TIERRA DEL FUEGO, te-er'ret del fw:Vgo (Sp. Land of Fire; formerly often written in the corrupted form TERRA DEL FUEGO). An archi pelago situated between latitude and 56° south, off the extreme southern end of South America, from which it is separated by the Strait of Magellan (Map: America, South, C 5). It consists of a large main island sometimes called King Charles South Land, and a num ber of smaller islands lying to the west and south of it, the southern group being sep arated from the main island by Beagle Chan nel. The total area of the archipelago is esti mated at over 27.000 square miles, of which the main island occupies more than four-fifths. The principal of the smaller islands are, be ginning at the northwest. Desolachin, Santa Inez, Clarence, Hoste, Navarin, Wollaston, and at the extreme south, Horn Island, ending in Cape Horn. At the extreme east lies the isolated Staten Island or Isla de los Estados. All these islands are separated from each other and from the mainland by narrow, deep, and tortuous chan nels, and are, together with the west coast of the main island, deeply indented by narrow fiords. The east coast is more regular. The Andean mountain system is continued in several ranges through the western part of the archi pelago. covering all the smaller islands and the western half of the main island. They are mostly of Mesozoic formation with considerable granitic and volcanic intrusions. though there are no volcanoes. Their height averages 3500 feet. and Mount Sarmiento, an imposing snow-clad peak on the southwestern peninsula of the main island. has an altitude of 7200 feet. The eastern half of the main island is a continuation of the Patagonian plateau.
The climate of Tierra del Fuego is not so rigorous as it was formerly supposed to be.
It is an equable oceanic climate with no ex treme heat or cold. A meteorological station established since 1896 at Ushuaia on Beagle Channel shows a mean temperature for Janu ary to be and for July 31°. The rainfall
is greater than on the Patagonian platean, and the country is more favorable for settlement than the more northern regions. The eastern region has good soil and pasture land, and along the base of the mountains there are ex tensive forests of beech (Forms antarelica) and pine. The western islands, which have not been thoroughly explored, are less favorable as regards climate and soil, but in the east and along Beagle Channel hardy cereals will ripen, and consider able areas of land have already been brought under cultivation by white settlers. Agriculture and cattle-raising are the main occupations, though gold has been found in paying quantities, and seams of lignite have also been discovered. The native Fuegians are rapidly disappearing, and now number probably less than 1000. They helong to three distinct tribes, the Aliculufs in the central regions, the Onas in the west, and the Yaghans in the south. Politically the por tion of the main island lying east of a line run ning from the eastern entrance of the Strait of Magellan to the middle of Beagle Channel, to gether with the Isla de los Estados, constitutes the Argentine Territory of Tierra del Fuego (q.v.). The remaining portions belong to the Chilean Territory of Magallanes. The civilized population of the Argentine Territory, which contains prac tically all the inhabitants. was 477 in 1895, and 2159 in 1900. The archipelago was discovered by Magellan in 1520, but was never systemat ically explored until the last two decades of the nineteenth century.
Consult: Bove, Patagonia, Terra del Fuoed (Genoa, 1883) ; Hyades and Deniker. Anthro pologic et ethnographic (Paris, 1891) ; Conway, Aconcugna and Tierra del Fuego (London, 1902).