pop (2000e) 78 200; area 73 746 km²/28 473 sq mi. Island group at the extreme S of South America; E side (about one third) belongs to Argentina (National Territory), remainder belongs to Chile; boundary agreed in 1881; bounded by the Magellan Strait (N), Atlantic Ocean (E), Pacific Ocean (W), and Beagle Channel (S); highest point Monte Darwin (2438 m/7999 ft); Cape Horn southernmost point; discovered by Magellan 1520; capital (Argentina) Ushuaia, southernmost town in the world on Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego; capital (on Chile mainland), Punta Arenas; sheep, timber, fishing, oil, natural gas; dispute over islands at E end of Beagle Channel, resolved in 1985 in favour of Chile.
Tierra del Fuego (Spanish for "Land of Fire") (English pronunciation [tiˈɛɹə dɛl ˈfwego];
Geography
The archipelago consists of a main island (Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego, often simply called Tierra del Fuego or Isla Grande) with an area of 48,100 km² , and a group of smaller islands.
Half of this island, and the islands west and south of it, are part of the Magallanes Region of Chile, the capital and chief town of which is Punta Arenas, situated on the mainland across the strait.
The eastern part of the archipelago belongs to Argentina, being part of the Tierra del Fuego Province;
History
Its name comes from Ferdinand Magellan, who was the first European to pass it in 1520.
Four native Fuegians, including "Jemmy Button" (Orundellico), were brought from Tierra del Fuego by Robert Fitzroy on his first voyage with the Beagle in 1830. The surviving three returned to Tierra del Fuego with the Beagle with Charles Darwin, who made extensive notes about his visit to the islands.
Flora
There are only three species of trees found in Tierra Del Fuego: Canelo or Winter's Bark (Drimys winteri), and two kinds of Southern Beech, Nothofagus antarctica and Nothofagus pumilio.
Economy
The main industries are oil, natural gas, sheep farming and ecotourism.
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