The Chilean Boundary in the Strait of Magellan

HEN Chile declared independence, she defined her boundaries in very general terms. Chilean territory was to extend from the Pacific Ocean to the cordillera of the Andes and from the Desert of Atacama to Cape Horn. With the exception of the transmontane province of Mendoza, which was transferred to the newly created Viceroyalty of Rio de la Plata in 1776, Chile's boulndary was to be the same as those possessed by the captaincy general in the colonial period. The boundary was unknown in places and unmarked along its entire extent. Because only Indians inhabited the frontiers, and deserts and mountains separated Chile from her neighbors, the lack of precise boundaries caused no difficulties during the first years of independence. During the first two decades of the nineteenth century Chileans were concerned with organizing a new government and protecting that government from attacks by the royalists. The threat of an attack from the last royalist stronghold in Chiloe was ended by 1825, and stable political conditions were achieved with the rise of Diego Portales to power and the promulgation of the Constitution of 1833. Only then did Chile become interested in her bouLndaries. During the 1830s Chilean interest in the Strait of Magellan was aroused because of English activity there. Although the British government never officially considered colonizinig the area, it did display an interest that caused concern in Chile. The British Admiralty ordered a survey of Tierra del Fuego and the coast of South America from the southern entrance of the Rio de la Plata to the island of Chiloe. The Adventure and the Beagle made two voyages between 1826 and 1836 to conduct this survey. The mere presence of the ships seemed to Chile to threaten her sovereignty in the strait. Chilean fears were increased by the action of the Beagle's captain in the Falkland Islands, over which Argentina was attempting to establish her sovereignty. When the Beagle called at the Falkland Islands in March 1834, Captain Robert Fitz Roy assisted the small

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