico paid for by Sara Braun and built between 1918 and 1923. People say its central doors have stayed shut since her funeral, though the historian Mateo Martinic found no such wish in her will. Inside wait avenues of cypresses clipped into green walls, and the wool barons rest in marble mausoleums beside sailors, pioneers and immigrants from half the world. It has been a Historic Monument since 2012. Look for the shrine of the Indiecito, covered in hundreds of thank-you plaques.

Source: Wikipedia en español, «Cementerio municipal de Punta Arenas». · Chile Travel (Sernatur), «Cementerio Municipal de Punta Arenas, uno de los más bellos de Chile», blog, 2024. · Meteored Chile, «Cementerio Municipal Sara Braun: conoce su historia y cómo visitar este importante atractivo de Punta Arenas», 2024. · Chilevisión, «¿Será cierto? El increíble mito que vincula el cementerio de Punta Arenas con Gabriel Boric», 2021. · El Cuaderno Digital, «El Indiecito de Punta Arenas», 25 de septiembre de 2018.

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Shepherd Monument

Twelve figures against the pampa wind

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In the middle of Avenida Bulnes, a shepherd braces against the pampa wind, reins in one hand and a whip in the other. There are twelve life-size figures: the shepherd, his horse, his dogs and his sheep. The sculptor Germán Montero modelled him on a real shepherd, Abel Oyarzún, from the Mina Rica ranch. The first version, in granite, was unveiled in 1944; today's bronze one in 1962, and the granite original went to Coyhaique. It honours the men who turned wool into the wealth of Magallanes, on horseback, alone on the steppe.

Source: Wikipedia en español, «Monumento al Ovejero». · Ministerio de las Culturas, las Artes y el Patrimonio, «Representación teatral para conmemorar ochenta años del Monumento al Ovejero», 15 de febrero de 2024. · puq.city research brief 04, «POI gazetteer», entry 21 (Monumento al Ovejero).

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Zona Franca

Duty-free shopping since 1977

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You are at the Zona Franca, north of downtown. A law of 1975 authorised it, and it opened on the 12th of September 1977. The idea is old here: Punta Arenas was already a free port from 1868 until the 1910s. While goods are inside the zone they count as if they were abroad, so they are free of the usual duties and taxes. For locals it is a weekend outing: a large shopping centre with a cinema, bowling and even an ice rink, surrounded by warehouses. If you need warm gear before Torres del Paine, this is a good place to look.

Source: Wikipedia en español, «Zona Franca de Punta Arenas». · Decreto Ley 1.055 de 1975, «Autoriza el establecimiento de Zonas Francas en Iquique y Punta Arenas», Biblioteca del Congreso Nacional, LeyChile. · Memoria Chilena (Biblioteca Nacional de Chile), «Punta Arenas y la economía magallánica (1848-1950)». · Mateo Martinic, «La hotelería en el antiguo Magallanes (1870-1950)», Magallania 33(1), 2005. · Chócale, «Zona Franca de Punta Arenas: la historia del corazón comercial del extremo austral de Chile», 13 de septiembre de 2025.

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Tres Puentes Wetland

Around a hundred bird species, in town

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On the city's northern edge, between warehouses and houses, lies the Tres Puentes Wetland: about a hundred hectares and two shallow freshwater lagoons, protected by law as an urban wetland since 2021. Around a hundred bird species have been recorded here, and many nest on site. The star is the endangered ruddy-headed goose, which comes back from Argentina every spring and raises its chicks here in October and November. The wetland is fenced to protect the nests, so bring binoculars, watch from the edge path, and keep dogs away.

Source: Wikipedia en español, «Humedal Tres Puentes». · Diario Oficial de la República de Chile, resolución que declara el Humedal Urbano Tres Puentes (104,93 ha), 13 de diciembre de 2021. · Radio Agricultura, «Ministro del Medio Ambiente firma declaración de Humedal Urbano Tres Puentes», 6 de diciembre de 2021. · Gómez et al., estudio de la avifauna del Humedal Tres Puentes, Anales del Instituto de la Patagonia 42(2): 93–101, 2014. · Ministerio del Medio Ambiente, «Plan de protección del canquén colorado completa dos años de monitoreo y educación ambiental en Magallanes», 6 de agosto de 2026. · Red de Observadores de Aves y Vida Silvestre de Chile (ROC), ficha «Canquén colorado». · El Pingüino, «El Humedal Tres Puentes, una alternativa para visitar durante el Día del Patrimonio», 22 de mayo de 2020.

