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The Wollaston Islands () are a group of islands in Chile south of Navarino Island and north of Cape Horn and east of the
Cape Horn Pilot website
/ref> The Yahgan lived throughout central Tierra del Fuego to Cape Horn. Numerous place names reflect British interests in the 19th century. In the later 19th century, Wollaston was the site of an English South American Mission Society to the Yahgan. (See Martin Gusinde Anthropological Museum#Stirling Pavilion). After Chile and Argentina achieved independence, they asserted their claims in this area. The Boundary Treaty of 1881 between Chile and Argentina ceded the islands south of the Beagle Channel to Chile, but in 1904 Argentina claimed the islands. In 1978 Argentina started the
Hoste Island
Hoste Island () is one of the southernmost islands in Chile, lying south, across the Beagle Channel, from Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego and west of Navarino Island, from which it is separated by the Murray Channel. Hoste Island has the souther ...
. The islands are ''Grevy'', ''Bayly'', ''Wollaston'' and ''Freycinet'', as well as the islets ''Dédalo'', ''Surgidero'', ''Diana'', ''Otarie'', ''Middle'' and ''Adriana''. The islands are part of Cabo de Hornos National Park
Cabo de Hornos National Park is a protected area in southern Chile that was designated a Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO in 2005, along with Alberto de Agostini National Park. The world's southernmost national park, it is located 12 hours by boat from ...
.
Geography
The islands are located north of theHermite Islands
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The Hermite Islands () are the islands ''Hermite'', ''Herschel'', ''Deceit'' and ''Hornos'' as well as the islets ''Maxwell'', ''Jerdán'', ''Arrecife'', ''Chanticleer'', ''Hall'', ''Deceit (islet)'', and ''Hasse'' at almost the southe ...
and separated from them by the ''Franklin Channel''. The islets ''Terhalten'', ''Sesambre'', ''Evout'' and ''Barnevelt'' are located easterly and are not considered part of the Wollaston islands. North of the islands is Nassau Bay.
History
The islands were named between 1829 and 1831 by the British naval officer Henry Foster, after the English scientist William Hyde Wollaston. The indigenous name in the Yahgan language was ''Yachkusin'', "place of islands"./ref> The Yahgan lived throughout central Tierra del Fuego to Cape Horn. Numerous place names reflect British interests in the 19th century. In the later 19th century, Wollaston was the site of an English South American Mission Society to the Yahgan. (See Martin Gusinde Anthropological Museum#Stirling Pavilion). After Chile and Argentina achieved independence, they asserted their claims in this area. The Boundary Treaty of 1881 between Chile and Argentina ceded the islands south of the Beagle Channel to Chile, but in 1904 Argentina claimed the islands. In 1978 Argentina started the
Operation Soberanía
Operación Soberanía (Operation Sovereignty) was a planned Argentine military invasion of Chile due to the Beagle conflict. The invasion was initiated on 22 December 1978 but was halted after a few hours and Argentine forces retreated from the con ...
to occupy the islands around Cape Horn and then, in a second phase, either to stop or continue hostilities according to the Chilean reaction. The invasion was halted after a few hours. In 1982, after the invasion of the Falklands, the Argentine government planned also the invasion of the islands south of the Beagle Channel.
See also
* List of islands of Chile *Hermite Islands
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The Hermite Islands () are the islands ''Hermite'', ''Herschel'', ''Deceit'' and ''Hornos'' as well as the islets ''Maxwell'', ''Jerdán'', ''Arrecife'', ''Chanticleer'', ''Hall'', ''Deceit (islet)'', and ''Hasse'' at almost the southe ...
, the islands south of Wollaston
* Diego Ramírez Islands, the southernmost islands of the region
*
References
{{authority control Archipelagoes of Chile Archipelagoes of the Pacific Ocean Uninhabited islands of Chile Islands of Tierra del Fuego