Province of Tierra del Fuego, Antarctica and South Atlantic Islands

The province comprises the Argentine sector of the Great Island of Tierra del Fuego, the island of States, and the disputed territories of the Malvinas Islands, Antarctica Argentina, and islands of the South Atlantic. The only three cities (population above 2000 inhabitants in Argentina) of the first island are also shown.

Tierra del Fuego, Antarctica and South Atlantic Islands, in the text of the Provincial Constitution: Province of Tierra del Fuego, Antarctica and South Atlantic Islands, It is one of the twenty-three provinces that make up the Argentine Republic. In turn, it is one of the twenty-four self-governing states or first-order jurisdictions that make up the country, and one of the twenty-four national legislative electoral districts. Its capital is Ushuaia and its most populous city is Río Grande.

It is located in the Patagonian region, in the extreme south of Argentina, and occupies a large insular, maritime and Antarctic territory, which extends from the Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego to the South Pole, including the Isla de los Estados, the Malvinas Islands, the South Atlantic Islands, the Antarctic Peninsula, forming a triangle whose sides are the meridians 74°W and 25°W and its vertex is the South Pole. In the American portion, the province limits to the north with the province of Santa Cruz, to the west with Chile and to the south of the Beagle Channel, also with Chile. In Antarctica, the province is also bordered to the west by Chile, although the boundaries are not established. With 1,003,281 km² it is the largest first-order jurisdiction (including disputed territories) and with 160,720 inhabitants in 2010, the least populated.

Regarding the territories whose sovereignty is in dispute (Malvinas Islands, South Georgia Islands, South Sandwich Islands, South Orcadas Islands, South Shetland Islands, Argentine Antarctica), article 2 of the provincialization law establishes that they correspond to the territory of the province, but "subject to the treaties with foreign powers that the federal government celebrates, for whose ratification it will not be necessary to consult the provincial government", a norm that enables the secession of said territories by the sole decision of the State within the framework of negotiations on sovereignty with other powers.

It was organized as a national territory until April 26, 1990, the year in which it obtained the category of province through the enactment of the National Law No. 23 775 of the Congress of the Argentine Nation.

Toponymy

Marambio Base in the photo stands out its airport.

• Tierra del Fuego: Fernando de Magallanes (1520) named it "Land of the Fires" when he saw from his boat the bonfires of the Waves or Selk'nam.
• Ushuaia: Name derived from voices ushu (which means ‘at the bottom’) and uaia (‘caleta, bay or port’), in the Yemeni language, and means ‘bahia that penetrates west’.
• Rio Grande: It is due to the river Grande, to whose margins the city is settled. This name begins to be used in 1889.
• Tolhuin: In the selk'nam language means 'heart', and is in the heart of the island.
• Hidden Lake: Name given by the proximity to Lake Escondido.

Symbols

Flag

Flag of the Province of Tierra del Fuego, Antarctica and South Atlantic Islands.

The provincial flag was the result of a public contest held in 1999, in which the design made by the architect Teresa Martínez under the pseudonym “Albatros” was chosen. It is made up of three diagonal stripes, one orange, the other sky blue and a central white strip, in the shape of albatross flying freely and in an upward direction, from the orange sector to the sky blue sector. The orange stripe, located in the lower left sector, symbolizes the fire included in the provincial name, which alludes to the indigenous presence that originally populated the territory and is a stylized representation of the outline of the Argentine sector of the Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego. The light blue stripe, located in the upper right sector, represents the maritime and air spaces that connect a bicontinental province, made up of a large number of islands, with the same color used by the national flag; This strip contains five stars of the Southern Cross, which symbolize the Malvinas Islands, the South Orcadas Islands, the South Georgia Islands, the South Sandwich Islands and Argentine Antarctica, included in the provincial territory and whose sovereignty Argentina claims.

Shield

Shield of the province of Tierra del Fuego, Antarctica and South Atlantic Islands.

The provincial coat of arms was approved in 1992, after a public contest in which the design of Rosana Giménez was chosen, under the pseudonym "Klewel", a Haush word meaning "good luck". The flag has the albatross as its dominant figure, in the manner of a protective contour, with the colors of the national flag. In its center it contains an oval surrounded by red flames, symbolizing the fire included in the name of the province and the original indigenous presence. The central oval includes four penguins, a characteristic and symbolic bird of the southern region, behind which you can see the sea and two mountains, one of them snow-capped, from which the sunlight shines.

Logo

The official logo of the province is a waving flag.

Physical geography

Location

The territory of the province is made up of the eastern part of the Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego (IGTF), the Isla de los Estados and islets adjacent to both. Isla Grande limits to the north with the Strait of Magellan, a communication route between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, and to the south with the Beagle Channel. The provincial limits extend in the Argentine Antarctic Sector and islands of the South Atlantic, between the meridians 25°W and 74°W and the parallel 50°S, forming part of the provincial territory large maritime extensions over the Atlantic.

