How would one describe Tierra del Fuego?

Tierra del Fuego is an archipelago at the southern tip of South America.

The archipelago is centered on Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego, or the Great Island of Tierra del Fuego, along with many smaller islands. It lies south of the Strait of Magellan, between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. The Beagle Channel separates the main island from several important southern islands, including Navarino and Hoste.

Tierra del Fuego is politically divided between Argentina and Chile. The eastern portion of the main island belongs to Argentina, while the western portion and most of the surrounding islands belong to Chile. Ushuaia, in Argentina, is one of its best-known cities; Puerto Williams and Porvenir are important Chilean settlements.

The name means “Land of Fire.” Ferdinand Magellan’s expedition reportedly saw fires lit by Indigenous peoples along the shores in 1520. The name refers to the island group as a whole, so calling Tierra del Fuego merely an island is incomplete: its defining geographic form is an archipelago.