SANTIAGO, CHILE—Live Science reports that a sixteenth-century Spanish silver coin has been discovered in southern Chile at the site of Ciudad del Rey Don Felipe, a failed Spanish colony situated on the north side of the Strait of Magellan. Soledad González Díaz of Bernardo O’Higgins University said that the real was found on top of a stone in the foundations of a church structure. The discovery corresponds with an account written in 1584 by navigator Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa, who described the founding of the colonial settlement, the placement of the coin on the stone, and a historic map of the area. “It not only helps to confirm the location and layout of key structures within the settlement but also opens new possibilities for reconstructing [its] spatial organization,” González Díaz said. An earlier investigation at the site uncovered two bronze cannons where Sarmiento de Gamboa’s account indicated they were located, she added. The colony had been intended to protect the Strait of Magellan from enemy use, but most of the 350 colonists soon died of disease, starvation, and cold. Spain abandoned the project after Sarmiento de Gamboa was captured by the English in 1586. For more on Spanish colonial archaeology, go to "Colonial Connection."
