Tierra del Fuego

archipelago off the south of South America

Tierra del Fuego is an archipelago at the southern tip of South America. The Magellan Strait sepearates it from the South American Mainland. The archipelago consists of a big island, Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego and a number of smaller islands. The land area of the archipelago is 73,746 square kilometers. With about 47,000 square kilometers, Isla Grande takes roughly half of the total land mass. The archipelago and the island are the largest in South America. About 127,000 people live in the part belonging to Argentina. The Argentine part is called Tierra del Fuego Province, the Chilean part is called Magallanes Region. The biggest cities on the main island are Rio Grande with 57,000 people and Ushuaia in the Argentine part, and Porvenir with 5,700 inhabitants and Puerto Williams with 2,300 people in the Chilean part.

Tierra del fuego, seen from space.
Map of the Strait of Magellan showing the archipelago