Beagle Channel (; Yahgan: ''Onašaga'') is a

strait A strait is an oceanic landform connecting two seas or two other large areas of water. The surface water generally flows at the same elevation on both sides and through the strait in either direction. Most commonly, it is a narrow ocean channe ...

in the Tierra del Fuego Archipelago, on the extreme southern tip of

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

between

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 ...

and

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 ...

. The channel separates the larger main island of

Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego (English: ''Big Island of the Land of Fire'') also formerly ''Isla de Xátiva''Picton, Lennox and Nueva __NOTOC__ Picton, Lennox and Nueva () form a group of three islands (and their islets) at the extreme southern tip of South America, in the Chilean commune of Cabo de Hornos in Antártica Chilena Province, Magallanes and Antártica Chilena Reg ...

;

Navarino Navarino or Navarin may refer to: Battle * Battle of Navarino, 1827 naval battle off Navarino, Greece, now known as Pylos Geography * Navarino, Wisconsin, a town, United States * Navarino (community), Wisconsin, an unincorporated community, Unit ...

; Hoste; Londonderry; and Stewart. The channel's eastern area forms part of the border between Chile and Argentina and the western area is entirely within Chile. The Beagle Channel, the

Straits of Magellan The Strait of Magellan (), also called the Straits of Magellan, is a navigable sea route in southern Chile separating mainland South America to the north and Tierra del Fuego to the south. The strait is considered the most important natural pas ...

to the north, and the open-ocean

Drake Passage The Drake Passage (referred to as Mar de Hoces Hoces Sea"in Spanish-speaking countries) is the body of water between South America's Cape Horn, Chile and the South Shetland Islands of Antarctica. It connects the southwestern part of the Atla ...

to the south are the three navigable passages around South America between the

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

and

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

s. Most commercial shipping uses the open-ocean Drake Passage. The Beagle Channel is about long and wide at its narrowest point. It extends from Nueva Island in the east to

Darwin Sound The Darwin Sound is an expanse of seawater which forms a westward continuation of the Beagle Channel and links it to the Pacific Ocean at Londonderry Island and Stewart Island, not far from the southern tip of South America. It thus forms a naviga ...

and Cook Bay in the Pacific Ocean in the west. Some from its western end, it divides into two branches, north and south of

Gordon Island Gordon Island (Spanish: ''Isla Gordon'') is an island in the Tierra del Fuego archipelago located between the ''Tierra del Fuego'' (Isla Grande) and the Hoste Island. It divides the Beagle Channel in two arms, the Northwest arm or Pomar Channel a ...

. The southwest branch between Hoste Island and Gordon Island enters Cook Bay. The northwest branch between Gordon Island and Isla Grande enters Darwin Sound, which connects to the Pacific Ocean by the O'Brien and Ballenero channels. The biggest settlement on the channel is

Ushuaia Ushuaia ( , ) is the capital of Tierra del Fuego, Antártida e Islas del Atlántico Sur Province, Argentina. With a population of nearly 75,000 and a location below the 54th parallel south latitude, Ushuaia claims the title of world's southern ...

in Argentina followed by

Puerto Williams Puerto Williams (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Port Williams") is the city, port and naval base on Navarino Island in Chile. It faces the Beagle Channel. It is the Capital city, capital of Antártica Chilena Province, the Chilean Antarctic Prov ...

in Chile. These are amongst the

southernmost settlements Southernmost settlements are cities, towns, weather stations or permanent military bases which are farther south than latitude 45°S. They are closely related to the Southern Ocean or either the Roaring Forties or Furious Fifties. Antarctic bas ...

in the world. According to a

Selk'nam The Selk'nam, also known as the Onawo or Ona people, are an indigenous people in the Patagonian region of southern Argentina and Chile, including the Tierra del Fuego islands. They were one of the last native groups in South America to be enco ...

myth Myth is a folklore genre consisting of Narrative, narratives that play a fundamental role in a society, such as foundational tales or Origin myth, origin myths. Since "myth" is widely used to imply that a story is not Objectivity (philosophy), ...

the channel was created alongside the

Strait of Magellan The Strait of Magellan (), also called the Straits of Magellan, is a navigable sea route in southern Chile separating mainland South America to the north and Tierra del Fuego to the south. The strait is considered the most important natural pass ...

and

Fagnano Lake Fagnano Lake ( es, Lago Fagnano), also called ''Lake Cami'' (), is a lake located on the main island of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago, and shared by Argentina and Chile. The 645 km2 lake runs east–west for about 98 kilometres, of which ...

in places where slingshots fell on earth during Taiyín's fight with a witch who was said to have "retained the waters and the foods".

