Ushuaia

Ushuaia is the capital of the Argentine province of Tierra del Fuego, and the world's southernmost city. It is located on the southern coast of the island of Tierra del Fuego, in a setting surrounded by mountains and overlooking the Beagle Channel. It had approximately 64,000 inhabitants as of 2005.

The city was originally named by early British colonists after the name that the native Yámana people had for the area. 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: being a remote island, escape from a prison on Tierra del Fuego would have been impossible. The prisoners thus became forced colonists and spent much of their time cutting wood in the lands around the prison and building the town. They built a railway from the forests to the settlement, now used as a tourist train as the Tren del Fin del Mundo (End of the Earth Train), the southernmost railway in the world.

The tourist attractions include the Tierra del Fuego National Park (to see Lapataia Bay) including by using the Tren del Fin del Mundo; hiring a boat charter to Cape Horn (in Chilean waters); and local birds, penguins and sea wolves on the islands in the Beagle Channel. Some tours also visit the Lighthouse at the End of the World (Faro del fin del mundo) at the Isla de los Estados, made famous by Jules Verne in the novel of the same name.

It is also a key access point to the southern regions; it receives regular flights from Buenos Aires, (at Ushuaia International Airport), and cruise ships visiting the Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas) and Antarctica dock at the port. There are a number of ski areas nearby, like Cerro Castor and Glaciar Martial.

Other contenders for the title of southernmost city are Puerto Williams in Chile (further south but much smaller); and Punta Arenas, Chile (much larger but further north). Several continuously inhabited settlements also south of Ushuaia include Puerto Toro on Isla Navarino, Chile, Orcadas in the South Orkney Islands, and Esperanza in the Argentine Antarctic territory. Each of these settlements has fewer than 100 residents. Orcadas and Esperanza are merely considered bases by nations that do not recognize Argentina's Antarctic territorial claim, but they are considered as communities by the Argentine government: Esperanza has a secondary school, a chapel and a radio station. However none of these can be considered a city.

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