Ushuaia, which at 55 degrees latitude south is closer to the South Pole (2,480 mi) than to Argentina’s northern border with Bolivia (2,540 mi), is the capital and tourism base for Tierra del Fuego, an island at the southernmost tip of Argentina. Although its physical beauty is tough to match, Tierra del Fuego’s historical allure is based more on its mythic past than on reality. The island was inhabited for 6,000 years by Yamana. Haush, Selk´nam, and Alakaluf Indians.
At first, only political prisoners were sent to Ushuaia. But later, fearful of losing Tierra del Fuego to its rivals, the Argentine state sent increased numbers of more dangerous criminals. When the prison closed in 1947, Ushuaia had a population of about 3,000 mainly former inmates and prison staff.
Today the Indians of Darwin’s “missing link” theory are long gone wiped out by disease and indifference brought by settlers. The town of Ushuaia itself can be called picturesque at best. Parts of it resemble an oversize mining camp a waiting the next strike. Wooden shacks, precariously mounted on upright piers and ready for speedy displacement to a different site, look like entrants in a contest for most original log cabin.
.jpg)
