Ushuaia, world’s most southern town

Ushuaia, pronounced [u’swaia], is the capital of the province of Tierra del Fuego in southern Argentina. While this is not the most southern settlement, it is generally labelled as the “southernmost town” in the world, a title long disputed by the much smaller Puerto Williams.

Puerto Williams, southeast of Ushuaia on the Chilean island of Navarino, is further south but has only 2,900 inhabitants compared with Ushuaia’s population of more than 60,000. As Ushuaia is commonly regarded as the “southernmost town,” it leaves Puerto Williams with the title of “southernmost village.”

To the northwest of Ushuaia is the town of Punta Arenas, Chile, which is a third contender for the title. Punta Arenas has a population of over 120,000 which qualifies it as the “southernmost city” in the world.

How about the southernmost settlement in the world? In other words, what is the furthest south any humans have been living continuously for an extended period of time? This would exclude Antarctica which only has temporary settlements comprised mainly of scientists rather than being continuously inhabited.

Puerto Toro is a tiny continuously inhabited settlement south of Puerto Williams and also located on Isla Navarino, Chile. Puerto Toro is home to about a hundred people. Amongst them are fishermen, teachers, policemen and sailors who live here with their families.

It has a significant seasonal population during the fishing high season, mainly focused on the extraction of spider crabs. The town was founded in 1892 during the gold rush when the Chilean government wanted to have an administrative colony in this region.

Now that we have cleared up the titles, let’s get back to the “southernmost town” in the world: Ushuaia.

Ushuaia is located in a wide bay on the southern coast of the island known as “Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego.”  Guarded on the north by the Martial Mountain range and on the south by the Beagle Channel, the town has a sizeable population of more than 60,000.

The first humans to settle in the Tierra del Fuego dates back about 10,000 years when the Selk’nam Indians, also called the Ona, arrived. Their southern splinter group, referred to as the Yaghan or Yámana, occupied the area which now is known as Ushuaia.

Ushuaia in 1884 and the town’s population slowly grew. However, epidemics including typhus, pertussis, and measles decimated the native population and by 1911 the Yámana had all practically vanished.  To boost the small population, the Argentine government started sending re-offenders and dangerous prisoners, as well as political prisoners from Buenos Aires to the new jail in Ushuaia. The prisoners were subjected to hard labour both inside the prison grounds and outside. As forced colonists, they spent much of their time building the new town of Ushuaia with timber collected from the lush forest around the town. They also constructed a short railway to transport rock, sand and timber to expand the prison and the town.

It is a pleasant day trip into the nearby Parque Nacional Tierra Del Fuego. Established in 1960 and expanded in 1966, the park is well known for its dramatic scenery with waterfalls, forests, mountains and glaciers.

Also look out for several species of mammals, including the guanaco, Andean fox, and the North American beaver. Ignore the many European rabbits as they don’t belong here, and neither do other introduced species such as the Canadian beaver, the muskrat, the mink and the armadillo.

A pair of European rabbits was introduced to the Chilean side of Tierra del Fuego island in 1936 and knowing these bunnies, they multiplied rapidly. Due to these unwelcome breeders, the ground in many parts of the park became riddled with holes and some areas became denuded of vegetation.

Back in 1953 their numbers were estimated to be a whopping 30 million. In an attempt to control them, grey foxes, which never existed on Tierra del Fuego Island, were released in 1951. The grey fox and the native Patagonian fox did not do much to control the rabbit population, so the much feared myxoma virus was introduced which almost decimated the rabbit population. However, there are still plenty of rabbits to be seen within the park.

Among the many species of birds are the Kelp goose, Upland goose, Torrent duck, Southern crested caracara, Austral parakeet, Andean condor, Blackish oystercatcher, and the Magellanic oystercatcher.

In addition to the fauna and flora, the park is also famous for being the southern terminus of the Pan-American Highway (National Route 3), a highway which runs 3,045 kilometres (1,892 mi) all the way from the nation’s capital, Buenos Aires.