Ushuaia, Argentina

Ushuaía is located on the south coast of the largest of the islands in the archipelago of the Land of Fire, in the far south of South America.

In 1833, the British ship HMS Beagle mapped the archipelago, and discovered a passage between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, which has since been named the Beagle Channel. Ushuaía is located inside the Beagle Channel, and is named after the native word for bay.

Charles Darwin

Charles Darwin was also on board the HMS Beagle, and after rounding South America, the ship continued north and out to the Galapagos Islands, where Darwin made some of his most important discoveries.

In 1869, British missionaries settled in Ushuaia, establishing what has now grown into a city of about 75,000 inhabitants. In 1896, a prison was built in Ushuaía, where particularly dangerous inmates were held. The city grew around the prison, and the growth continued when a naval base was established here in 1950.

Tourism

Today, tourism is an important industry. Ushuaía is the starting point for trips both on the island itself, in the waters around the archipelago, and across the Drake Passage to Antarctica.

The climate here is mild. It rarely gets warmer than 14-15 degrees C in summer, and in winter the temperature varies around zero degrees C. All the low pressure systems that pass by make it humid.

There is not much precipitation, 537 mm a year on average, much less than what Oslo gets, but there is often fog and clouds. And it is windy.

Normal maximum temperature in March: 12.1 ℃
Normal precipitation in March: 46.8 mm

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