Tierra del Fuego

a province in southern Argentina. Area, 20,400 sq km. Population, 15,700 (1970). The capital is Ushuaia.

an archipelago at the extreme southern tip of South America, separated from the mainland by the Strait of Magellan. The eastern part belongs to Argentina, the western part to Chile. It is about 72,000 sq km in area. The archipelago includes the main island, Tierra del Fuego, or Isla Grande (48,000 sq km), and numerous smaller islands, including Navarino and Hoste. Cape Horn, located on Horn Island, is the southernmost point in South America.

In the northeast of the island of Tierra del Fuego, there are hilly moraine plains and lowlands. The west and south of the archipelago are marked by the sharply dissected ridges of the Andes, with elevations to 2,469 m, and by fjords and straits and considerable modern glaciation. The snow line lies at an elevation of 600–800 m. Tierra del Fuego has a temperate marine climate, with an average January temperature of 10°–11°C and a July temperature of 0°–2°C. The annual precipitation amounts to as much as 2,000 mm in the west and south and about 500 mm in the northeast. Accordingly, in the west and south there are low deciduous and evergreen forests, primarily the beech Nothofagus, and in the northeast, there is meadow-steppe vegetation. There are many peat bogs. Industries include sheep raising, fishing, oil and gas extraction in the northern part of the island of Tierra del Fuego, and oil refining. The largest town is Ushuaia.

Tierra del Fuego was discovered in 1520 by F. Magellan, who named it “Land of Fire,” because of the great number of fires, explained by some as bonfires and by others as fires on boats.