Punta Arenas (which in Spanish it means "Sandy Point") is the largest settlement on the Magellan Strait. Punta Arenas claims to be the southernmost city in the world. (Ushuaia, Argentina, also makes this claim and is further south, but has only half Punta Arenas population). In 2002, Punta Arenes had a population of 120,000.
This is the Magallanes region, part of Chilean Patagonia. Magallanes being the Spanish for Magellan, the circumnavigator who close to the present site of Punta Arenas in 1520.
The city is located on the northeastern shore of the mainly uninhabited Brunswick Peninsula. The municipality of Punta Arenas includes all of Brunswick Peninsula, as well as all islands west of Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego and north of Cockburn Channel and Magdalena Channel. Except Dawson Island, with a population of about 301 in 2002, the islands are largely uninhabited. Clarence Island had a population of just five.
Magellan's Statue, Punta Arenes