Surface

Martial Glacier.

Landscape covered with parasite (Misodendrum punctulatum) and lenga forests on the large island of Tierra del Fuego.

• Area without including disputed territories: 21 571 km2, including only the Argentine sector of the Great Island of Tierra del Fuego, the island of the States and other adjacent smaller islands.
• Area including disputed territories and claims: 1 002 445 km2, is added to the previous surface of the Argentine Antarctic and the South Atlantic islands.

The lands and waters claimed by Argentina in Antarctica include the sector between the 25º W and 74º W meridians, the 60º S parallel and the South Pole where the South Orkney Islands are also located. This claim partially overlaps with that of Chile (Chilean Antarctic Territory) and totally with that of the United Kingdom (British Antarctic Territory), however, these Antarctic claims are affected by the Antarctic Treaty that froze sovereignty disputes, preventing them from being make others or expand existing ones. The South Atlantic islands include the Malvinas, South Georgia (including Aurora and Clerke rocks) and South Sandwich archipelagos; They are under British administration, but according to the UN their sovereignty is in dispute with Argentina.

Limits

It limits -its Patagonian sector- to the west and south with Chile, to the north and east with the Atlantic Ocean, to the south with the Pacific through the Beagle Channel and to the southeast with the Antarctic. Regarding its limits in Argentine Antarctica and the South Antilles or islands of the South Atlantic, see the respective articles.

The province of Tierra del Fuego, Antarctica and South Atlantic Islands comprises: the eastern part of the Great Island of Tierra del Fuego to the border with the Republic of Chile, the island of States, the New Year Islands, the Falkland Islands, the Beauchêne Island, the Cormorandum and Black Rocks, the South Georgia Islands, the South Sandwich Islands, other islands, islets and rocks located in the southern waters.96 West and 74th West and the 60th South parallel, the islands, islets and rocks located between the territories comprising the province of Tierra del Fuego, Antarctica and South Atlantic Islands.

Act No. 26552

Regionalization

The province is part of the Patagonian Region, which is specified in its Constitution. The region was created by the treaty signed in the city of Santa Rosa on June 26, 1996. Its purposes are expressed in article 2 of the treaty:

The region will have as a general objective to provide human development and economic and social progress, strengthening provincial autonomy in the determination of national policies, the availability of their resources and the enhancement of their productive potential, while preserving the existence of differential benefits that sustain regional balance.

Hydrography

Lake Roca or Acigami.

Hidden Lake.

The most important of its rivers is the Río Grande, 240 km long, 100 km of which cross Argentine territory, and empties next to the city of the same name. To the north stands out the short course of the Cullen River, and to the south the San Pablo River, on the Atlantic coast; in the vicinity of Ushuaia, the Olivia River, where there is a hydroelectric power plant that supplied the city, and the Pipo and Lapataia rivers. Other rivers: Moneta, Ona, Lasifashaj, Fuego, Ewan, and other unknown and inaccessible means other than by sea.

The mountain ranges are separated by valleys and glacial lakes, such as Lake Fagnano or Cami, Lake Escondido, and Lake Roca or Acigami. To the north of the first of these, in an area of lower mountains, are also the Yehuin and Chepelmut lakes. These lakes are factors for beautiful landscapes surrounded by forests and always snow-capped mountain ranges.

In many areas there are dense peat bogs surrounded by no less dense forest, beavers build reservoirs forming a large number of small lagoons also in forest areas.

Orography

In the north of the Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego there are soft morainic hills that bear witness to the Cuartarian glaciation. On the marine coast the coasts are low and sandy, which rise towards the south. The southern portion of the island is covered from east to west by the Fuegian section of the Andes mountain range. The highest height, according to those obtained by photo-restitution by the Undersecretariat of Cadastre of the Province of Tierra del Fuego, corresponds to the Vinciguerra hill (1499 m); although there is a doubt as to whether Mount Cornu, without restitution, can be higher. It is followed in height by Mount Alvear, with 1,406 m (according to data from the same sub-secretariat). The highest elevations, however, are located in the Antarctic sector claimed by the Argentine Republic (Ex: Mount Chiriguano, from 3.660 m s.n.m.).

Seismicity

The region responds to the Fagnano-Magallanes fault, a regional seismogenic fault system, with an east-west orientation that coincides with the transform boundary between the South American (to the north) and Scotia (to the south) plates, with medium seismicity; and its last expression occurred on December 17, 1949 (73 years old), at 22:30 UTC-3, with a magnitude of approximately 7.8 on the Richter scale.

Climate

Climate map of the Province of Tierra del Fuego according to Köppen

Satellite image of Tierra del Fuego during the fall.

Vegetation at Harberton Station.

