—1881
Argentina
and Chile both pulled away from their colonial overlord, Spain,
declaring their independence in 1816 and 1818, respectively. You'd
think that people in these two nations would want to get along—new
nations often struggle with creating the constitutions and
governmental organizations that will enable them to succeed—but in
this case, the relationship between these two South American
countries went sour right away.
And,
of course, it was all about whose-owns-this-bit-of-land?
Chile
was content, at first, to establish its eastern boundary at the
Andes, but then someone started arguing that Chile deserves to own
all of Patagonia, which is the entire region at the southern end of
South America. (The island Tierra del Fuego is usually included in
this region.)
Well,
sure, you could make a case that Pedro de Valdivia got the rights to
all of Patagonia from the Spanish crown, back in the 16th
Century, but you could also point out that Argentina had supported
Welsh immigrants in parts of Patagonia. You could argue that Chile
just cared about the Straits of Magellan (a bit of sea between
mainland South America and the island Tierra del Fuego, through which
ships can travel between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans) and that
the Chilean government had seen Patagonia as a useless wasteland. But you could also say, “Hey, Argentina, you already have so much land, and
poor little Chile is soooo skinny! Can't you give Chile some more
land?”
At
any rate, Argentina and Chile squabbled over the land and then signed
this treaty, which split Tierra del Fuego and the rest of the
disputed lands between the two nations, and which stated that
the Straits of Magellan shall be “neutralized for ever, and free
navigation assured to the flags of all nations.” In other words,
NOBODY is allowed to build military bases there!
A
treaty is generally a good thing, a sort of win-win. In this case,
however, there still have been disputes over Patagonia. In 2010, for example, the
two countries argued over the Southern Icefields, which contain the
second largest reserve of potable water in the world!
For
more info about Patagonia, check out this earlier post.
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on this date:
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