Mateo Martinic

Mateo Martinić Beroš (born 20 October 1931) is a Chilean historian, politician and lawyer of Croatian descent.

Martinic was born in Punta Arenas into a family of Croatian immigrants from the island of Brač in Dalmatia and completed his primary and secondary education at Liceo San José in Punta Arenas.

He has primarily dealt with the history of the Magallanes Region. He entered the University of Chile in 1953 studying briefly pedagogy before moving on to study law and then continued his law studies in the Catholic University of Chile. From 1964 to 1970 he served as intendant of Magallanes Region. He became a lawyer in 1983.

Together with botanist Edmundo Pisano Martnic was among the founding members of Instituto de la Patagonia which in 1985 became integrated into the University of Magallanes.

Martnic received the National History Award in 2000. He was named Doctor Honoris Causa by the University of Magallanes in 2001 and received the Bicentennial Award in 2006 from the Chilean Cultural Heritage Corporation, the University of Chile and the Bicentennial Commission of the Government of Chile.