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Nao Victoria

Board the ships that changed history

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About seven kilometres north, on the coast road beside the Strait, a fleet sits out of its time. The Nao Victoria Museum, open since 2011, holds full-size replicas of historic ships, built with traditional shipwright's carpentry. The star is the Victoria, the only one of Magellan's five ships to complete the first voyage around the world: more than two hundred men sailed from Spain in 1519, and only eighteen came home, on her. Beside her are Shackleton's James Caird, Darwin's HMS Beagle and the schooner Ancud. The museum is made to be explored, not just looked at.

Source: Wikipedia en español, «Museo Nao Victoria». · Wikipedia en español, «Expedición de Magallanes-Elcano». · Wikipedia (English), «Victoria (ship)».

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Magallanes Reserve

The forest that guards the city's water

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About seven kilometres west, the city ends and the forest begins. The Magallanes National Reserve was created in 1932 to protect the basin of Lynch lagoon, which supplied the city's water; the rivers that rise here still do. Its trails run through southern beech forest, with views over the Strait. In 2023 two visitors filmed a huemul, the deer on Chile's coat of arms, on the Las Lengas trail: Conaf called it the first record in the reserve's ninety-one years. Buy your entry online at pasesparques.cl, leave pets at home, and bring a jacket: even in January it averages under twelve degrees.

Source: Wikipedia en español, «Reserva nacional Magallanes». · Visitando Punta Arenas, «Reserva Nacional Magallanes». · La Prensa Austral, «Turistas españoles avistan un huemul en la Reserva Magallanes», 16 de febrero de 2023. · CNN Chile, «Captan huemul en la Reserva Nacional Magallanes por primera vez», febrero de 2023.

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Cementerio Cruz de Froward

Cemetery · 28.2 ha

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Parque María Behety

Park · 23.2 ha

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Bandejón España

Park · 6.3 ha

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Parque Ramón Rada

Park · 5.3 ha

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Humedal Laguna Pudeto

Wetland · 4.4 ha

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Humedal María Behety

Wetland · 4.3 ha

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Bandejón Colón

Park · 4.2 ha

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Bandejón Independencia

Park · 4.2 ha

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Bandejón Bulnes

Park · 3.9 ha

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Parque Don Bosco

Park · 1.3 ha

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Plaza de la Banderas

Park · 1.0 ha

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Plaza Esmeralda

Park · 9500 m²

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Parque Croacia

Park · 7400 m²

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Plaza Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

Park · 6900 m²

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Patio Museo Sara Braun

Park · 6400 m²

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Parque Villa Friburgo

Park · 6100 m²

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Plaza 21 de mayo (Plaza Lautaro)

Park · 5900 m²

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Mulato (Chumjaluwün)

d. 1905 · Last great Aónikenk chief; lost his land on the Zurdo in 1905

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Chumjaluwün, known as Mulato, is remembered as the last great Aónikenk chief, and for a while Punta Arenas was fond of him. A son of Casimiro Biguá and brother of Papón, he led his people from 1892. In 1893 Governor Manuel Señoret gave him a provisional permit to occupy 10,000 hectares of state land in the Zurdo valley, near the Argentine border. There he raised horses, sheep and cattle, and sold broken-in horses in Punta Arenas.

Around 1900 a group of townspeople gave him a lunch in his honour at the Hotel de France. The photograph is kept in the archive of the Museo Regional de Magallanes; Martinic says no Indigenous chief had been honoured like that before, and none was after.

The permit was never made permanent. In 1905 the state auctioned the land, and it went to the Sociedad Explotadora de Tierra del Fuego, the Braun family's great sheep company. Mulato travelled to Santiago to plead with President Germán Riesco and came home with nothing but kind words. On that journey his family caught smallpox. He died in 1905, soon after returning to the Zurdo, and much of his community died with him.

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