Santa María Island, Chile

Santa María Island was called Tralca or Penequen by the indigenous Mapuche inhabitants, who were most likely the Nagche, also known as Araucanian, people.

It is possible that European explorers sighted the island in 1544, but the earliest confirmed discovery of the island was in 1550 by Genoese explorer Juan Bautista Pastene during his second voyage sailing for the Spanish crown.{{cite journal |title=Jesuitas, Franciscanos y Capuchinos italianos en la Araucanía (1600–1900) |journal=Revista Complutense de Historia de América |year=1993 | pages = 109–147 |volume=19 |last1=Pinto Rodríguez |first1=Jorge |author-link=Jorge Pinto Rodríguez |language=es}}

In 1587, British explorer and privateer Thomas Cavendish landed on the island during his first voyage with 70 men. There they were greeted by the Mapuche and traded with them, and the crew entertained the natives aboard their ship. They departed the island after a few days.{{cite book |last1=Johnstone |first1=Christian I |title=Lives and Voyages of Drake, Cavendish and Dampier |date=1831 |publisher=Edinburgh Cabinet Library |pages=181|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4M9OAAAAcAAJ}}

In 1599, Dutch explorer and merchant Simon de Cordes ordered his fleet to stop at the island for supplies and to make repairs during their disastrous circumnavigation attempt. The fleet had been separated by dense fog and some of the ships missed the island due to a mistake on the map. After waiting for two months, the fleet departed.{{cite book |last1=Wieder |first1=Frederick Caspar |title=De reis van Mahu en de Cordes door de Straat van Magalhães naar Zuid-Amerika en Japan 1598-1600 |date=1931 |publisher=Martinus Nijhoff |location=Amsterdam |url=https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/catalog/1966812 |access-date=December 28, 2023}}

Dutch explorer Joris van Spilbergen may have also anchored at the island at some point in the early 17th century.

In 1642, the Dutch East India Company joined the Dutch West Indies Company in organizing an expedition to Chile to establish a base for their trade along the west coast of South America under the command of Dutch explorer Hendrick Brouwer. Valdivia, Chiloé Island and Santa María Island were considered due to their isolation and excellent harbors. Valdivia, like all cities south of Bío Bío River, had been abandoned by Spaniards and destroyed by the Mapuches in 1599 during the Destruction of the Seven Cities.

The fleet sailed from Dutch Brazil where John Maurice of Nassau provided them with supplies. After landing on Chiloe Island, Brouwer made a pact with the Mapuche, who were then fighting in the War of Arauco against Spain, to aid in establishing a resettlement at Valdivia. However, on August 7, 1643, Brouwer died before arriving and was succeeded by his vice-admiral Elias Herckman, who landed at the ruins of Valdivia on August 24. Brouwer was buried in the new settlement, which Herckman named Brouwershaven after him. Herckman and his men occupied the location for only two months, departing on October 28, 1643. Having been told that the Dutch planned to return, the Spanish viceroy in Peru sent 1000 men in twenty ships (and 2000 men by land, who never made it) in 1644 to resettle Valdivia and fortify it. The Spanish soldiers in the new garrison disinterred and burned Brouwer's body.Robbert Kock [http://www.colonialvoyage.com/dutchchile.html The Dutch in Chili] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303204718/http://www.colonialvoyage.com/dutchchile.html |date=2016-03-03 }} at coloniavoyage.comKris E. Lane [https://books.google.com/books?id=893J8RTsKjgC Pillaging the Empire: Piracy in the Americas, 1500-1750], 1998, pages 88-92

File:Battle of Coronel map.svg

On 26 October 1818 First Chilean Navy Squadron under the command of Manuel Blanco Encalada and captured several ships of a Spanish convoy carrying men and weapons for El Callao off the coast of the island.

The Battle of Coronel was fought to the northwest of the island on November 1, 1914, in which the East Asia Squadron (Ostasiengeschwader or Kreuzergeschwader) of the Imperial German Navy (Kaiserliche Marine) commanded by Vice-Admiral Graf Maximilian von Spee met and overpowered a British squadron commanded by Rear-Admiral Sir Christopher Cradock. It was an overwhelming German victory; the Germans suffered only 3 wounded, while the British lost over 1,660 men and two armored cruisers, HMS Good Hope and HMS Monmouth. This was the first naval defeat for the British since the Battle of Lake Champlain in the War of 1812 and the first of a British naval squadron since the Battle of Grand Port in 1810.{{cite book |last1=McNally |first1=Michael |title=Coronel and Falklands 1914: Duel in the South Atlantic |date=2012 |publisher=Osprey Publishing |location=Oxford, UK |isbn=978-1849086745 |url=https://www.ospreypublishing.com/us/coronel-and-falklands-1914-9781782002987/ |access-date=December 28, 2023}}

On 22 April 1924, the sailing ship Garthwray ran aground on Santa María Island in fog. Garthwray was had been dismasted by squalls off of Cape Horn in two consecutive attempts to pass the cape from east to west in 1922 and 1923.{{cite web |url= http://www.wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?174989 |last1=Lockett |first1=Graham |last2=Allen |first2=Tony |date=18 July 2021 |title=SV Garthwray (+1924) |work=Wrecksite.eu}}

