Bernardo O'Higgins National Park () is the largest of the
protected area
Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural, ecological or cultural values. There are several kinds of protected areas, which vary by level of protection depending on the ena ...
s in
Chile
Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...
, covering an area of
in both the
Aysén and
Magallanes and Antártica Chilena regions.
Management of this and other national parks in Chile is entrusted to the ''
Corporación Nacional Forestal
The National Forest Corporation or CONAF (Corporación Nacional Forestal) is a Chilean private, non-profit organization, through which the Chilean state contributes to the development and sustainable management of the country's forest resources. C ...
'' (CONAF).
The park is named after General
Bernardo O'Higgins
Bernardo O'Higgins Riquelme (; August 20, 1778 – October 24, 1842) was a Chilean independence leader who freed Chile from Spanish rule in the Chilean War of Independence. He was a wealthy landowner of Basque-Spanish and Irish ancestry. Althou ...
, the first head of state of the Republic of Chile.
Los Glaciares National Park
Los Glaciares National Park ( es, Parque Nacional Los Glaciares) is a federal protected area in Santa Cruz Province, Argentina.
The park covers an area of , making it the largest national park in the country.
Established on 11 May 1937, it host ...
(
Argentina
Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
) and
Torres del Paine National Park
Torres del Paine National Park ( es, Parque Nacional Torres del Paine) is a national park encompassing mountains, glaciers, lakes, and rivers in southern Chilean Patagonia. The Cordillera del Paine is the centerpiece of the park. It lies in a tr ...
are its neighbours to the east,
Laguna San Rafael National Park
Laguna San Rafael National Park () is a park located on the Pacific coast of southern Chile. The park is named for the San Rafael Lagoon formed by the retreat of the San Rafael Glacier. Created in 1959, it covers an area of and includes the Nort ...
is located to the north, the
Alacalufes National Reserve to the southwest and the
Katalalixar National Reserve
Katalalixar National Reserve is a natural reserve located in an archipelago between Southern Patagonian Ice Field, and Northern Patagonian Ice Field in Aysén del General Carlos Ibáñez del Campo Region of Chile. The reserve was created in 1983 ...
to the northwest.
History
The earliest occupants of the area were the
Alacaluf people.
In 1830, the then-Captain
Phillip Parker King
Rear Admiral Phillip Parker King, FRS, RN (13 December 1791 – 26 February 1856) was an early explorer of the Australian and Patagonian coasts.
Early life and education
King was born on Norfolk Island, to Philip Gidley King and Anna Jo ...
on board
HMS ''Beagle'' visited the
Eyre Fjord
Eyre Fjord is a fjord in Chile
Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of l ...
.
[
]
In June 2007, it was announced that between March and May 2007 all the water within a glacial lake located within the park had disappeared, leaving behind a 100-foot-deep crater. Only some blocks of ice, previously floating on the lake, remained behind on the crater floor. In July 2007, scientists were able to draw the preliminary conclusion that the disappearance occurred as a result of climate change.
[NBC News: Climate Change Likely Culprit in Vanishing Lake](_blank)
/ref>
Geography
The park is located approximately between 48° and 51° 38' South Latitude
In geography, latitude is a coordinate that specifies the north– south position of a point on the surface of the Earth or another celestial body. Latitude is given as an angle that ranges from –90° at the south pole to 90° at the north pol ...
(between the Baker Channel
Baker Channel, also known as Calen Inlet, is a channel of Chile located in the Tortel, Aysén del General Carlos Ibáñez del Campo Region. The Baker River discharges into Martinez Inlet, the northern part of this large estuary. It penetrates t ...
and the northern part of the Fjord of the Mountains. The east-central area of the park is subject to a territorial dispute between Chile and Argentina. The highest summit is the Lautaro
Lautaro (Anglicized as 'Levtaru') ( arn, Lef-Traru " swift hawk") (; 1534? – April 29, 1557) was a young Mapuche toqui known for leading the indigenous resistance against Spanish conquest in Chile and developing the tactics that would conti ...
volcano at . Other summits include the Mount Fitz Roy, the Cerro Torre
Cerro Torre is one of the mountains of the Southern Patagonian Ice Field in South America. It is located in Argentina and Chile, west of Fitz Roy (also known as Cerro Chaltén). The peak is the highest of a four mountain chain: the other peaks a ...
and the Cerro Riso Patrón
Cerro is Spanish for "hill" or "mountain".
