__NOTOC__ The Evangelistas Islets (Spanish: ''Islotes Evangelistas'') comprise a group of four small, rocky islands lying on the

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 ...

continental shelf A continental shelf is a portion of a continent that is submerged under an area of relatively shallow water, known as a shelf sea. Much of these shelves were exposed by drops in sea level during glacial periods. The shelf surrounding an island ...

, some 30 km north-west of the western entrance to 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 ...

, in the south-eastern

Pacific Ocean 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 ...

, facing the full force of the " Furious Fifties". They come under the jurisdiction of the

Chilean Navy The Chilean Navy ( es, Armada de Chile) is the naval warfare service branch of the Chilean Armed Forces. It is under the Ministry of National Defense. Its headquarters are at Edificio Armada de Chile, Valparaiso. History Origins and the Wars ...

which operates the Chilean Maritime Signalling Service and has maintained a presence there since the establishment of the Evangelistas Lighthouse in 1896 by Scottish engineer

George Henry Slight George Henry Slight (30 September 1859 – 26 June 1934) was a Scottish engineer who established the Chilean lighthouse service. Early years Slight, the son of George Slight and Elizabeth Marshall, grew up in Edinburgh in an engineering family ...

. On February 17,

1676 Events January–March * January 29 – Feodor III of Russia, Feodor III becomes Tsar of Russia. * January 31 – Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala, the oldest institution of higher education in Central America, is fo ...

, sixteen men of Pascual de Iriate's expedition were lost at Evangelistas Islets while attempting to install a bronze plaque indicating the areas ownership by the

King of Spain , coatofarms = File:Coat_of_Arms_of_Spanish_Monarch.svg , coatofarms_article = Coat of arms of the King of Spain , image = Felipe_VI_in_2020_(cropped).jpg , incumbent = Felipe VI , incumbentsince = 19 Ju ...

Description

The largest of the group is ''Evangelistas Grande'' which is about long and wide, reaches a height of and supports the

lighthouse A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of physical structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lenses and to serve as a beacon for navigational aid, for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways. Lighthouses mar ...

. The other, uninhabited, islets are ''Elcano'' , ''Lobos'' , and ''Pan de Azúcar'' . They are mainly bare rock with steep cliffs on their western sides and are exposed to strong winds and rough seas. Lobos and Elcano are home to breeding colonies of

black-browed albatross The black-browed albatross (''Thalassarche melanophris''), also known as the black-browed mollymawk,Robertson, C. J. R. (2003) is a large seabird of the albatross family Diomedeidae; it is the most widespread and common member of its family. T ...

es with a combined estimate of 4670 pairs recorded in a 13 October 2002 aerial survey. The islets have been recognised as an

Important Bird Area An Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) is an area identified using an internationally agreed set of criteria as being globally important for the conservation of bird populations. IBA was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife Int ...

(IBA) by

BirdLife International BirdLife International is a global partnership of non-governmental organizations that strives to conserve birds and their habitats. BirdLife International's priorities include preventing extinction of bird species, identifying and safeguarding ...

for their albatross

colonies In modern parlance, a colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule. Though dominated by the foreign colonizers, colonies remain separate from the administration of the original country of the colonizers, the '' metropolitan state'' ...

Thalassarche melanophrys in flight 2 - SE Tasmania

Climate

References

External links

* Elsio Hugo Cárcamo Velásque
Faro Evangelista
in historianaval.cl

World island information @ WorldIslandInfo.com

South America Island High Points above 1000 meters
*

United States Hydrographic Office The United States Hydrographic Office prepared and published maps, charts, and nautical books required in navigation. The office was established by an act of 21 June 1866 as part of the Bureau of Navigation, Department of the Navy. It was transf ...

South America Pilot
(1916) {{authority control Archipelagoes of Chile Seabird colonies Islands of Magallanes Region Archipelagoes of the Pacific Ocean Important Bird Areas of Chile Important Bird Areas of Oceania

Description

Climate

See also

References

External links