Bundikin · Discovery city
Ushuaia
The end of the world · Tierra del Fuego, Argentina
A mission in the 1880s; a city that still faces Antarctica
Ushuaia is often called the southernmost city in the world. It clings to the Beagle Channel with mountains at its back and wind that does not unpack. The Yaghan people knew these waters long before a British mission and an Argentine prison made a town of it.
A prison built in the early 20th century supplied labor for timber and civic works; the old cells are now a museum. Today the port sends ships toward Cape Horn and Antarctica, and the piers stay slick with the next weather system already on its way.
Things worth knowing
- The Beagle Channel was named for Darwin's ship, HMS Beagle, which passed in 1833.
- Tierra del Fuego means 'land of fire,' a name Magellan's crew gave after seeing Yaghan hearth smoke along the shore.
- The Southern Fuegian Railway — the 'Train of the End of the World' — began as a prison line hauling timber.
- Ushuaia is a common last stop for Antarctic expeditions, which is why parkas outnumber umbrellas.
- Summer here is still coat weather. The wind reads your plans and edits them.
