Beagle Channel

Beagle Channel

The Beagle Channel is a strait separating islands of the Tierra del Fuego Archipelago, in extreme southern South America. It separates Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego from the islands Nueva, Picton, Navarino, Hoste, Londonderry, Stewart Islands and other smaller to the south. Its eastern portion is part of the border between Chile and Argentina, but the western part is completely within Chile. The west end is the Darwin Sound and the east end is Nueva Island.

The Beagle Channel is about 150 miles long and is about three miles wide at its narrowest point. To the west the Darwin Sound connects it to the Pacific Ocean.

Although it is navigable by large ships, there are safer waters to the south (Drake Passage) and to the north (Strait of Magellan).

Several small islands (Picton, Lennox and Nueva) up to the Cape Horn were the subject of a long-running territorial dispute between Chile and Argentina; by the terms of a Treaty of Peace and Friendship of 1984 between Chile and Argentina they are now part of Chile. Ships of other nations can navigate between the Strait of Magellan and Ushuaia through the Chilean Magdalena Channel and the Cockburn Channel with Chilean Pilot and 48 hours advance notice.

The biggest settlement on the channel is Ushuaia in Argentina followed by Puerto Williams in Chile, two of the southernmost settlements of the world.

The channel is named after the ship HMS "Beagle" which was involved in two hydrographic surveys of the coasts of the southern part of South America in the early 19th century. During the first, under the overall command of the Australian Commander Phillip Parker King, the "Beagle's" captain Pringle Stokes committed suicide and was replaced by captain Robert FitzRoy. The second is better known as the voyage of the Beagle and is famous because captain FitzRoy took Charles Darwin along as a gentleman's companion, giving him opportunities as an amateur naturalist.


Ushuaia on the north shore of the Channel

ee also

* Beagle conflict
* Beagle Channel cartography since 1881
* Drake Passage
* Strait of Magellan
* Cape Horn
* [http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol11/iss1/art43/ Omora Ethnobotanical Park and Cape Horn Biosphere Reserve]


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  • Beagle Channel — Channel, extreme southern South America. Separating the main islands of Tierra del Fuego from smaller islands in the archipelago, it is about 150 mi (240 km) long and 3–8 mi (5–13 km) wide. The eastern portion forms part of the Chile Argentina… …   Universalium

  • Beagle Channel cartography since 1881 — The Beagle Conflict Main: Beagle conflict 1881–1970: Beagle Channel cartography 1958: Snipe incident 1971–1977: Beagle Channel Arbitration 1977–1978: Direct Negotiations …   Wikipedia

  • Beagle Channel Arbitration — On 1971 July 22 Salvador Allende and Alejandro Lanusse, Presidents of Chile and Argentina, signed an [http://untreaty.un.org/cod/riaa/cases/vol XXI/53 264.pdf Arbitration Agreement of 1971] formally submitting the dispute concerning the… …   Wikipedia

  • Beagle (disambiguation) — Beagle is a breed of dog. It may also refer to:Places * Beagle Bay, disambiguation page * Beagle Channel, a strait separating islands of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago, in extreme southern South America * Beagle conflict, a border dispute… …   Wikipedia

  • Beagle conflict — The Beagle Conflict was a border dispute between Chile and Argentina over the possession of Picton, Lennox and Nueva islands and the scope of the maritime jurisdiction associated with those islands.The islands are strategicly located off the… …   Wikipedia

  • Beagle-Kartographie ab 1881 — Der Beagle Konflikt Hauptartikel: Beagle Konflikt 1881–1970: Beagle Kartographie ab 1881 1971–1977: Internationales Schiedsgericht 1977–1978: Direkte Verhandlungen 1978: Operation Soberania …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Beagle-Konflikt — Der Beagle Konflikt Hauptartikel: Beagle Konflikt 1881–1970: Beagle Kartographie ab 1881 1971–1977: Internationales Schiedsgericht 1977–1978: Direkte Verhandlungen 1978: Operation Soberania …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Beagle-Insel — Der Beagle Kanal ist eine natürliche Wasserstraße im Süden Feuerlands (Südamerika), die den Atlantik mit dem Pazifik verbindet. Sein östlicher Teil ist seit 1881 ein Teil des Grenzverlaufs zwischen Argentinien und Chile. Der Kanal verläuft… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Beagle-Inseln — Der Beagle Kanal ist eine natürliche Wasserstraße im Süden Feuerlands (Südamerika), die den Atlantik mit dem Pazifik verbindet. Sein östlicher Teil ist seit 1881 ein Teil des Grenzverlaufs zwischen Argentinien und Chile. Der Kanal verläuft… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

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