Mateo Martinic Beros was born in Punta Arenas on 20 October 1931, the son of Croatian immigrants from the island of Brač. He went to the Liceo San José, then studied law, and from 1964 to 1970 he was intendente, the regional governor, of Magallanes under President Eduardo Frei Montalva.
In 1969 he founded the Instituto de la Patagonia and ran it for decades. His work runs to more than 380 titles, from the two-volume "Historia de la Región Magallánica" (1992) to old maps and studies of piers, hotels and missions. In 2000 he became the first historian from the regions to win Chile's Premio Nacional de Historia.
He does not tell history to flatter anyone. On the centenary of the Dawson Island mission's closure he wrote that Fagnano's choice of the island was an error with grave consequences for the Selk'nam. And asked about the legend of the cemetery's sealed gate, he read Sara Braun's will and was blunt: "That is a myth, like Cambiaso's treasure and the Unknown Indian."
In October 2026 students at the school history days named after him celebrated his 95th birthday, and the mayor has proposed naming the new regional library after him. Many of the dates in this guide come from his work.
