Ushuaia

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For other uses, see Ushuaia (disambiguation).
Ushuaia
Ushuaia, seen from the harbor.
Ushuaia, seen from the harbor.
Ushuaia (Argentina)
Ushuaia
Ushuaia
Location in Argentina
Coordinates: 54°48′S 68°18′W / -54.8, -68.3
Country  Argentina
Province Tierra del Fuego
Founded July 25, 1615
Population (2001 census [INDEC])
 - Total 64,000
CPA Base V 9410
Area code(s) +54 2900

Ushuaia (pronounced [u'swaia]) is the capital of the Argentine province of Tierra del Fuego and is sometimes considered to be the southernmost city in the world[1][2]. It is located in a wide bay on the southern coast of the island of Tierra del Fuego, guarded on the north by the Martial mountain range and on the south by the Beagle Channel. Its population is estimated today at about 60,000. (2001 population: 45,430 ) [3]

It is the only municipality in the Department of Ushuaia, which has an area of 9,390 km2 (3,625 sq mi).

The city was originally named by early British colonists after the name that the native Yámana people had for the area. Much of the early history of the city and its hinterland is described in great detail in Lucas Bridges’s book Uttermost Part of the Earth (1948).

For most of the first half of the 20th century, the city was centered around a prison for serious criminals. The Argentine government set up this prison following the example of the British with Australia or the French with Devil's Island; escape from a prison on Tierra del Fuego was similarly impossible. The prisoners thus became forced colonists and spent much of their time cutting wood in the forest around the prison and building the town. They also built a railway to the settlement, now a tourist attraction known as the End of the World Train (Tren del Fin del Mundo), the southernmost railway in the world.

View of the Beagle Channel.

Ushuaia is surrounded by Magellanic subpolar forests; on the hills around the town, the following indigenous trees are local to the area: Drimys winteri (Winter's bark), Maytenus magellanica (hard log mayten) and several species of Nothofagus that give to the landscape a magnificent greenness.

Contents

"Southernmost city"

Partial view of the city and the Martial Mountain Range.
See also: Southernmost settlements

Ushuaia claims to be the "Southernmost city in the world."[4]. There are two other contenders for the title of southernmost city: Puerto Williams on the Chilean island of Navarino (farther south but it has only 2500 inhabitants) and Punta Arenas, in Chile (much larger but farther north). Several continuously inhabited settlements also south of Ushuaia include Puerto Toro on Isla Navarino, Chile, Orcadas in the South Orkney Islands, and Esperanza, an Argentine base in Antarctica. Each of these settlements has fewer than 100 residents.

Satellite view of the city and its bay.
Ushuaia viewed from Pasaje Pedro Luis Fique.

The main reasons that Ushuaia can claim to be the "Southernmost City in the World" are that Ushuaia has a fully functional hospital, institutions of higher learning as well as secondary schools, industrial sector which is mainly the presence of the large Grundig electronics plant, currently named 'Renacer', an organized transportation system and a functioning municipality, all of which allow to make it an actual city on its own right: "an urban settlement of a particularly important status". Ushuaia is also the capital of the Tierra del Fuego Province.[5]

Tourism

The Les Eclaireurs Lighthouse near Ushuaia

Ushuaia is a key access point to the southern regions; it receives regular flights from Buenos Aires at Ushuaia International Airport. The city itself is a popular vacation spot for people from Buenos Aires. Flights are also available from Santiago, Chile.

The tourist attractions include the Tierra del Fuego National Park to see Lapataia Bay; the park can be reached on the End of the World Train (Tren del Fin del Mundo) from Ushuaia. The city has a museum of Yamana, English, and Argentine settlement, including its years as a prison colony. Wildlife attractions include local birds, penguins and orcas as seen on the islands in the Beagle Channel. There are daily bus tours to Harberton, the estancia of the Bridges family. Some tours also visit the Les Eclaireurs Lighthouse, known as the Lighthouse at the End of the World (Faro del fin del mundo) — although it is not the same lighthouse as the one made famous by Jules Verne in the novel of the same name.

