Tierra del Fuego (
Spanish for "
Land of Fire", in English pronounced
/ti'??r? d?l 'fwe?go?]/; Spanish
IPA&_160;
['tjerað?el'fwe?o]) is an
archipelago 73,753&_160;
km2 (28,476&_160;
sq&_160;mi) separated from the southernmost tip of the
South American mainland by the
Strait of Magellan. The southern point of the archipelago forms
Cape Horn.
The archipelago consists of a main island (Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego, often simply called Tierra del Fuego or Isla Grande) with an area of 48,100&_160;km2 (18,572&_160;sq&_160;mi), and a group of smaller islands.
Half of this island, and the islands west and south of it, are part of the Magallanes y Antártica Chilena Region, the capital and chief town of which is Punta Arenas, situated on the mainland across the strait. The biggest Chilean towns are Porvenir, capital of the Chilean Province of Tierra del Fuego, on the main island, and Puerto Williams, on Navarino Island, being the capital of the Antártica Chilena Province. Puerto Toro lies a few kilometers south of Puerto Williams and is the southernmost village in the world.
The eastern part of the archipelago belongs to Argentina, being part of the Tierra del Fuego, Antarctic Territory and South Atlantic Islands Province; its capital is Ushuaia, the biggest city of the archipelago, and the other important city in the region is Río Grande, over on the Atlantic coast.
