A coin is a coin. And a compass, a compass. What seems so obvious changes when we talk about the old (and ephemeral) city of King Don Felipea Spanish settlement founded more than four centuries ago by Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa on the northern shore of the Strait of Magellan. Its objective was to become a fortress that would reinforce the control of the Spanish Crown in a strategic maritime passage, but the mission became so complicated that the town ended up becoming a death trap for its settlers.
Things went so badly that with the passage of time the citadel ended up being renamed ‘Port of Hunger’a name much more in line with what happened there in the 17th century, and its memory it faded in the mists of history. We had to wait until well into the 20th century so that the secrets of King Don Felipe would emerge from oblivion… and the earth.
Now the archaeologists have found among its ruins a small piece of silver that in March 1584 Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa himself deposited there during the founding ceremony of the town. In its day it was a simple currency (a real of eight) that was used for ritual purposes. In 2026 it has become something more: a compassa guide that will help researchers better understand the structure and location of the city of Rey Don Felipe, the cursed citadel in the Strait of Magellan that should never have existed.
At the ends of the world
Today the world lives pending what happens in the Strait of Hormuz. Almost five centuries ago the eyes of the Spanish Crown were directed towards another maritime strait with important strategic value: that of Magellana navigable strip located south of what is now Chile and that stands out as the natural connection between the Pacific and the Atlantic.
Since Ferdinand Magellan crossed it for the first time, in the autumn 1520the pass became an object of desire for the Spanish Empire, especially after other expeditions managed to cross it successfully and the English entered the race for its control through late 1570s from the hand of the corsair Francis Drake. To guarantee Spain’s geopolitical plans and its exclusive control of the transoceanic passage, the authorities had an idea: found permanent settlements in the area.
The mission fell to Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboaa hardworking sailor who, among other missions, had participated in a (frustrated) mission of the Viceroyalty of Peru to hunt down Drake. Sarmiento first undertook an expedition with two ships in the autumn of 1579 to reconnoiter the coastline of the strait and explore its coasts and, once back in Spain, in 1580 he played a decisive role in getting the Council of the Indies to decide to build citadels and fortifications in the transoceanic passage to America.
The expedition left Sanlúcar at the end of September 1581 with a fleet of 23 boats and around 3,000 men, including sailors and future settlers. Despite his enormous ambition, the adventure started badly. And not only because of the differences between Sarmiento and Diego Flores de Valdeswho had been appointed captain general of the Strait Navy. Before even leaving Cádiz, a storm sank half a dozen ships and killed 800 men.
What followed next was a journey marked by disagreements between Sarmiento and Valdés, illnesses, the inclemency of the ocean and storms that caused the expedition to lose ships, crew and supplies. After various incidents and vicissitudes, Sarmiento and his men arrived at the strait at the beginning of 1584 and founded a city that they named ‘Purification of Our Lady’.
It didn’t work. The location and climate did not help, so Sarmiento looked for a new enclave, near Cape Vírgenes, and founded a settlement which he called ‘Name of Jesus’. Determined to continue with the mission, the sailor chose part of the 340 people he kept and looked for a third location to create another citadel. On this occasion he baptized it with a nod to the Habsburg court (King Don Felipe) and celebrated the founding ceremony in March 1584. We know that Sarmiento himself participated in the ritual.
On March 25, he laid the first stone of the citadel church and, with it, in the foundations, buried a real of eight silver. As they explain from the Bernardo O’Higgins University of Santiago, it was “a symbolic gesture that marked the birth of the city.” If the ritual was intended to promote the settlement’s fortunes, it only half worked.
It has served archaeologists of the 21st century, who have just found the coin “in place and position” described by Sarmiento in his writings and now, thanks to that clue, they will have an easier time interpreting a map of the 16th century in which the buildings of the town are represented. The one who certainly had no use for the currency was the colonists who settled in Rey Don Felipe city.