Given the latitudes of the territory, the climate is cold, although there are large variations determined by altitude, the degree of continentality and the latitude itself. The further south the climate is colder, reaching a snowy desert on the South Pole Plateau, a site in which the percentage of atmospheric humidity is practically the lowest on planet Earth due to the fact that virtually all the water is in a state of solid. The warmest area is found in the Malvinas archipelago, followed by the northern area of the Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego. In these areas, strong gusts of wind, predominantly from the southern sector, and high humidity cause a thermal sensation (which can be explained by the metabolic heat that a person loses), generally much lower than the temperature recorded by thermometers.

Also given the latitudes of this province, the sunshine is very low, but the ultraviolet radiation index is high, being noteworthy the great variations of the periods of sunlight according to the seasons. For example, in the northern city of Río Grande in July (during the southern winter) there are only seven hours of sunlight, while in that same city in January (that is, during the southern summer) the number of hours of sunlight he is a little over seventeen. As you go up in latitude, such variation in sunlight according to the seasons becomes even wider: at the South Pole during the almost six months of winter it is continuous night and the other six months of polar summer are practically one continuous day.. On the other hand, due to the characteristics of the Earth's magnetic field in these areas, which produces a curvature of the Van Allen belts, the solar wind particles entering the atmosphere cause the meteor called polar aurora that intensifies when the temperatures increase. Sunspots.

Ecology

Wildlife

Cormorant colony on the Beagle Channel.

Frog red fox.

Chungungo.

The interior of the island and its coasts present suitable habitats for numerous species of animals. There are large colonies of rockhopper penguins, which represent 26% of the world population of this vulnerable species and of Magellanic penguins. There are colonies of southern giant petrels - a vulnerable species - and black-necked cormorants. Other species found in the area are the Southern Caracara, the Antarctic Whiptail and the Coastal Goose.

The marine mammals that inhabit the area are the fur seal, the southern elephant seal and the fur seal. Together with those found in the Malvinas Islands, the two-haired sea lion colonies are the most important in Argentina. It is the habitat of the huillín and the chungungo, also called "river cat", two endangered species of otters of extinction.

There is only one terrestrial mammal native and exclusive to the area, the rat of the guindales; the rest are introduced species: the goat, the red deer, the European rabbit, and the black and brown rats.

Terrestrials

• natives: Guanacos, ñandú, on the steppes of the north of the island, red foxes, rodents like tuco-tuco and small mice of field.
• introduced: rabbit, grey fox, castor, almizclera rat, black rat, brown rat, mink, hairy or armadillo, red deer on the island of States and reindeer in the Archipelago of South Georgia.

Birds

condor, penguin, albatross, cormorant, seagull, black carpenter, petrel, antartic dove, seagull, ordinary ostrero, black ostrero, beach, duck, macá, cauquén, bandurria, jote, eagle, hawk, witch and other herons, eagles, chorlitos, gallaretas, etc.

Marine

huillines, marine otters, sea lions, dolphins (including orca), tones, whales and seals.

Flora

The action of the winds moulds the zonal trees.

The Big Island of Tierra del Fuego is divided into two very clear biomes:

• The northern plains, which are similar to the eastern areas of the Extra-Andean Eastern Patagonia and the landscapes of the Falkland Islands. They're hard gramstones, yoursok, with coiron predominance. The cold and windy climate determines the absence of trees, the development of bushes and extensive herbaceous surfaces.
• By contrast, the precordillerana and Andean region of the archipelago wasguino (including the islands of New Year and the island of States) being perhúmeda is a bioma of dense antiboreal forests (considered by its cold climate as forests, and by the presence of a dense sotobosque, like forests), in which the lenga, ñire During the fall and much of the summer the forested area of Tierra del Fuego is covered by a foliage in which red and orange colors predominate.

Under the trees thrives a dense undergrowth of calafates, michay, notro, chaura, heather, mosses, mushrooms or fungi like the edible called Indian bread, lichens like old man's beard.

In the Andean region of the Fuegian archipelago, the cold climate also favors the development of tundras.

Protected areas

Protected areas.

• Reservation Island of States - art.54 of the Provincial Constitution. Provincial Act No. 469/91.
• Tierra del Fuego National Park - National Law n.o15564/60.
• Playa Larga - Ushuaia: Nature Reserve.
• Reserva Costa Atlántica de Tierra del Fuego, in the department Rio Grande: Reserva costa natural.
• Isle Heart Reserve - Tolhuin: "Multi-use Provincial Reserve" and "natural recreational Reserve".
• Laguna Negra - Tolhuin Reserve: "Provincial Reserve for Multiple Use".
• Río Valdez Reserve: "Provincial Reserve for Multiple Use".
• Natural Reserve Valle Tierra Mayor - Decree No. 2256/94.
• Martial Glacier - Territorial Law n.o434/90.
• Laguna del Diablo Reserve - Territorial Law n.o487/91.

History

Indigenous peoples of the former population selk'nam or shelknam In Ushuaia, around 1890, this town commonly called "one" was invasive of Patagonian origin and competed in the most southern territories against the Yamana or Yaghan or Yaganes and the (mixed with them) haush or manneken.

