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Hundreds of Spanish Settlers Died at the 'Port of Famine.' This Newly Discovered Silver Coin Reveals Where the Doomed Colony Was Founded 400 Years Ago

Smithsonian Magazine·Michele Debczak·about 2 months ago
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Ciudad del Rey Don Felipe was established on the north shore of Chile’s Strait of Magellan in 1584. When an English navigator came across it several years later, few survivors remained This coin was found near Chile’s Strait of Magellan. Richard Bezzaza / Centro de Estudios Históricos y Humanidades Spain had ambitious plans when it established a colony around Chile’s Strait of Magellan in the 16th century, but within a few years, both the settlement and the empire’s dreams had gone awry. The majority of the settlers at Ciudad del Rey Don Felipe—later dubbed Puerto del Hambre, or “ Port Famine ”—succumbed to starvation, the elements and various diseases. Much of what we know about the settlement comes from written records, but archaeologists recently made a significant physical discovery: a 400-year-old coin marking where it was founded.…

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