Navigation

Although it is navigable by large ships, there are safer waters to the south (

) and to the north (

). Under the

Treaty of Peace and Friendship of 1984 between Chile and Argentina The Treaty of Peace and Friendship of 1984 between Chile and Argentina ( es, Tratado de Paz y Amistad de 1984 entre Chile y Argentina, see the text in thUnited Nations was signed into agreement at the Vatican on 29 November 1984. It was ratified ...

, ships of other nations navigate with a Chilean

pilot An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its directional flight controls. Some other aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are also considered aviators, because they a ...

between the

and

through the

Magdalena Channel 350px, The channel is visible in the lower left corner. Magdalena Channel () is a Chilean channel joining the Strait of Magellan with the Cockburn Channel and is part of a major navigation route which ultimately connects with the Beagle Chann ...

and the

Cockburn Channel The Cockburn Channel () is a channel that separates the Brecknock Peninsula, which is the westernmost projection of the Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego, from Clarence Island, Capitán Aracena Island and other minor islands in Chile. It is located ...

to the Pacific Ocean, then by the Ballenero Channel, the O'Brien Channel and the northwest branch of the Beagle Channel.

Islands

The Beagle Channel is between islands covering a much larger area; to the north lies Argentine-Chilean

Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego (English: ''Big Island of the Land of Fire'') also formerly ''Isla de Xátiva''Hoste,

, and Picton and Nueva, which were claimed by Argentina until 1984. The latter two lie at the bi-national eastern entrance to the channel while the western entrance is wholly inside Chile. The western entrance of Beagle Channel is divided by

into two channels. Some minor islands exist inside the channel among them Snipe Islet and

Gable Island Gable Island ( es, Isla Gable) is an Argentine island part of Tierra del Fuego Province. The island is located on the northern side of east–west Beagle Channel less than from Tierra del Fuego Island and about from Chilean Navarino Island. T ...

. Except for eastern Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego and Gable Island all islands mentioned here belong to Chile.

History

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 ...

s settled the islands along the

Murray Channel The Murray Channel is a channel of Chile located in the Commune of Cabo de Hornos, in the Antártica Chilena Province of the Magallanes y la Antártica Chilena Region. It separates Hoste Island from Navarino Island and is bounded by the Beagle ...

approximately 10,000 years before present. There are notable

archaeological Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...

sites indicating such early Yaghan settlement at locations such as

Bahia Wulaia Bahia ( , , ; meaning "bay") is one of the 26 states of Brazil, located in the Northeast Region of the country. It is the fourth-largest Brazilian state by population (after São Paulo, Minas Gerais, and Rio de Janeiro) and the 5th-largest b ...

Isla Navarino 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 ...

, site of the ''Bahia Wulaia Dome Middens''.

Naming and Darwin visit

The channel was named after the ship HMS ''Beagle'' during its first

hydrographic survey Hydrographic survey is the science of measurement and description of features which affect maritime navigation, marine construction, dredging, offshore oil exploration/offshore oil drilling and related activities. Strong emphasis is placed ...

of the coasts of the southern part of South America which lasted from 1826 to 1830. During that expedition, under the overall command of Commander

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 ...

, the ''Beagle'' captain

Pringle Stokes Pringle Stokes (23 April 1793 – 12 August 1828) was a British naval officer who served in HMS '' Owen Glendower'' on a voyage around Cape Horn to the Pacific coast of South America, and on the West African coast fighting the slave trade. He th ...

committed suicide and was replaced by captain

Robert FitzRoy Vice-Admiral Robert FitzRoy (5 July 1805 – 30 April 1865) was an English officer of the Royal Navy and a scientist. He achieved lasting fame as the captain of during Charles Darwin's famous voyage, FitzRoy's second expedition to Tierra de ...

