Patagonia, a Forgotten Land: From Magellan to Peron Book

This book describes the history of Patagonia from its discovery by Magellan to recent times. Since its early exploration Patagonia has been associated with conditions of extreme hardship and suffering. Men and ships were lost in the dangerous waters of the Straits of Tierra del Fuego, giving rise to tales of mysterious cities populated by the shipwrecked sailors of the many failed expeditions.Early Spanish attempts to colonize Patagonia also ended in failure and the region remained largely uninhabited until the arrival of the Welsh in 1865. Their peaceful coexistence with the natives ended abruptly when the Argentine Army entered Patagonia and took over the Indian lands, which were promptly distributed to new settlers.As a new and anarchic society, Patagonia could not fail to attract its share of desperados and adventurers, the most notorious of which are described in the book, including gold prospectors, hunters and bandits such as Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.The volume also relates the anarchist's struggles that took place in Patagonia at the beginning of the 1900s and the failed attempt by Peron's government to convert Argentina to a nuclear power.The book conveys the image of Patagonia as still a largely unknown and forbidding place. Five hundred years of recorded history have not dispelled the image of Patagonia being a new frontier.Contents: EARLY HOPES AND TRIBULATIONS - Magellan, A man of destiny; More ill fated expeditions; Enter Drake; Enter the British, follow the Dutch; IN SEARCH OF DREAMS - The laboratory of mankind; The extraordinary trip of Musters; The city of the Cesares; The man who would be king; CLAIMING THE LAND - Convicts and Adventures, the story of Punta Arenas; Little Wales across the sea; THE CONQUEST OF SOULS - The Falkland/Malvinas dispute; The Patagonia Missionary Society; The visions of Don Bosco; CONQUERING THE WILDERNESS - The Indian wars; The young explorers; EXILES, ADVENTURERS AND OUTLAWS - The Argentine Australia; The gold rush and the story of Popper; The desperadoes; THE FURIOUS AND THE FOOLISH - The anarchists of Patagonia; Its atomic secret.