On February 27, 2010, an 8.8 MW earthquake struck the island and surrounding area resulting in widespread devastation. Measurements taken after the quake indicated coastal uplifts of between ~0.2 to 3.1 m. A similar phenomenon was documented in 1839 after the 1835 earthquake in the region by Charles Darwin.{{cite journal |last=Castilla |first=Juan Carlos |title=Effects of rocky shore coseismic uplift and the 2010 Chilean mega-earthquake on intertidal biomarker species |journal=Marine Ecology Progress Series |date=November 18, 2010 |volume=418 |pages=17–23 |doi=10.3354/meps08830 |bibcode=2010MEPS..418...17C |url=https://www.int-res.com/articles/meps2010/418/m418p017.pdf |access-date=December 28, 2023}}

The island's coasts are home to the South American sea lion, which is known for being highly sexually dimorphic.{{cite book |last1=Cappozzo|first1=Humberto Luis |last2=Perrin |first2=William F. |year=2008 |contribution=South American sea lion Otaria flavescens |pages=1076–1077 |title=Encyclopedia of Marine Mammals|publisher=Elsevier Science |editor1-last=Perrin |editor1-first=William F. |editor2-last=Würsig |editor2-first=Bernd |editor3-last=Thewissen |editor3-first=J.G.M. |edition=2nd |isbn=978-0123735539}}

Frequently, thousands of dead cuttlefish, squid, and other marine animals have washed up along the island's coasts. Scientists largely blame the phenomenon on El Nino, a disruptive weather phenomenon that comes with warming sea surface temperatures in the equatorial Pacific.{{cite web |last1=Fleitas |first1=Giovanna |title=Wave of dead sea creatures hits Chile's beaches |url=https://phys.org/news/2016-05-dead-sea-creatures-chile-beaches.html |website=Phys.org |access-date=December 28, 2023}}{{cite web |last1=Diez |first1=Fernando |title=Thousands of Squid in Chile Washed up on Santa María Island is Mystery |url=https://www.quasarex.com/blog/countless-squid-in-chile-washed-up-on-santa-maria-island |website=Quasar |access-date=December 28, 2023}}

The island has been designated an Important Bird Area (IBA) by BirdLife International because it supports significant populations of sooty shearwaters, pink-footed shearwaters, Peruvian diving-petrels, red-legged cormorants, and Franklin's gulls.{{cite web |url= https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/24750|title=Isla Santa María|author= |date=2024|website= BirdLife Data Zone|publisher= BirdLife International|access-date= 2024-10-02}}

Puerto Sur Airport (ICAO: SCIS) is located on Santa Maria Island. It has only one runway, which has a length of {{convert|2,625|ft|m|0|abbr=off}}.{{cite web |title=SCIS - Isla Santa Maria, Chile |url=http://www.gcmap.com/airport/SCIS |access-date=December 28, 2023}}

Benito Cereno by Herman Melville takes place on the island.

{{Weather box|width=auto

|metric first=y

|single line=y

|collapsed = Y

|location = Santa María Island

|Jan high C = 18.3

|Feb high C = 18.1

|Mar high C = 17.6

|Apr high C = 15.6

|May high C = 14.5

|Jun high C = 13.3

|Jul high C = 12.8

|Aug high C = 12.6

|Sep high C = 13.4

|Oct high C = 14.2

|Nov high C = 15.7

|Dec high C = 17.2

| year high C =

|Jan mean C = 14.8

|Feb mean C = 14.7

|Mar mean C = 14.0

|Apr mean C = 12.6

|May mean C = 11.8

|Jun mean C = 10.2

|Jul mean C = 10.3

|Aug mean C = 9.8

|Sep mean C = 10.4

|Oct mean C = 11.8

|Nov mean C = 12.6

|Dec mean C = 13.9

| year mean C =

|Jan low C = 11.6

|Feb low C = 11.7

|Mar low C = 11.2

|Apr low C = 10.2

|May low C = 9.5

|Jun low C = 8.4

|Jul low C = 7.7

|Aug low C = 7.3

|Sep low C = 7.9

|Oct low C = 8.6

|Nov low C = 9.7

|Dec low C = 10.9

| year low C =

|precipitation colour = green

|Jan precipitation mm = 15.9

|Feb precipitation mm = 12.6

|Mar precipitation mm = 34.3

|Apr precipitation mm = 66.8

|May precipitation mm = 152.8

|Jun precipitation mm = 158.2

|Jul precipitation mm = 149.6

|Aug precipitation mm = 122.3

|Sep precipitation mm = 70.4

|Oct precipitation mm = 39.0

|Nov precipitation mm = 29.0

|Dec precipitation mm = 24.9

|year precipitation mm =

| Jan humidity = 83

| Feb humidity = 84

| Mar humidity = 86

| Apr humidity = 88

| May humidity = 90

| Jun humidity = 91

| Jul humidity = 90

| Aug humidity = 88

| Sep humidity = 87

| Oct humidity = 86

| Nov humidity = 84

| Dec humidity = 83

| year humidity =

|source 1 = Bioclimatografia de Chile{{cite web

| first1 = Ernst

| last1 = Hajek

| first2 = Francesco

| url = http://www.ecolyma.cl/documentos/bioclimatografia_de_chile.pdf

| title = Bioclimatografia de Chile

| access-date = 27 May 2024

| last2 = Castri

|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20091122225453/http://www.ecolyma.cl/documentos/bioclimatografia_de_chile.pdf

|archive-date = 22 November 2009

| language = es

| year = 1975}}

}}

• Mapuche
• Coronel, Chile

{{Reflist}}

• Municipalidad de Coronel, [http://municipalidadcoronel.homestead.com/files/islaSM.htm Isla Santa María]

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Santa Maria Island, Chile}}

Category:Islands of Biobío Region

Category:Pacific islands of Chile

Category:Important Bird Areas of Chile

Category:Coasts of Biobío Region