. The ship continued the survey in the second voyage of ''Beagle'' under the command of captain FitzRoy, who took

Charles Darwin Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all species of life have descended fr ...

along as a self-funding

supernumerary Supernumerary means "exceeding the usual number". Supernumerary may also refer to: * Supernumerary actor, a performer in a film, television show, or stage production who has no role or purpose other than to appear in the background, more commonl ...

, giving him opportunities as an amateur naturalist. Darwin had his first sight of

glacier A glacier (; ) is a persistent body of dense ice that is constantly moving under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its Ablation#Glaciology, ablation over many years, often Century, centuries. It acquires dis ...

s when they reached the channel on 29 January 1833, and wrote in his field notebook "It is scarcely possible to imagine anything more beautiful than the beryl-like blue of these glaciers, and especially as contrasted with the dead white of the upper expanse of snow."

Beagle conflict

Several small islands (

Picton, Lennox and Nueva __NOTOC__ Picton, Lennox and Nueva () form a group of three islands (and their islets) at the extreme southern tip of South America, in the Chilean commune of Cabo de Hornos in Antártica Chilena Province, Magallanes and Antártica Chilena Reg ...

) up to the

Cape Horn Cape Horn ( es, Cabo de Hornos, ) is the southernmost headland of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago of southern Chile, and is located on the small Hornos Island. Although not the most southerly point of South America (which are the Diego Ramírez ...

were the subject of the long-running

Beagle conflict The Beagle conflict was a border dispute between Chile and Argentina over the possession of Picton, Lennox and Nueva islands and the scope of the maritime jurisdiction associated with those islands that brought the countries to the brink of war i ...

between Chile and Argentina; by the terms of a

they are now part of Chile. From the 1950s to 1970s several incidents involving the Chilean and Argentine navies occurred in the waters of the Beagle Channel, for example the 1958

Snipe incident The Snipe incident was a military incident that took place between Chile and Argentina during 1958 as a result of a disputed border line in the Beagle Channel. The two countries disagreed about the sovereign rights over the zone and Snipe, an un ...

, the 1967 ''Cruz del Sur'' incident and the shelling of ''Quidora'' the same year. See

List of incidents during the Beagle conflict The increasing significance of Beagle channel region led to various incidents and confrontations between Chile and Argentina around transit and fishing rights, which could potentially lead to full-scale war. Argentine request for demarcation in ...

Beagle Channel in the Fine Arts

* As a ship's painter,

Conrad Martens Conrad Martens (21 March 1801 – 21 August 1878) was an English-born landscape painter active on HMS ''Beagle'' from 1833 to 1834. He arrived in Australia in 1835 and painted there until his death in 1878. Life and work Conrad Martens' f ...

drew and created watercolour paintings in 1833 and 1834 during the second voyage of HMS ''Beagle'' in

Tierra del Fuego Tierra del Fuego (, ; Spanish for "Land of the Fire", rarely also Fireland in English) is an archipelago off the southernmost tip of the South American mainland, across the Strait of Magellan. The archipelago consists of the main island, Isla G ...

Fauna

Beagle Channel is a prominent area to watch rare, endemic dolphins. Wildlife seen in the channel include the

South American sea lion The South American sea lion (''Otaria flavescens'', formerly ''Otaria byronia''), also called the southern sea lion and the Patagonian sea lion, is a sea lion found on the western and southeastern coasts of South America. It is the only member ...

South American fur seal The South American fur seal (''Arctocephalus australis'') breeds on the coasts of Peru, Chile, the Falkland Islands, Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil. The total population is around 250,000. However, population counts are sparse and outdated. Altho ...

Peale's dolphin Peale's dolphin (''Lagenorhynchus australis'') is a small dolphin found in the waters around Tierra del Fuego at the foot of South America. It is also commonly known as the black-chinned dolphin or even Peale's black-chinned dolphin. However, si ...

dusky dolphin The dusky dolphin (''Lagenorhynchus obscurus'') is a dolphin found in coastal waters in the Southern Hemisphere. Its specific epithet is Latin for "dark" or "dim". It is very closely genetically related to the Pacific white-sided dolphin, b ...

