Tierra del Fuego Province ( es, Provincia de Tierra del Fuego) is one of four

provinces A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman '' provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

in the 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 eas ...

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics ( physical geography), human impact characteristics ( human geography), and the interaction of humanity an ...

of Magallanes and Antártica Chilena (XII). It includes the Chilean or western part of the main island of Tierra del Fuego, except for the part south of the

Cordillera Darwin The Cordillera Darwin is an extensive mountain range mantled by an ice field that is located in Chile. Description Cordillera Darwin is located in the southwestern portion of Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego, entirely within the Chilean territory. ...

, which is in

Antártica Chilena Province Antártica Chilena Province ( es, Provincia Antártica Chilena) is the southernmost and one of four provinces in Chile's southernmost region, Magallanes and Antártica Chilena Region (XII). The capital is Puerto Williams. The province comprises ...

. (

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 List of South American countries by area, second-largest ...

also has a Tierra del Fuego Province.) Chilean Tierra del Fuego has two towns, Porvenir, capital of the province, and

Cerro Sombrero Cerro Sombrero (Spanish for "Hat Hill") is a village ( es, aldea) in southern Chile. It is located in the Primavera commune in the Magallanes Region, in the northern part of Tierra del Fuego, about 125 km from Porvenir. According to the 2 ...

, and a number of small villages. A key geographical feature is Bahía Inútil ("Useless Bay"), so named by British geographers in the late 19th century because the bay is not useful as a port.

Geology and hydrography

Gold-bearing sands have been recorded at a number of sites within the Fuegan shores of the Tierra del Fuego Province. Chilean Tierra del Fuego is known for numerous small lakes, including Lago Blanco and

Lago Deseado __NOTOC__ Lago, which means "lake" in Italian, Portuguese, Spanish and Galician, may refer to: Places *Lago, Calabria, a ''comune'' in the Province of Cosenza, Italy *Lago, Mexico, a municipality zone in the State of Mexico *Lago District, a ''dis ...

. The climate is

Subpolar Oceanic An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate, is the humid temperate climate sub-type in Köppen classification ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of continents, generally featuring cool summers and mild winters ( ...

, bordering on a

Tundra climate The tundra climate is a polar climate sub-type located in high latitudes and high mountains. undra climate https://www.britannica.com/science/tundra-climateThe Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2019 It is classified as ET according to Köppen ...

Demography

According to the 2002 census by the National Statistics Institute (''INE''), the province spans an area of and had a population of 6,904 inhabitants (4,418 men and 2,486 women), giving it a population density of . It is the third most sparsely populated province in the country after Antártica Chilena and Capitan Prat, and it is the fifth least-populated province in the country. Of these, 4,734 (68.6%) lived in urban areas and 2,170 (31.4%) in rural areas. Between the 1992 and 2002 censuses, the population fell by 1.2% (81 persons).

History

The shores among the islands have provided settlement locations for thousands of years of early humans in the Americas. In particular, the Wulaia Bay area of

Navarino Island Navarino Island () is a Chilean island located between Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego, to the north, and Cape Horn, to the south. The island forms part of the Commune of Cabo de Hornos, the southernmost commune in Chile and in the world, belong ...

(south of the province) has yielded evidence of settlement by the

Yaghan people The Yahgan (also called Yagán, Yaghan, Yámana, Yamana or Tequenica) are a group of indigenous peoples in the Southern Cone. Their traditional territory includes the islands south of Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego, extending their presence int ...

more than 10,000 years ago.C. Michael Hogan, 2008 A goldrush occurred in the late 19th and early 20th century.

References

* C. Michael Hogan (2008
"Bahia Wulaia Dome Middens"
The Megalithic Portal'', ed. Andy Burnham * J. Rabassa (2008) ''The Late Cenozoic of Patagonia and Tierra Del Fuego'', Elsevier, 524 pages {{DEFAULTSORT:Tierra Del Fuego Province, Chile Provinces of Chile Provinces of Magallanes Region

Geology and hydrography

Demography

History

See also

References