The Fuegian gold rush began in the 1880s, and Porvenir was founded in 1894 to serve the estancias (sheep ranches). Among those who arrived were many Dalmatians, then subjects of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, as well as Chilotes (people from the island of Chiloé). The Museo Municipal Fernando Cordero Rusque tells that story alongside that of the Selk’nam, who inhabited the island for millennia, and the Cordón Baquedano circuit shows the traces of gold washing across the steppe.
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