Toponyms
;Bolivia:
* Cerro Rico, the "Rich Mountain" containing silver ore near Potosi, Bolivia
;Brazil:
*Cerro Branco, a municipality of Rio Grande do Sul
*Cerro Grande, Rio Grande do Sul, a municipa ...
. The elevations are lower in the southern part of the park, but the scenery is still spectacular. The highlight of this zone is Mount Balmaceda
Monte Balmaceda is a heavily glaciated mountain located in the Magallanes Region of Chile. It stands at the head of Última Esperanza Sound, in the south portion of Bernardo O'Higgins National Park and near the mouth of the Serrano River. The ...
at , beautified by the glaciers Balmaceda and Serrano.
There are no large rivers on the park coast, but the narrow fjords penetrate deeply into the mountains and bring away the drainage of their ice-capped, storm-swept elevations.
Geology
Glaciers
The park includes a great part of the Southern Patagonian Ice Field
The Southern Patagonian Ice Field ( es, Hielo Continental or '), located at the Southern Patagonic Andes between Chile and Argentina, is the world's second largest contiguous extrapolar ice field. It is the bigger of two remnant parts of the Pat ...
. One of its main attractions is the Glacier Pío XI, from which enormous ice blocks periodically spall. The Pío XI glacier is the largest glacier in the southern hemisphere outside of Antarctica, covering an area of , and has advanced over the past 50 years by more than ; one of its tongues measures approximately . The ice face of the glacier is approximately in height (about 30 floors of a conventional building) and the falling ice generates waves exceeding in height; significant enough to rock larger vessels. Other outlet glaciers are Chico, O'Higgins, Jorge Montt
Jorge Montt Álvarez (; April 26, 1845 – October 8, 1922) was a vice admiral in the Chilean Navy and president of Chile from 1891 to 1896.L.S. Rowe, "Passing of a Great Figure in Chilean History." ''Bulletin Pan American Union'' 55 (1922): ...
, Bernardo
Bernardo is a given name and less frequently an Italian, Portuguese and Spanish surname. Possibly from the Germanic "Bernhard".
Given name People
* Bernardo the Japanese (died 1557), early Japanese Christian convert and disciple of Saint Fra ...
, Témpano, Occidental
Occidental may refer to:
* Western world (of or pertaining to)
Places
*Occidental, California, a town in Sonoma County, California, US
* Occidental Park (Seattle)
Other uses
* Interlingue, a constructed language formerly known as Occidental
* Oc ...
, Greve, Penguin
Penguins (order (biology), order List of Sphenisciformes by population, Sphenisciformes , family (biology), family Spheniscidae ) are a group of Water bird, aquatic flightless birds. They live almost exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere: on ...
and Amalia.
Biology
The area of the park corresponds to the Magellanic subpolar forests
The Magellanic subpolar forests () are a terrestrial ecoregion of southernmost South America, covering parts of southern Chile and Argentina, and are part of the Neotropical realm. It is a temperate broadleaf and mixed forests ecoregion, and ...
ecoregion.
The forests are made up of several trees species, including ''Nothofagus betuloides
''Nothofagus betuloides'', Magellan's beech or ''guindo'', is a tree native to southern Patagonia.
In 1769, Sir Joseph Banks collected a specimen of the tree in Tierra del Fuego during Captain Cook's first voyage.
Its occurrence on Hornos Isla ...
'', ''Nothofagus pumilio
''Nothofagus pumilio'', the lenga beech (from the Mapuche language), is a deciduous tree or shrub in the Nothofagaceae family that is native to the southern Andes range, in the temperate forests of Chile and Argentina to Tierra del Fuego, from 35 ...
'', ''Nothofagus antarctica
''Nothofagus antarctica'' (''Antarctic beech''; in Spanish ''Ñire'' or ''Ñirre'') is a deciduous tree or shrub native to southern Chile and Argentina from about 36°S to Tierra del Fuego (56° S), where it grows mainly in the diminishing tempe ...
'' and ''Drimys winteri
''Drimys winteri'', the winter's bark or canelo, is a slender tree in the family Winteraceae, growing up to tall. It is native to the Magellanic and Valdivian temperate rain forests of Chile and Argentina, where it is a dominant tree in the coas ...