The Big Island of Tierra del Fuego was populated long before the arrival of Europeans in the XVI century by the yámana or yaghan, also by the kaweskar misnamed by the invading Mapuches "alacalufes" (comedores de choros, meaning "wool" to bivalves), between the late 15th and 16th centuries most of the flat area of the island was occupied by a group of Patagonians called selk'nam better known as onas, apparently in the extreme southeast of the island the mixture of selk'nam and women of yámana origin originated from the small population of aush or ausch or manneken.

It is very striking that these human towns could survive such inclement climates, freezing for most of the year and in humid summers, they dressed in very rudimentary coats such as guanaco skin, although they were especially careful that with skins covered their heads with a kind of warm bonnet, and like the Patagonians, with warm skin shoes.

The yámana or yaghan used to live a large part of their existence in canoes made with a single trunk hollowed out by carving and burning, in these canoes or, as they were called in their language, it has attracted attention that they could swim in almost icy and that they almost always carried the burning fathoms of a stove to warm themselves and fed on the abundant fishing, seals and especially whales stranded on the coasts. The language of the yámana or yagán has attracted attention due to its enormous number of words, in some very complex cases such as the word mamihlapinatapai, but also in its vocabulary the lack of a word equivalent to grandfather is striking. > which has suggested that the members of these towns had a life that did not exceed 40 years.

Several Argentine explorers explored the territory during the XIX century the best known since it was official is Luis Piedrabuena who explored the Atlantic coasts of all of Southern Patagonia from the 1850s, entering into good relations with the Patagonian chiefs María la Grande and the cacique Casimiro Biguá of aonikenk lineages of which the shelknam or onas were the largest detachment. austral and establishing the small Argentine town of San Juan de Salvamento on the island of Los Estados, although already before in 1829 the French naturalized Argentine Luis Vernet knew them and had good dealings with them from the Military Command of the Malvinas Islands that extended their jurisdiction to all the islands of the South Atlantic and even, it is supposed, to all territory that reaches the South Pole. With the data collected, Roberto Payró was able to edit his meticulous documentary novel called La Australia Argentina in 1890, almost at the same time the Anglican Thomas Bridges and his family favored the sedentarization of the Fuegian indigenous people in Ushuaia, Bridges at first seemed like an English agent if well it concluded by recognizing Argentine sovereignty; Also in parallel, the Salesian Catholic priest José Fagnano, born in Italy, consolidated with his missions places that would be important cities such as Río Grande, on the other hand, the controversial Julio Popper stood out for the search for gold at the end of the century XIX.

With the 1881 treaty and the 1893 protocol, the international boundary was established on the Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego.

Although the activity of the Bridges and of the Salesian missionaries seems to have had the most altruistic motives, such as spreading civilization among the indigenous people who were still at war between their different nations and the advantages of recent discoveries, a demographic catastrophe occurred among the indigenous Fuegians since when they were gathered in two specific places on the island such as Ushuaia and Río Grande there they were decimated by diseases against which they lacked immune defenses.

At the beginning of the XX century, Ushuaia became famous as a place of exile and a prison with the Ushuaia Prison where they were sent common and political prisoners from almost the entire country or immigrants. The Ushuaia prison was closed only at the end of the 1950s. Also at the beginning of the XX century the Argentine installation of Antarctica began when the Orcadas base was definitively established in 1904 and the Argentine Fishing Company was created with headquarters in Grytviken. In the 1970s it was decided to make the island of Tierra del Fuego an industrial pole basically from the assembly of electronic products and household appliances with tax exemptions, which allowed the population to multiply several times with people from practically all of Argentina, also since that time It notably strengthened the economy by becoming a center of world tourist attraction.

In 1991, after the autonomy process started the previous year, it was officially proclaimed as a province, being the last provincialized Argentine national territory, thus being the youngest province in Argentina.

Demographics

View of Ushuaia, capital of the province.

Rio Grande, the largest town in terms of its population.

Church in Tolhuin, third most important town in the province.

Aerial view of Puerto Argentino/Stanley, in the Falkland Islands.

Students and teachers of the Provincial School No. 38 Raúl Ricardo Alfonsín de la base Esperanza in 2011.

Tierra del Fuego, Antártida and Islas del Atlántico Sur is still the province with the least population in Argentina. Towards the 2001 census with the highest masculinity index of all the Argentine provinces, only counting its continental part, with 104.7 men for every 100 women. In the 2010 census, it was in second place with an index of 105.8, behind the province of Santa Cruz.

Its population is highly literate, with a percentage of 99.32%, having the second highest level in Argentina, behind the city of Buenos Aires.

The province had the second highest average annual growth rate in Argentina between the 2001 and 2010 censuses, with 26.0%, behind the province of Santa Cruz.

