Ushuaia
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Ushuaia is sometimes considered to be the southernmost city in the world. Ushuaia is located on the southern coast of Tierra del Fuego in Argentina, in a setting surrounded by mountains and overlooking the Beagle Channel. The city has about 50,000 inhabitants.
In other times, Puerto Williams was considered to be the southernmost city — it is further south, but has less inhabitants, thus some consider it to be a town rather than a city. The more populated Punta Arenas is also sometimes considered to be the southernmost city, but it is north of Ushuaia. The southernmost continuously inhabited settlement is Puerto Toro on Isla Navarino, however it has less than 100 people though and is rather a village.
The city was originally named by early British colonists after the name that the native Yamana people had for the area. For most of the first half of the 20th century the city was centered around a prison for serious criminals. The Argentinean government set up this prison following the example of the British in Australia: being a remote island, escape from a prison on Tierra del Fuego would have been impossible. The prisoners thus became forced colonists and spent much of their time cutting wood in the lands around the prison and building the town.
Also of interest are the Tierra del Fuego National Park to see the Bahia Lapataia on to the west on the border with Chile, and hiring a boat charter to Cape Horn (in Chilean waters). Some other tourist places are the birds, penguin and seawolves islands in the Beagle Channel. Some tours also makes some visits to the World's end Lighthouse, the one that was made famous by Jules Verne in the novel of the same name.
It is also a key access point to the southern regions; it receives regular flights from Buenos Aires, (at Ushuaia International Airport), and cruise ships visiting the Malvinas/Falkland islands and Antarctica dock at the port. There are a number of ski areas nearby.
"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.
External links
- Tourist information (English - Spanish) (http://www.patagonia-argentina.com/i/tierradelfuego/ushuaia/ushuaia.htm)
- Site of the television program (French - English) (http://www.ushuaia.com/)de:Ushuaia