''.
The park is one of the last refuges for the Chilean huemul
The south Andean deer (''Hippocamelus bisulcus''), also known as the southern guemal, south Andean huemul, southern huemul, or Chilean ''huemul'' or '' güemul'' ( , ), is an endangered species of deer native to the mountains of Argentina and Chi ...
. In this also can be found species such as Andean condor
The Andean condor (''Vultur gryphus'') is a giant South American Cathartid vulture and is the only member of the genus ''Vultur''. Found in the Andes mountains and adjacent Pacific coasts of western South America, the Andean condor is the larg ...
, marine otter
The marine otter (''Lontra felina'') is a rare and relatively unknown South American mammal of the weasel family ( Mustelidae). The scientific name means "otter cat", and in Spanish, the marine otter is also often referred to as : "marine c ...
and cormorant
Phalacrocoracidae is a family of approximately 40 species of aquatic birds commonly known as cormorants and shags. Several different classifications of the family have been proposed, but in 2021 the IOC adopted a consensus taxonomy of seven ge ...
.
Tourism
Because of its rugged geography and the remoteness of the area, the tourism in the park has been scarcely developed. It is only accessible by boat or helicopter. The glaciers located at the head of Última Esperanza Sound
Última Esperanza Sound ( es, Seno de Última Esperanza, ‘Last Hope Sound’ or 'Inlet of Last Hope') is an inlet stretching from the mouth of Eberhard Fjord to the outskirts of Monte Balmaceda, within the Magallanes Basin. The navigator Juan ...
and the glacier Pío XI are the most visited areas of the park. The main gateways for visitors to the park are Puerto Natales
Puerto Natales is a city in Chilean Patagonia. It is the capital of both the commune of Natales and the province of Última Esperanza, one of the four provinces that make up the Magallanes and Antartica Chilena Region in the southernmost part ...
, Villa O'Higgins
__NOTOC__
Villa O'Higgins is a small town in the Aysén Region of southern Chile, located 220 km south of Cochrane and 550 km south of Coyhaique. Founded in 1966 and named after the Chilean independence hero Bernardo O'Higgins, it is the capital ...
, Caleta Tortel
Caleta Tortel is a coastal village ( es, aldea) in Chile. It is the administrative centre of the commune of Tortel and is located between the mouth of the Baker River the largest river in Chile and a small embayment of the Baker Channel. The surr ...
and Puerto Edén
Puerto, a Spanish word meaning ''seaport'', may refer to:
Places
* El Puerto de Santa María, Andalusia, Spain
*Puerto, a seaport town in Cagayan de Oro City, Philippines
* Puerto Colombia, Colombia
* Puerto Cumarebo, Venezuela
* Puerto Galera, O ...
. Sea kayak
A sea kayak or touring kayak is a kayak developed for the sport of paddling on open waters of lakes, bays, and the ocean. Sea kayaks are seaworthy small boats with a covered deck and the ability to incorporate a spray deck. They trade off the man ...
ing is a popular activity in the park.
See also
*Base General Bernardo O'Higgins Riquelme
Base General Bernardo O'Higgins Riquelme, also Base Libertador General Bernardo O'Higgins Riquelme, or shortly Bernardo O'Higgins, named after Bernardo O'Higgins, is a permanently staffed Chilean research station in Antarctica and the capital of ...
* Wellington Island
*Zona Austral
The Zona Austral (''Southernmost Zone'') is one of the five natural regions into which CORFO divided continental Chile in 1950 corresponding to the Chilean portion of Patagonia. It is surrounded by the Zona Sur and the Chacao Channel to the ...
*Guayaneco Archipelago
The Guayaneco Archipelago ( es, Archipiélago Guayaneco) is an archipelago in southern Chile. It consists of 2 main islands, :es:Isla Wager (to the east), :es:Isla Byron (to the west), and many smaller islands.
It was heavily glaciated during ...
* O'Higgins Lake
References
External links
WCS in Chile's O'Higgins National Park
{{Authority control
National parks of Chile
Protected areas of Magallanes Region
Protected areas of Aysén Region
Protected areas established in 1969
1969 establishments in Chile
1969 in Chilean law
Magellanic subpolar forests