The population density of the province, including the surface of the Malvinas, South Georgia, South Sandwich, Aurora Rocks, South Orcadas and Antarctic Sector islands, would be 0.1 inhab/km². If only the Isla Grande of Tierra del Fuego (the Ushuaia, Tolhuin and Río Grande departments) are considered, the density is 5.9 inhab/km².

On the Great Island of Tierra del Fuego:

Almost all of its population is concentrated in the two largest cities of the province, which are:

• Rio Grande (with 66 475 inhabitants in 2010, the largest of the entire Grande Island of Tierra del Fuego), and
• Ushuaia, provincial capital (with 56,593 inhabitants in 2010).

• Tolhuin is the third city (2,626 inhabitants in 2010). Tolhuin, since its inception, has an exponential population growth, unique in Argentina. It is so important that its population growth and characteristics were chosen as a pilot site for the 2010 population census.
• San Sebastian: no more than 100 inhabitants, on Route 3 north of Rio Grande, near the bay of the same name.
• Lago Escondido: with 129 hectares. In the vicinity of Tolhuin, on the shores of the homonymous lake.
• Puerto Almanza: the southernmost village in Argentina (contraparte de El Angosto, in Jujuy), without counting permanent Antarctic bases and populated in the Georgian islands. It has approximately 100 hectares and is accessed by the complementary exruta "J".
• Sarmiento: north of Lake Fagnano, with about 50 inhabitants.
• Other localities and places, such as southern stays.

In its island sector of the Sea of Scotia:

• Grytviken: the largest population of San Pedro Island. It was an important whale port.
• Stromness: another population and fishing port of the island already mentioned.
• Puerto Leith: former walnut port.

In the Falkland Islands:

• Puerto Argentino, the main locality of Mali, had 2,121 inhabitants in 2012, concentrating 75% of the population of the archipelago.

The rest of the population is distributed in the area called Camp, which has settlements such as Pradera del Ganso, Puerto Darwin, Puerto Soledad and Puerto Miter. The human population in the South Georgia Islands and the South Sandwich is not stable. Due to the fact that these archipelagos are occupied by the United Kingdom, the Argentine authorities are prevented from carrying out censuses there. The existing census data correspond to the records carried out by the British authorities of the Falklands.

In 2014, a CONICET study was published in which Ushuaia was ranked 3.er place in a ranking of the cities with the best quality of life in the country.

In this province, and more precisely at the Esperanza Base in Antarctica, Emilio Marcos Palma was born on January 7, 1978. He was the first person born on the Antarctic continent and his birth is the southernmost recorded in the history. He is also the only man known to have been born for the first time on a continent. For these reasons, it is registered in the Guinness Book of Records. María de las Nieves Delgado was the first Antarctic girl, born at the Esperanza Base on March 27, 1978. Rubén Eduardo De was born on September 21, 1979. Carli and on October 11, 1979 Francisco Javier Sosa, third and fourth child respectively. In 1980 the fort showed new facilities and its expansion allowed the accommodation of 14 families with 17 children. On January 14, 1980, the fifth birth was fulfilled: Silvina Analia Arnouil; on January 24, 1980, José Manuel Valladares Solís was born and on February 4, 1980, the fifth male; This is Lucas Daniel Posse. María Sol Cosenza was born on May 3, 1983.

In 2010, INDEC reported 190 inhabitants in the Argentine Antártida department, of which 162 were men and 28 women, living in 12 houses. 16 children were also registered there. The data comes only from the Argentine bases Marambio, Carlini, Esperanza, San Martín and Belgrano II. The Orcadas Base, with 17 registered inhabitants, is part of the South Atlantic Islands department. The Base Esperanza, together with the Chilean Villa Las Estrellas, are the only establishments in Antarctica where there are temporary personnel performing military, scientific or service functions accompanied by their families.

On December 28, 2009, the first same-sex civil marriage in Latin America was celebrated in the city of Ushuaia. The ceremony between Álex Freyre and José María Di Bello was possible thanks to decree 2996/09 issued by the governor of the province Fabiana Ríos, who complied with the unconstitutionality ruling of articles 172 and 188 of the Civil Code issued by Judge Gabriela Seijas.

Censuses

• Census 1895: 477
• Census 1914: 2 504.
• Census 1947: 5 045
• Census 1960: 7 955.
• 1970 Census: 13 434.
• Census 1980: 27 358.
• Census 1991: 69 369. Urban population: 67 303, rural population: 2066.
• Census 2001: 100 960. Urban population: 97 991, rural population: 2969.
• Census 2004: 123 838 inhabitants.
• National census 2010: 127 205 inhabitants.

