Tierra del Fuego
Tierra del Fuego (/tiˈɛərə dɛl ˈfweɪɡoʊ/, Spanish: [ˈtjera ðel ˈfweɣo]; Spanish for "Land of Fire", rarely also Fireland in English) is an archipelago off the southernmost tip of the South American mainland, across the Strait of Magellan.
This article is about the archipelago of Tierra del Fuego. For the island, see Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego. For the Argentine province, see Tierra del Fuego Province, Argentina. For other uses, see Tierra del Fuego (disambiguation).Geography
Tierra del Fuego, Hoste, Navarino, Gordon, Wollastone, Noir, Staten, Hermite, Santa Inés, Clarence, Dawson, Capitán Aracena, Londonderry, Picton, Lennox, Nueva, Diego Ramírez, O'Brien, and Desolación Islands among many others
>135,000 (2010)
The archipelago consists of the main island, Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego, with an area of 48,100 km2 (18,572 sq mi), and a group of many islands, including Cape Horn and Diego Ramírez Islands. Tierra del Fuego is divided between Argentina, which controls the eastern part of the main island and a few small islands in the Beagle Channel, and Chile, which controls the remaining land area. The southernmost extent of the archipelago is just north of latitude 56°S.
The earliest known human settlement in Tierra del Fuego dates to approximately 8,000 BC.[1] Europeans first explored the islands during Ferdinand Magellan's expedition of 1520. Tierra del Fuego and similar namings stem from sightings of the many bonfires that the natives built.
Settlement by those of European descent and the displacement of the native populations did not begin until the second half of the nineteenth century, at the height of the Patagonian sheep farming boom and of the local gold rush.[2] Today, petroleum extraction dominates economic activity in the north of Tierra del Fuego, while tourism, manufacturing, and Antarctic logistics are important in the south.
Economy[edit]
Today, the main economic activities of the archipelago are fishing, extraction of natural gas and oil, sheep farming, and ecotourism. Tourism is gaining increasing importance as it attracts numerous upmarket visitors. Much of the tourism is based on "southernmost" claims: for example, both Ushuaia and Puerto Williams claim to be the "southernmost city in the world". On the Argentine side of Tierra del Fuego, the government has promoted the establishment of several electronic companies via tax exemptions, particularly in the city of Río Grande.
Energy production is a crucial economic activity. On the Argentine side of Tierra del Fuego during the period 2005–2010, petroleum and natural gas extraction contributed 20% of the region's economic output.[39]