Theirs was a tragic story from the beginning.
a cursed city
Ciudad Rey Don Felipe may have enjoyed a privileged location from a geopolitical and strategic point of view, but the truth is that it soon became hell for its settlers. And not only because the crew of the ill-fated (and diminished) Armada del Estrecho arrived in Magallanes at the limit of their strength. In ‘Port of Hunger. Beyond the legend’a work signed by the historian Soledad González and the archaeologist Simón Urbina, a key piece of information is provided: “On board the ships or on land they saw people die or desert. nine out of ten colleaguesfriends or family.
As if that were not enough, after founding the Nombre de Jesús settlement, the crew divided into groups to expand towards the Santa Ana peninsula, precisely to establish Rey Don Felipe.
Once there, and despite the fact that Sarmiento de Gamboa was quick to lay the foundations of the new citadel (both in a metaphorical and literal sense), things did not improve. The scene looked so bad that there were settlers who they tried to desert or even stealing the expedition ship to return to Chile, which led Sarmiento to take drastic measures: he nailed the heads of those executed on pikes so that they would serve as a warning to the rest of the crew.
However, it was one thing to have the settlers under control (for better or worse) and quite another to overcome the harsh conditions offered by the Magallanes region, a territory punished by cold, snowfall and strong gusts of wind.
The colonists’ attempts to apply the agricultural knowledge they brought from Europe fell on deaf ears. As the work of González and Urbina recalls, only the beans germinated. And they did it after spending months under a thick blanket of snow. “Distress and famine spread like the plague. There were episodes of extreme desperation and cannibalism”, they relate the experts on the tragic fate of the residents of Nombre de Jesús and Rey Don Felipe.
It is estimated that before a year had passed since the ceremony in which Sarmiento deposited the real of eight in the foundations of the church, in Rey Don Felipe there were just 90 residents. After two years that number had been reduced by a third: around 30.
The crops did not prosper, but neither did the attempts to leave the strait. Besieged by hunger, disease, indigenous surveillance and an adverse climate, they had no choice but to take advantage of the little that the coast offered them to survive. “The first winter must have seriously affected the adult population that had arrived from Spain and that had to hunt in unknown territory,” explains Urbina in an interview with Live Science.
It is not at all surprising if you take into account that the expedition already left Spain with the marked cards. Luck did not favor her, that is undeniable, but it is also undeniable that the majority of those who accompanied Sarmiento they were not prepared to live in the southern zone of Chile.
The group of settlers was basically made up of farmers accustomed to subsisting on crops that did not prosper in Magallanes. They also did not know the climate and the land. And after bad experiences with previous European expeditions, the natives did not seem willing to lend them a hand.
If all of the above were not enough, the unfortunate settlers soon saw their situation worsen with a new hardship that sealed their fate: isolation.
As soon as the weather allowed, Sarmiento boarded the ship María to return to Nombre de Jesús and gather the settlers. During the voyage, however, a storm broke out that took his ship to the south of Brazil. Unable to return to the Strait, the navigator ended up choosing to return to Spain in 1585 to warn of what had happened. The mission it became complicated againwith illnesses and captivities included, and was not completed until 1590.
Too much time for the unfortunate people who had been left abandoned to their fate in the Magallanes region. Remember Marcelino González Fernández on the platform Hispanic History that all the colonists ended up perishing except two, among them the notary Tomé Hernándezwho was rescued in 1587 by a British-flagged ship.
what it says the legend is that when the privateer Thomas Cavendish Arriving on the coast of Santa Ana around 1587, he found that what had once aspired to be a solid defensive citadel had been reduced to a ruin.
The bodies of King Don Felipe and a handful of survivors were basically preserved. Perhaps to teach a lesson about what had happened there and to show the colors of the Spanish Crown, he decided to rename the area: he omitted the name of the Habsburg king and changed it to Port of Hungera more dramatic toponym… although also adjusted to reality.
Over time the memory of Ciudad del Rey Rodrigo/Puerto del Hambre faded. Even the exact reference to where it was located was lost. That began to change last century, when vestiges were located and even, in the 1970s, a 16th century plan which gave some clues about the location and distribution of the town.
Since then archaeologists have continued to delve into its mysteries, an endeavor that has now achieved a key milestone thanks to a small coin of eight silver reales.
Images | Council of National Monuments of Chile, Austral University of Chile, Wikipedia 1 and 2
GIPHY App Key not set. Please check settings