This island has a special name: Tierra del Fuego (
). And some say it was once known as the Land of Smoke.
Legend has it that, after his expedition through the strait that now bears his name, Magellan recalled seeing a great plume of smoke rising from the coast of this island.
When these stories reached Europe, someone decided to arbitrarily change the name to Tierra del Fuego.
Where there's smoke, there's fire, right?
By the way, Tierra del Fuego was colonized by Europeans starting in the mid-19th century, and its population grew slowly.
Argentina and Chile had border disputes, and both sought to assert their sovereignty.
In 1884, Ushuaia was founded in the south of the island, on the shores of the Beagle Channel.
The town grew thanks to the famous prison, which is now a museum.
Maritime traffic is of great importance, and the tourism industry attracts hundreds of tourists to this place: the end of the world and also the end of the Pan-American Highway.
Many people travel from Alaska to Ushuaia or in the opposite direction. It’s a 17,000-kilometer adventure.
