Tierra del Fuego Wind

The beautiful and ecologically diverse archipelago has been fully fashioned by the grace and the power of the winds. As you walk along the paths among the ancient trees, you can’t help but notice that even the trees themselves have been moved into submission. They lean as if caught in a dance caused by the heavy gusts of wind.

Tierra del Fuego Spanish for "Land of Fire") is an archipelago off the southernmost tip of the South American mainland, across the Strait of Magellan. The archipelago consists of a main island, Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego, divided between Chile and Argentina, with an area of 48,100 km2 (18,572 sq mi), and a group of many islands, including Cape Horn and Diego Ramírez Islands. The first Europeans came upon it in Ferdinand Magellan's expedition of 1520. No Europeans settled there until the second half of the 19th century, at the height of the sheep farming and gold rush booms. Today, petroleum extraction dominates economic activity in the north of Tierra del Fuego, while tourism, manufacturing, and Antarctic logistics are important in the south.