Taitao Peninsula

rdf:langString Taitao Peninsula

rdf:langString The Taitao Peninsula (Spanish: Península de Taitao) is a westward projection of the mainland of Chile, with which it is connected by the narrow Isthmus of Ofqui, over which the natives and early missionaries were accustomed to carry their boats between the Moraleda Channel and Gulf of Penas. It is situated in the Aysén del General Carlos Ibáñez del Campo Region and a part of this peninsula is located inside the boundaries of Laguna San Rafael National Park. The Presidente Ríos Lake, with a surface area of 352 square kilometres (136 sq mi), lies in the middle of the peninsula. A southward incurving projection of the outer shoreline of this peninsula is known as Tres Montes peninsula, the most southern point of which is a cape of the same name. Spanish explorers and Jesuits that sailed south from Chiloé Archipelago in the 17th and 18th centuries regularly avoided rounding Taitao Peninsula entering instead the Gulf of Penas after a brief land crossing at the isthmus of Ofqui. While attempting to pass Gulf of Penas in 1741 a storm caught HMS Wager making it wreck in , Guayaneco Archipelago. Part of the survivors, including John Byron, were led into the Spanish settlements of Chiloé Archipelago by the Chono cheftain Martín Olleta through Presidente Ríos Lake. Writer Benjamín Subercaseaux visited Taitao Peninsula in 1946 reporting to have seen footsteps and fresh human feces he thought indicated that indigenous Chonos, as known from the historical record, still existed. As result of its difficult access and isolation the peninsula is largely unexplored.