Nombre de Jesús (Patagonia) facts for kids
Nombre de Jesús was a Spanish town built a long time ago in Patagonia. It was started in 1584 by a man named Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa near the Magellan Strait. Today, "Nombre de Jesús" also means the old place in Santa Cruz Province, Argentina, where scientists found what was left of this town. This was the very first European settlement ever built in the Magellan Strait.
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History of the Spanish Settlement
In 1581, King Philip II of Spain wanted to protect his colonies from attacks by Francis Drake. So, he sent a large group of ships and people to build forts in the Magellan Strait. This group, called a fleet, had 23 ships and 3,000 men.
The Difficult Journey
The fleet left Spain on September 25, 1581. Diego Flores de Valdés was in charge, and Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa was going to be the governor of the Strait.
Right after leaving, five ships and 800 people were lost. Many others got sick and died during the long trip. When they reached Rio de Janeiro in Brazil in March 1582, 150 more people had died. Another 200 died there.
The journey continued to be very hard. More ships were lost or damaged by storms and even by another fleet led by Edward Fenton. By January 1583, only five ships out of the original 23 made it to the Strait of Magellan. This was two years after they had left Spain!
A New Attempt
The weather was too bad to land, so Flores de Valdes decided to go back to Spain. But in Rio de Janeiro, they met four more ships sent from Spain to help. At this point, Flores de Valdes went back to Spain with three ships.
Sarmiento de Gamboa decided to try again. He took six ships and 538 settlers. On February 4, 1584, after three days of trying, they finally landed.
Founding the Towns
A group of 116 soldiers, 48 sailors, 58 settlers, 13 women, and 10 children got off the ships. But then a storm hit, and four ships were pulled away from the shore. After 10 days, they had to give up trying to get back to the land and sailed back to Spain. One of the two remaining ships also sank in the storm.
Sarmiento de Gamboa officially founded Nombre de Jesús on February 11, 1584. They set up cannons to protect the entrance of the strait. Some of the settlers walked to another spot near where Punta Arenas is today. There, they started another town called Ciudad del Rey Don Felipe.
Gamboa was in charge of both towns. He used the last ship, the Santa Maria, to move supplies and cannons between them. He also had to deal with several small rebellions, but he managed to keep control.
The End of the Settlements
On May 26, Gamboa was on the Santa Maria near Nombre de Jesús when a storm pushed his ship out into the Atlantic Ocean. He tried for a month to get back to the town, but the weather got worse as winter came.
Gamboa sailed to Rio to find help, but he was captured by Walter Raleigh on his way to Spain. Later, he was captured by the French. By the time he finally reached Spain four years later, it was too late for the towns he had founded.
In 1587, another explorer named Thomas Cavendish landed at Ciudad del Rey. He found that all the settlers had died. From then on, that place became known as Port Famine.
Finding the Old Town Again
For a long time, people tried to find the exact spot where Nombre de Jesús had been built. But they couldn't find it.
Finally, in 2003, a team of researchers found the remains of the settlement. This team was led by Dr. María Ximena Senatore from the University of Buenos Aires and was supported by CONICET. This discovery helped us learn more about this early Spanish town.
See also
In Spanish: Ciudad del Nombre de Jesús para niños
