In 1889, Hans Steffen, who had obtained his doctorate in 1886, was invited by José Manuel Balmaceda to Santiago, where he became a teacher of history and geography at the Instituto Pedagógico de Chile of the University of Chile (together with the Germans Alfred Beutell, Friedrich Hanssen, Friedrich Johow, Rudolf Lenz, Reinhold von Lilienthal, and Jürgen Heinrich Schneider).
He was later contracted to join the Chilean boundary commission to explore areas disputed by Argentina in what is now the Aysén Region of Chile.
"The boundary between Chile and the Argentine Republic is from north to south, as far as the 52nd parallel of latitude, the Cordillera de los Andes. The boundary-line shall run in that extent over the highest summits of the said Cordilleras which divide the waters, and shall pass between the sources (of streams) flowing down to either side. …"
This article led to dispute between whether the continental divide would serve as a boundary favouring Chile or the highest peaks favouring Argentina. The two interpretations coincided for most of the boundary but in the Aysén Region there were great differences. Before the explorations of Steffen, Chile had made only limited hydrographic surveys along the intricate Pacific coast of Aysén. The inland areas in dispute had been mainly explored by Argentines, notably Francisco Perito Moreno.