Commerson's dolphin Commerson's dolphin (''Cephalorhynchus commersonii''), also referred to by the common names jacobita, skunk dolphin, piebald dolphin, panda dolphin, or tonina overa (in South America), is a small oceanic dolphin of the genus ''Cephalorhynchus'' ...

Risso's dolphin Risso's dolphin (''Grampus griseus'') is a dolphin, the only species of the genus ''Grampus''. Some of the closest related species to these dolphins include: pilot whales (''Globicephala'' spp.), pygmy killer whales (''Feresa attenuata''), melon ...

Burmeister's porpoise Burmeister's porpoise (''Phocoena spinipinnis'') is a species of porpoise endemic to the coast of South America. It was first described by Hermann Burmeister, for whom the species is named, in 1865. Locally it is known as ''marsopa espinosa'' (t ...

spectacled porpoise The spectacled porpoise (''Phocoena dioptrica'') is a small to midsize porpoise indigenous to the Southern Ocean. It is one of the most poorly studied cetaceans, partly due to its remote range in the southern ocean. What little is known about th ...

Magellanic penguin The Magellanic penguin (''Spheniscus magellanicus'') is a South American penguin, breeding in coastal Patagonia, including Argentina, Chile, and the Falkland Islands, with some migrating to Brazil and Uruguay, where they are occasionally seen a ...

southern rockhopper penguin The southern rockhopper penguin group (''Eudyptes chrysocome''), is a species of rockhopper penguin, that is sometimes considered distinct from the northern rockhopper penguin. It occurs in subantarctic waters of the western Pacific and Indian O ...

upland goose The upland goose or Magellan goose (''Chloephaga picta'') is a sheldgoose of the Tadorninae, shelduck-sheldgoose subfamily of the Anatidae, the biological Family (biology), family that includes the ducks and most duck-like waterfowl such as the G ...

kelp goose The kelp goose (''Chloephaga hybrida'') is a species of waterfowl in tribe Tadornini of subfamily Anserinae. It is found in Argentina, Chile, and the Falkland Islands.HBW and BirdLife International (2021) Handbook of the Birds of the World and ...

crested duck The crested duck or South American crested duck (''Lophonetta specularioides'') is a species of duck native to South America, the belonging to the monotypic genus ''Lophonetta''. It is sometimes included in ''Anas'', but it belongs to a South Am ...

great grebe The great grebe (''Podiceps major'') is the largest species of grebe in the world. A disjunct population exists in northwestern Peru, while the main distribution is from extreme southeastern Brazil to Patagonia and central Chile. The population f ...

, flying steamerduck, flightless steamerduck,

black-faced ibis The black-faced ibis (''Theristicus melanopis'') is a species of bird in the family Threskiornithidae. It is found in grassland and fields in southern and western South America. It has been included as a subspecies of the similar buff-necked i ...

black-crowned night-heron The black-crowned night heron (''Nycticorax nycticorax''), or black-capped night heron, commonly shortened to just night heron in Eurasia, is a medium-sized heron found throughout a large part of the world, including parts of Europe, Asia, and ...

imperial shag The imperial shag or imperial cormorant (''Leucocarbo atriceps'') is a black and white cormorant native to southern South America, primarily in rocky coastal regions, but locally also at large inland lakes. Some taxonomic authorities, including ...

rock shag The rock shag (''Leucocarbo magellanicus''), also known as the Magellanic cormorant, is a marine cormorant found around the southernmost coasts of South America. Its breeding range is from around Valdivia, Chile, south to Cape Horn and Tierra de ...

Neotropic cormorant The neotropic cormorant or olivaceous cormorant (''Nannopterum brasilianum'') is a medium-sized cormorant found throughout the American tropics and subtropics, from the middle Rio Grande and the Gulf and Californian coasts of the United States so ...

black-chested buzzard-eagle The black-chested buzzard-eagle (''Geranoaetus melanoleucus'') is a bird of prey of the hawk and eagle family (Accipitridae). It lives in open regions of South America. This species is also known as the black buzzard-eagle, the gray buzzard-eag ...

turkey vulture The turkey vulture (''Cathartes aura'') is the most widespread of the New World vultures. One of three species in the genus '' Cathartes'' of the family Cathartidae, the turkey vulture ranges from southern Canada to the southernmost tip of Sout ...