Graphic of demographic evolution of Earth Fire between 1895 and

Places

There are four main population centers and several places. The main ones are:

• Ushuaia: administrative capital of the province.
• Rio Grande: considered the “economic capital of the province”.
• Tolhuin. town located on National Route 3, halfway from the previous ones.
• Claimed: Argentine port: main population centre of the Falkland Islands

Southern Populations

If scientific facilities with rotating populations located in Antarctica and South Georgia are not considered, Puerto Almanza is the southernmost permanent population in Argentina. Internationally, that latitude is surpassed by Chilean populations located on the neighboring Navarino Island.

Dispute over the name "southernmost city in the world"

Ushuaia, with 75,000 inhabitants and located at latitude 54°48′57″S, officially and internationally holds and uses the tourist slogan of "southernmost city in the world". Further south are other towns, both in Argentina and Chile, but none exceeds 2000 inhabitants.

In May 2019, the National Institute of Statistics of Chile modified the regulations to consider a town a city, "those urban centers with more than 5,000 inhabitants, except those that comply with the political-administrative characteristic of regional or provincial capital". Due to this conceptual change, the town of Puerto Williams, capital of the Chilean Antarctic province, located at 54°56'03″, with 2,290 inhabitants, was administratively considered by Chile as a city. From that moment on, it began to dispute the title of "southernmost city in the world" with Ushuaia, which continues to use that slogan officially.

Health

It is one of the districts with the highest life expectancy in the country.

Politics

Authorities

Governors

Deputies

The Argentine Constitution in its article no. There are five representatives of Tierra del Fuego in the Chamber of Deputies. In the period 2007-2011: Nélida Belous, Mariel Calchaquí, Rubén Darío Sciuto. In the period 2009-2013: Rosana Bertone, Liliana Fadul.

Senators

Article 54 of the Argentine Constitution states that the Senate will be made up of three senators from each province. Senators for the period from 12/10/2007 to 12/09/2013: José Carlos Martínez, María Rosa Díaz, Mario Jorge Colazo.

Lawmakers

Articles 89 and 90 of the Provincial Constitution state that the Legislative Power will be exercised by fifteen legislators directly elected and that they will remain in office for four years, with the possibility of being reelected. This amount will be modified if the number of inhabitants in the province exceeds one hundred and fifty thousand. In that case, one legislator position will be added for every ten thousand inhabitants, with a limit of twenty-five positions in total.

Intendants

Article 180 of the Provincial Constitution says that municipalities are governed by the Organic Law of Municipalities:

• Legislative department: by the Deliberating Council consisting of seven members, who will last four years in their functions, and may be reelected.
• Executive Department: by an Intendent who will last four years in office and may be reelected for a single consecutive period.

Administrative division

The provincial government building in the city of Ushuaia, with typical architecture of the area.

Ushuaia is considered internationally as the most southern city on the planet, and is known as the End of the World.

The province is divided into 5 departments and uses the system of non-adjacent common lands for its municipalities and communes, so there are unorganized territories in the spaces between them, and there may be more than one municipality or commune per department. For a complete detail of them, see: Municipalities of Tierra del Fuego, Antártida and Islas del Atlántico Sur.

The departments are:

• Argentine Antarctic Department: covers the entire Antarctica Argentina.
• Department of South Atlantic Islands: made up of the Falkland Islands and the archipelagos grouped with the name of South-South Antilles.
• Rio Grande Department: located in the northeast sector of the Grande Island of Tierra del Fuego.
• Ushuaia Department: comprises the southern sector of the Argentinian part of the Great Island of Tierra del Fuego.
• Department Tolhuin: comprises the central sector of the Argentinian part of the Great Island of Tierra del Fuego.

The border with the province of Santa Cruz in the maritime area east of the eastern mouth of the Strait of Magellan has not been delimited, but there is an agreement to distribute the royalties from oil and natural gas extracted there.

Science and technology

The Austral Center for Scientific Research (CADIC) is located in the city of Ushuaia, it is a multidisciplinary regional center dependent on CONICET. Today at CADIC scientific research is carried out in different areas: Biology, Archaeology, Agro-Forestry, Earth, Water and Atmosphere Sciences. The Río Grande Astronomical Station also depends on CADIC, where joint research is carried out with the Faculty of Astronomical and Geophysical Sciences (FCAG) of the National University of La Plata (UNLP).

Near the city of Tolhuin, on Provincial Route No. 23 kilometer 5.5, is the Tierra del Fuego Earth Station, which is an earth station belonging to CONAE. Its main function will be monitoring and control of the Tronador launcher, together with the control and downloading of satellite data, as well as the Córdoba Earth Station.

Economy

The Economy of the province of Tierra del Fuego AIAS represents a little more than 1% of the GDP of Argentina, thus reaching 2,795,280,000 U$S (taking into account that the nominal GDP of Argentina estimated in 2008 is around US$279,528,000,000 million). Its exports contributed 189,100,000 dollars in 2004 and it is, up to now, one of the most diversified in the southern country.

Primary sector

In the structure of its exports, fuels and energy represent 67% and manufactures of industrial origin 33%. Manufactures of agricultural origin and primary products lack significance. The main destination of exports is Chile (46%), followed by Brazil (26%), the United States (15%) and China (8%). The rest (8%) is distributed among several countries.

