Everything about Ushuaia totally explained
Ushuaia is the capital of the
Argentine province of
Tierra del Fuego, and by agreement the world's second-southernmost city (see discussion below). It is located on the southern coast of the island of
Tierra del Fuego in a wide bay, guarded on the north by the Martial mountain range and on the south by the
Beagle Channel. Its population in 1999 was estimated at 57,300
It is the only municipality of the
Department of Ushuaia, which has an area of .
The city was originally named by early
British colonists after the name that the native
Yámana people had for the area. Much of the early history of the city and its hinterland is described in great detail in
Lucas Bridges’s book
Uttermost Part of the Earth (1948).
For most of the first half of the 20th century, the city was centered around a prison for serious criminals. The Argentine government set up this prison following the example of the British with
Australia or the French with
Devil's Island: escape from a prison on Tierra del Fuego was similarly impossible. The prisoners thus became forced colonists and spent much of their time cutting wood in the forest around the prison and building the town. They also built a railway to the settlement, now a tourist attraction known as the
End of the World Train (
Tren del Fin del Mundo), the southernmost railway in the world.
Ushuaia is surrounded by
Magellanic subpolar forests; on the hills around the town we can find indigenous trees of the area:
Drimys winteri (Winter's bark),
Maytenus magellanica (hard log mayten) and several species of
Nothofagus that give to the landscape a magnificent greenness.
Tourism
Ushuaia is a key access point to the southern regions; it receives regular flights from
Buenos Aires at
Ushuaia International Airport. The city itself is a popular vacation spot for Buenos Aires. Flights are also available from
Santiago, Chile.
The tourist attractions include the
Tierra del Fuego National Park to see
Lapataia Bay; the park can be reached on the
End of the World Train (
Tren del Fin del Mundo) from Ushuaia. The city has a museum of Yamana, English, and Argentine settlement, including its years as a prison colony. Wildlife attractions include local birds,
penguins and
orcas as seen on the islands in the
Beagle Channel. There are daily bus tours to
Harberton, the estancia of the Bridges family. Some tours also visit the
Les Eclaireurs Lighthouse, known as the Lighthouse at the End of the World (
Faro del fin del mundo) — although it isn't the same lighthouse as the one made famous by
Jules Verne in the novel of the same name.
There are a number of
ski areas nearby, like
Cerro Castor and
Glaciar Martial. The glacier is also a tourist destination during the summer months, when the chairlift operates in both directions. Hiking trails lead from the city's edge to the base of the glacier, which has shrunk dramatically over the past century, as shown in photographs on display. Cerro Castor is a mount located 27 km (17 miles) north of Ushuaia; it's possible to ski hardly 200 m (660 ft) above sea level reaching the summit at 1057 meters (3468 ft) above sea level. Constant temperatures allow the longest skiing season in South America: in winters temperatures fluctuate between 0º and -5°C (32 to 23°F). On its lowest slopes forests can be appreciated.
Cruise ships visiting the
Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas) and
Antarctica dock at the port, as well as
Princess Cruises,
Holland America,
Celebrity Cruises which transit between
Valparaíso,
Chile, to
Buenos Aires and beyond.
Orient Lines,
MS Marco Polo,
Regent Seven Seas Cruises,
Hurtigruten and other ships provide expeditions to Antarctica out of Ushuaia. The cruise boats periodically do scenic cruising to Antarctica, as do expedition yachts such as
S/V Seal and
S/V Pelagic.
Tourists can also visit Cape Horn island (in Chilean waters) by boat or helicopter.
Climate
Despite receiving only of precipitation yearly on average, Ushuaia's climate is very wet. On average, the city experiences 160 days of rain or snow a year, and there are many cloudy and foggy days. Because temperatures are cool throughout the year, there's little evaporation. Snowfalls are common in winter and regularly happen in any season, including summer.
It belongs to the subpolar oceanic climate. And advancing to the southern outer islands the southwestern winds makes them wetter, achieving at Isla de los Estados (Staten Island). Averages temperatures coldest month: 1°C (33°F) and warmest month: 9°C (48°F). Record low -20 °C (-4°F) (July), record high 31 °C (87.8°F) (December) and record low ever recorded in summer -6 °C (21°F) (February).
Towns in the world with similar climate include
Thorshavn,
Faroe Islands;
Dutch Harbor,
Alaska;
Reykjavik,
Iceland;
Stanley, Falkland Islands.
Very strong winds whip the town. Trees that grow in Ushuaia tend to follow the wind direction, and therefore they're called "flag-trees", named after the bend that they're forced to take.
"Southernmost city"
Ushuaia claims to be the "Southernmost city in the world.". There are two other contenders for the title of southernmost city;
Puerto Williams on the Chilean island of Navarino (farther south but it has only 2500 inhabitants); and
Punta Arenas, in Chile (much larger but farther north). Several continuously inhabited settlements also south of Ushuaia include
Puerto Toro on
Isla Navarino,
Chile,
Orcadas in the
South Orkney Islands, and
Esperanza in the Argentine Antarctic territory. Each of these settlements has fewer than 100 residents.
Orcadas and Esperanza are considered stations or bases by nations that don't recognise Argentina's Antarctic territorial claim, but are regarded as permanent communities by the Argentine government. Esperanza has a secondary school, a chapel, and a radio station.
The main reasons that Ushuaia can claim to be the "Southernmost
City in the World" are that Ushuaia has a fully functional hospital, institutions of higher learning as well as secondary schools, industrial sector which is mainly the presence of the large Grundig electronics plant, currently named 'Renacer', an organized transportation system and a functioning municipality, all of which allow to make it an actual city on its own right: "an urban settlement of a particularly important status". Ushuaia is also the Capital city of the Tierra del Fuego Province. .
While all these characteristics are shared with the much larger city of Punta Arenas, in Chile, Ushuaia is located about 200 Km south of it and, on the other hand, Puerto Williams has very little productive activities and most of its population are military personnel stationed there.
Despite all said, since 1998 the governments of Chile and Argentina agreed to allow Puerto Williams to display the title of the southernmost city in the world.
TV program
"Ushuaïa, le magazine de l'Extrême" was the name of a television program, presented by
Nicolas Hulot and broadcast on the French TV channel
TF1 from
September 1987 to
June 1995. The show is known in English as
Ushuaia: The Ultimate Adventure, and this language's version was hosted by
Perri Peltz and was shown on
NBC,
CNBC, and international affiliates of the
Discovery Channel.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Ushuaia'.
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