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Tierra del Fuego

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Tierra del Fuego

Island group separated from the southern extremity of South America by the Strait of Magellan; Cape Horn is at the southernmost point. The islands are all mountainous and cool, with a mean annual temperature of 6°C/43°F. There are oil, natural gas, and sheep farming industries. Tourism is also important. The largest island is Tierra del Fuego, or Isla Grande, with an area of 48,100 sq km/18,571 sq mi; half of this island, and the islands west of it, belong to Chile, and form part of the Magallanes region, the capital and chief town of which is Punta Arenas. The eastern part of the archipelago belongs to Argentina, forming the federal district of Tierra del Fuego; its capital, Ushuaia, is the world's most southerly town.

Tierra del Fuego was discovered by Ferdinand Magellan in 1520; its name in Spanish means Land of Fire. To the south of the main island is Beagle Channel (named after the ship of the scientist Charles Darwin's voyage), with three islands at the eastern end, finally awarded in 1985 to Chile rather than Argentina.



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? Mentioned in ? References in classic literature
 
The object of the expedition was to complete the survey of Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego, commenced under Captain King in 1826 to 1830, -- to survey the shores of Chile, Peru, and of some islands in the Pacific -- and to carry a chain of chronometrical measurements round the World.
The Voyage of the Beagle by Darwin, Charles View in context
Horner's researches have rendered it in some degree probable that man sufficiently civilized to have manufactured pottery existed in the valley of the Nile thirteen or fourteen thousand years ago; and who will pretend to say how long before these ancient periods, savages, like those of Tierra del Fuego or Australia, who possess a semi-domestic dog, may not have existed in Egypt?
The Origin of Species by Darwin, Charles View in context
Darwin, the naturalist, says of the inhabitants of Tierra del Fuego, that while his own party, who were well clothed and sitting close to a fire, were far from too warm, these naked savages, who were farther off, were observed, to his great surprise, "to be streaming with perspiration at undergoing such a roasting.
Walden & on the Duty of Civil Disobedience by Thoreau, Henry David View in context
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