There are a number of ski areas nearby, like Cerro Castor and Glaciar Martial. The glacier is also a tourist destination during the summer months, when the chairlift operates in both directions. Hiking trails lead from the city's edge to the base of the glacier, which has shrunk dramatically over the past century, as shown in photographs on display. Cerro Castor is a mountain located 27 km (17 miles) north of Ushuaia; it is possible to ski hardly 200 m (660 ft) above sea level reaching the summit at 1057 meters (3468 ft) above sea level. Constant temperatures allow the longest skiing season in South America: in winters temperatures fluctuate between 0º and -5°C (32 to 23°F). On its lowest slopes, forests can be seen.

Celebrity Cruises MV Zenith and Orient Lines MS Marco Polo Cruise Ships at Ushuaia

Cruise ships visiting the Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas) and Antarctica dock at the port, as well as Princess Cruises, Holland America, Celebrity Cruises which transit between Valparaíso, Chile, to Buenos Aires and beyond. Orient Lines, MS Marco Polo, Regent Seven Seas Cruises, Hurtigruten and other ships provide expeditions to Antarctica out of Ushuaia. The cruise boats periodically do scenic cruising to Antarctica, as do expedition yachts such as S/V Seal and S/V Pelagic.

Tourists can also visit Cape Horn island (in Chilean waters) by boat or helicopter.

Climate

Despite receiving only 560 mm (22 in) of precipitation yearly on average, Ushuaia's climate is very wet. On average the city experiences 160 days of rain or snow a year, and there are many cloudy and foggy days. Advancing to the southern outer islands, the southwestern winds make them wetter, achieving 1,400 mm (55 in) at Isla de los Estados (Staten Island). Because temperatures are cool throughout the year, there is little evaporation. Snowfalls are common in winter and regularly happen in any season, including summer.

The climate is maritime subarctic. Averages temperatures coldest month: 1°C (33°F) and warmest month: 9°C (48°F). Record low -20 °C (-4°F) (July), record high 31 °C (87.8°F) (December) and record low ever recorded in summer -6 °C (21°F) (February). Towns in the world with similar climate include Thorshavn, Faroe Islands; Dutch Harbor, Alaska; Reykjavik, Iceland; Stanley, Falkland Islands.

Very strong winds whip the town. Trees that grow in Ushuaia tend to follow the wind direction, and therefore they are called "flag-trees", named after the bend that they are forced to take.

 Weather averages for Usuhaia, Argentina 
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Average high °C (°F) 14
(57)		 13
(55)		 12
(54)		 9
(48)		 6
(43)		 4
(39)		 4
(39)		 6
(43)		 8
(46)		 10
(50)		 12
(54)		 13
(55)		 9
(48)
Average low °C (°F) 5
(41)		 5
(41)		 4
(39)		 2
(36)		 0
(32)		 -2
(28)		 -2
(28)		 -1
(30)		 0
(32)		 2
(36)		 3
(37)		 4
(39)		 2
(35)
Precipitation cm (inches) 8
(3.2)		 7
(2.8)		 6
(2.7)		 6
(2.0)		 5
(2.0)		 3
(1.3)		 1
(0.6)		 2
(1.0)		 6
(2.7)		 11
(4.5)		 11
(4.4)		 9
(3.8)		 80
(31.6)
Source: Weatherbase[6] 2007

TV programme

"Ushuaïa, le magazine de l'Extrême" was the name of a television program, presented by Nicolas Hulot and broadcast on the French TV channel TF1 from September 1987 to June 1995. The show is known in English as Ushuaia: The Ultimate Adventure, and this language's version was hosted by Perri Peltz and was shown on NBC, CNBC, and international affiliates of the Discovery Channel.

See also

Female sea lion and her pup.

References

  1. ^ "Introduction to Ushuaia", The New York Times.
  2. ^ "Tierra del Fuego, Argentina". Encarta. Retrieved on 2008-09-11. 
  3. ^ Tiscali Encyclopaedia
  4. ^ http://explorer.altopix.com/map/gsu0im/SouthernMost_city_of_the_World.htm Earth Explorer
  5. ^ http://www.tierradelfuego.gov.ar/ Tierra del Fuego government website (Spanish)
  6. ^ "Weatherbase: Historical Weather for Ushuaia, Argentina". Weatherbase (2007). Retrieved on 2007-11-10.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:
Provincial capitals of Argentina
Flag of Argentina

Coordinates: 54°48′S 68°18′W / -54.8, -68.3

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ushuaia"

This article is from Wikipedia. All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.

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