San Martín Base
Encyclopedia
The San Martín Base is an Argentine
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...

 base in Antarctica, operated by the Instituto Antartico Argentino
Instituto Antartico Argentino
The Instituto Antártico Argentino is the Argentine federal agency in charge of orientating, controlling, addressing and performing scientific and technical research and studies in the Antarctic....

 and located on the Barry Island
Barry Island (Debenham Islands)
Barry Island is an island lying in the centre of the Debenham Islands, off the west coast of Graham Land. Barry Island is located at . Barry Island was charted by the British Graham Land Expedition under John Riddoch Rymill, who used Barry Island for a base in 1936 and 1937...

 near the Antarctic Peninsula
Antarctic Peninsula
The Antarctic Peninsula is the northernmost part of the mainland of Antarctica. It extends from a line between Cape Adams and a point on the mainland south of Eklund Islands....

's mountain range. It was founded on March 21, 1951 by Argentine Army
Argentine Army
The Argentine Army is the land armed force branch of the Armed Forces of the Argentine Republic and the senior military service of the country.- History :...

 Colonel D. H. Pujato, who named the base after the Argentine independence
Argentine War of Independence
The Argentine War of Independence was fought from 1810 to 1818 by Argentine patriotic forces under Manuel Belgrano, Juan José Castelli and José de San Martín against royalist forces loyal to the Spanish crown...

 hero General José de San Martín
José de San Martín
José Francisco de San Martín, known simply as Don José de San Martín , was an Argentine general and the prime leader of the southern part of South America's successful struggle for independence from Spain.Born in Yapeyú, Corrientes , he left his mother country at the...

. The number of people living in it is between 18 and 20.

San Martín is the westernmost Argentine Antarctic base, and has special importance because the area of its location is claimed at the same time by Argentina, Chile
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...

 and the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

, and because it is near the Antarctic Peninsula Mountain Range, where scientists have discovered copper
Copper
Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu and atomic number 29. It is a ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. Pure copper is soft and malleable; an exposed surface has a reddish-orange tarnish...

, and think there are more metals.

The base's motto is "Hombres de voluntad, luchan y vencen desde 1951". (Willing men, fight and win since 1951)

External links

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