Hydrocarbons

In 2004, the province extracted 3% of the national oil production, which is sent to distilleries on the continent by sea. In the case of natural gas production, 11% of national production is produced. The gas produced is transported through a gas pipeline that connects with the country's national networks, and is also exported to Chile. The largest production of hydrocarbons is concentrated in the Hydra and Aries fields, offshore, and onshore adjacent to the San Sebastián Bay. Estimates for 2009 indicated proven oil reserves of just over 5,000 cubic meters and 40,000 million cubic meters of gas.

Hydrocarbon production is obtained from the Austral basin, which extends from the NW of the province of Santa Cruz to the continental platform of Tierra del Fuego, and is one of the largest gas producers in the country. Part of this basin extends to territory that in the XX century was adjudicated to Chile. Large deposits of hydrocarbons such as oil have been found in the waters surrounding the Malvinas Islands.

Fishing

It is one of the pillars of the province's economy. In 2004 Tierra del Fuego AIAS produced 10% of the total catches of the country, being very important in the coastal area of the Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego the croaker, king crab and crab fisheries, among other enormous maritime resources that extend, like krill through the waters of the Antarctic Glacial Ocean to the extensive coasts of the Argentine Antarctic itself.

Livestock

Livestock is also very important: it is an area of sheep, one of the main resources is sheep breeding, with a predominance of the corriedale breed. Not only wool is used, but the meat is marketed in slaughterhouses and refrigerators, in addition to the sale of leather.

Secondary sector

Industry

The Faro Les Éclaireurs de los Islotes Les Éclaireurs, is a tourist attraction commonly confused with the Light of the End of the World, which is located on the Island of States.

It is carried out under the protection of a national law that established a special tax and customs regime (Law: 19640, industrial promotion regime). This industry is linked more than anything to household appliances, whose production is destined for the domestic market (it can present ups and downs since it depends on the level of consumption in the domestic market), positioning itself among the 5 largest provincial appliance industries in Argentina. The enactment of Law 26539 gives a structural boost to the economic-industrial development of the region, being this a necessary complement to compensate the economic costs of production in its entire spectrum, given, among other things, by the distance that exists between the industrial centers history of Argentina with this southern zone. In recent years, the production of notebooks and netbooks increased 200 percent, going from 208,394 in the first half of 2012 to 624,512 units. Among the main items, there were also increases in decoders (120%), cameras (50%), and industrial (63%) and home (34%) air conditioning equipment. In addition, electronics began to be produced on the island that were imported until last year, such as tablets.

Tertiary sector

Tourism

Cerro Castor is the longest ski center in Argentina, and its tracks can be used several months a year, due to the cold weather of the region.

The Fuegian landscape (mountains, glaciers, forests, rivers with rapids and waterfalls, canals, islands, winter snow sports centers) and its history make Tierra del Fuego a tourist pole of international relevance. The tourist offer is mainly focused on the city of Ushuaia and surroundings. In 2004 there were around 195,303 visits to Ushuaia. International tourism represents approximately 60% of the total and is largely oriented to Antarctica, the remaining 40% is national tourism that comes mainly from Buenos Aires.

Among the tourist attractions are:

• Tierra del Fuego National Park.
• Museum of the End of the World, located in the former building of the National Bank.
• Museum of the Old Presidio
• Cerro Castor, the southernmost ski center in the world

Another attraction in the area is the Les Éclaireurs Lighthouse, which is usually called the Lighthouse at the End of the World, after the one named in Jules Verne's work, although the one the writer was referring to is actually located in Isla de los Estados, also belonging to this province.

Transportation

The End of the World Train, originally built to serve Ushuaia prison and now operating for tourism, is the most southern train in the working world.

Boating in the Beagle Channel in Ushuaia.

Port of Ushuaia.

Terrestrial

The communication route between the main towns is National Route No. 3. There are private transportation services that connect Ushuaia with Río Grande, passing through Tolhuin, with daily departures and with a wide hourly frequency. To access the continental part of the country, you have to travel through Chilean territory for about 150 km, also crossing the Strait of Magellan by barge (ferry).

Maritime

• Port of Ushuaia: Ships of naval transport, commercial ships and tourist cruises. It is the port of Argentina closest to Antarctica.
• Puerto de Río Grande, with violent currents. The port Caleta La Misión is under construction in the vicinity of the city.
• San Sebastian oil port.

Aerial

• Ushuaia International Airport «Malvinas Argentinas»

• Rio Grande International Airport «Government Ramon Trejo Noel»

• Gustavo Marambio Airport

• Aeroclub Ushuaia.

Club for pilots. It offers baptism flights and courses to obtain the title "private pilot", "controlled VFR", "night flight", "commercial pilot", "first class commercial pilot".

