The Guayaneco Archipelago ( es, Archipiélago Guayaneco) is an archipelago in southern

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 ...

. 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 the most recent ice age. These glaciers dissected these mountain islands into a series of deep river valleys and glacial troughs. Today these glacial troughs are deep channels and

fjords In physical geography, a fjord or fiord () is a long, narrow inlet with steep sides or cliffs, created by a glacier. Fjords exist on the coasts of Alaska, Antarctica, British Columbia, Chile, Denmark, Germany, Greenland, the Faroe Islands, Icela ...

. The islands of the Guayaneco Archipelago comprise a series of elongated islands and deep bays that are the traces of a drowned coastal range. A number of deep channels are traversing generally north to south through the islands. These include the Messier Channel in the lower left portion of the image, and the Fallos Channel near the center of the image. Forests cover the lower slopes of the mountains throughout the many islands. Human settlement on these islands is scarce.

History

The archipelago is thought to have been a cohabitational contact zone between different canoe-faring indigenous peoples living north and south of it.Montgomery Cooper, John (1917). Analytical and Critical Bibliography of the Tribes of Tierra Del Fuego and Adjacent Territory. p. 40. John Montgomery Cooper points out that it possibly made up a "meeting ground of quasi-friendly bilingual tribes". The islands were first reached by Jesuits based in Chiloé in 1613. In 1741 HMS ''Wager'' wrecked in Wager Island, Guayaneco Archipelago. The survivors of the wreck were rescued by a party of indigenous Chono travelling in

dalca The dalca or piragua is a type of canoe employed by the Chonos, a nomadic indigenous people of southern Chile, and Huilliche people living in Chiloé archipelago. It was a light boat and ideal for navigating local waterways, including between is ...

s and led by Martín Olleta. Following the forceful depopulation of

Chonos Archipelago The Chonos Archipelago is a series of low, mountainous, elongated islands with deep bays, traces of a submerged Chilean Coast Range. Most of the islands are forested with little or no human settlement. The deep Moraleda Channel separates the isl ...

by the Spanish in the 18th century, many Chonos sought refuge in the Guayaneco Archipelago. With some likehood, this led to the assimilation of Chono families into the Kawésqar who survive into the present.

References

National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Archipelagoes of Chile Archipelagoes of the Pacific Ocean Islands of Aysén Region Islands of Magallanes Region {{Aisén-geo-stub