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 ...

crested caracara The crested caracara (''Caracara plancus'') is a bird of prey in the family Falconidae. It is found from the southern United States through Central and South America to Tierra del Fuego. It was formerly placed in the genus ''Polyborus''. Descri ...

chimango caracara The chimango caracara (''Milvago chimango'') is a species of bird of prey in the family Falconidae. It is found in Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, Paraguay and south of Brazil. The chimango is found as far south as Tierra del Fuego and is a vagrant to ...

, white-throated caracara,

striated caracara The striated caracara (''Phalcoboenus australis'') is a bird of prey of the family Falconidae. In the Falkland Islands, it is known as the Johnny rook, probably named after the Johnny penguin ( gentoo penguin). Description The adults' plumage is ...

Magellanic oystercatcher The Magellanic oystercatcher (''Haematopus leucopodus'') is a species of wader in the family Haematopodidae. It is found in Argentina, Chile and the Falkland Islands in freshwater lake and sandy shore habitats. Description The Magellanic oyster ...

blackish oystercatcher The blackish oystercatcher (''Haematopus ater'') is a species of wading bird in the oystercatcher family Haematopodidae. It is found in Argentina, Chile, the Falkland Islands and Peru, and is a vagrant to Uruguay. The population is estimated at ...

, southern lapwing,

rufous-chested plover The rufous-chested plover (''Charadrius modestus'') or rufous-chested dotterel, is a species of bird in subfamily Charadriinae of family Charadriidae.HBW and BirdLife International (2022) Handbook of the Birds of the World and BirdLife Internat ...

, Baird's sandpiper,

white-rumped sandpiper The white-rumped sandpiper (''Calidris fuscicollis'') is a small shorebird that breeds in the northern tundra of Canada and Alaska. This bird can be difficult to distinguish from other similar tiny shorebirds; these are known collectively as "pee ...

brown-hooded gull The brown-hooded gull (''Chroicocephalus maculipennis'') is a species of gull found in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, the Falkland Islands, and Uruguay. Its specific epithet, '' maculipennis'', means 'spotted wings' (''macula'' + ''penna''). It is a ...

dolphin gull The dolphin gull (''Leucophaeus scoresbii''), sometimes erroneously called the red-billed gull (a somewhat similar but unrelated species from New Zealand), is a gull native to southern Chile and Argentina, and the Falkland Islands. It is a coasta ...

South American tern The South American tern (''Sterna hirundinacea'') is a species of tern found in coastal regions of southern South America, including the Falkland Islands, ranging north to Peru (Pacific coast) and Brazil ( Atlantic coast). It is generally the mos ...

kelp gull The kelp gull (''Larus dominicanus''), also known as the Dominican gull, is a gull that breeds on coasts and islands through much of the Southern Hemisphere. The nominate ''L. d. dominicanus'' is the subspecies found around South America, part ...

, Chilean skua, Magellanic diving-petrel, and the

common diving-petrel The common diving petrel (''Pelecanoides urinatrix''), also known as the smaller diving petrel or simply the diving petrel, is a diving petrel, one of four very similar auk-like small petrels of the southern oceans. It is native to South Atlanti ...

Gallery

Image:Beagle Channel - La Isla de Los Lobos.jpg, Sea Lions Island or La Isla de Los Lobos Image:BeagleChannelGlacier.jpg,

Romanche Glacier Romanche Glacier is a glacier located in Alberto de Agostini National Park, Chile. A cascade from the glacier tumbles into the Beagle Channel Beagle Channel (; Yahgan: ''Onašaga'') is a strait in the Tierra del Fuego Archipelago, on the ext ...

on the north shore of the channel Image:Beagle-Kanal Ushuaia.JPG, Beagle Channel, January 2006 Image:Farofindelmundo2.JPG, View of The Lighthouse Les Eclaireurs called ''End of the World'' near

on the north shore of the channel