• Aeroclub Rio Grande.

Club for pilots. It offers flight courses to obtain the "private pilot of an airplane with VFR rating" license.

Culture

Festivities and events

• 26 April: Day of the Provincialization of Tierra del Fuego, Antarctica and South Atlantic Islands (anniversary of the day of creation of the 23rd Province by the National Congress.
• 1 June: Day of the Province of Tierra del Fuego, Antarctica and South Atlantic Islands (anniversary of the Judgment of the Provincial Constitution).
• July 11: Anniversary of Rio Grande.
• 21 September: Provincial Day of Health Workers.”
• October 5: Provincial Road Worker Day.
• October 12: Anniversary of Ushuaia.
• October 9: Anniversary of Tolhuin.
• October 11: National Day of Patagonia.
• 6 November: Provincial day of the bank worker.
• 25th of November: Day of the Native wasguino.
• Both in Ushuaia and in Rio Grande every year the dinner of the ancient inhabitants is organized, to beg those who contributed to the growth of the cities in more difficult times.

Museums

Maritime Museum of Ushuaia

• Maritime Museum of Ushuaia (Ex-Presidio) - Ushuaia: Inaugurated in 1998. The building was declared a National Historical Monument by law of the National Congress in April 1997.
• Museum of the End of the World - Ushuaia: Opened on May 18, 1979.
• Yámana Museum - Ushuaia.
• Historical and Natural Science Museum of the Salesian Mission - Rio Grande.
• Acatushun Museum - Estancia Harberton: Museum of southern marine birds and mammals. It is located 85 km east of Ushuaia. Opened on 10 March 2001.
• Museum of the city Virginia Choquintel - Rio Grande.
• Museo Fueguino de Arte- Río Grande.

Cultural facilities

• Provincial School No. 38 Raúl Ricardo Alfonsín in the Antarctic department Argentina.
• House of Culture Enriqueta Gastelumendi, in Ushuaia.
• Casa de la Cultura Rio Grande, Rio Grande.
• Old Beban House, on the Paseo de los Viejos Pobladores, in Ushuaia.
• Old House of Government.
• Artisanal Walk, Ushuaia.
• Asociación Actuar (PJ n.o532) Theatre, mimo, puppets, dance, in Ushuaia.
• Biblioteca Popular Sarmiento, in Ushuaia.
• Centro Cultural Almafuerte, in Ushuaia.
• Art Gallery of the Maritime Museum of Ushuaia.
• Yatana Forest Foundation Cultivate: Native art and cultures in a young lenga forest located in the center of Ushuaia.
• Paseo de los Artesanos, Rio Grande.
• Leandro N. Alem Municipal Cultural Center in Rio Grande.

Roots

The toponymy of Tierra del Fuego is rich in aboriginal words, however, throughout history many of them have been changed to other names, whether they were surnames of explorers, missionaries, presidents, etc. There is interest in recovering the original place names, for example:

• Lake Fagnano, so called in homage to the missionary José Fagnano was formerly Lake Cami (or Khami) which means ‘great water’. It is called in both ways, preferably the first.
• Lake Roca had an aboriginal name, Acigami, which in the Yagán language means ‘long path’.
• The MacLennan river, originally called Cauchicol (the name of a selknam cacique).
• The Popper tip, in Rio Grande, was Honte Pakar, the name of another selknam cacique.

Sports

Since 2017, the soccer club Los Cuervos del Fin del Mundo will participate in the Federal B Tournament, the fourth division of Argentine soccer. Los Cuervos will be the southernmost club in the world to play a national competition.

It is one of the provinces that has least received the cultural influences present in the most popular sports in all of Argentina, which are soccer, basketball, rugby, and tennis. Hockey, motor racing and highly athletic sports are practiced mainly. The most important is futsal or Futsal, which is also the most popular in the province.

Some of these causes may be the low immigration to the south compared to the reception centers for internal and/or external migration (low percentage of inhabitants born outside the provincial territory); low population (there are just over 150,000 people according to the 2010 Census), and isolation in different aspects; among other things. ^{[citation required]}

Sports facilities

In Ushuaia:

• Municipal Sports Complex «Augusto Lasserre»: with synthetic grass football pitch, athletic track, rugby court.
• Club Colegio del Sur.
• Ushuaia Rugby Club.

Sporting events

• Great Prize for the Argentine-Chilean Brotherhood: motor racing competition that is contested every year and whose length alternates between the city of Rio Grande and Porvenir (Chile). Declared cultural and sporting heritage at the provincial level.
• World End Cup Archived on October 1, 2016 in Wayback Machine.: It is an ice hockey championship that takes place annually in the month of July in the municipal track of Olympic measures «Carlos Tachuela Oyarzún», located in the city of Ushuaia. Several teams from different provinces, clubs and categories participate, as well as international teams, starting from the IX edition (2013). Organized by the Argentine Ice Hockey Federation (FAHH).