Magallanes

Southern Patagonian Ice Field

Earth's second largest contiguous extrapolar ice field; known locally as El Campo de Hielo Sur. It's the larger of the two remnants of the Patagonian Ice Sheet, which once covered all of Chilean Patagonia during the last ice age. A ~50 km stretch of the Chile-Argentina border within the ice field remains undefined (including the Viedma and Upsala glaciers). The Argentine portion of the ice field is home to Glaciar Perito Moreno.

Strait of Magellan

The Straight of Magellan is a passage of water connecting the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans and separating mainland South America (to the north) from the island of Tierra del Fuego (to the south). It was first navigated in 1520 by Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan during his global circumnavigation voyage. In 1873, in an unbinding diplomatic letter to major shipping nations, Chile vowed freedom of navigation and neutrality within the strait.

Isla Navarino

The Isla Navarino is located south of the island of Tierra del Fuego and is home to the southernmost settlement, Puerto Williams (population ~3,000). The indigenous Yaghan inhabited the island for ~10,000 years before European contact. Despite frigid temperatures, the Yaghan wore very little clothing. There is a hiking circuit around the island's jagged pinnacles, known as the Dientes de Navarino.

Cabo de Hornos

Cabo de Hornos is the southernmost headland of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago. It was first circumnavigated in 1616 by Willem Schouten who named it Kaap Hoorn after his hometown of Hoorn (in the Netherlands). The Chilean Navy maintains a station at Cabo de Hornos consisting of a residence, utility building, chapel, and a lighthouse. A sculpture featuring the silhouette of an albatross memorializes the sailors who died while attempting to "round the Horn."

Beagle Channel

The Beagle Channel is the narrow body of water separating Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego (to the north) from various smaller islands of Isla Navarino, Isla Picton and Isla Londonberry (to the south). The channel is named after the British ship, HMS Beagle, which surveyed the coasts of Patagonia during two voyages in the early 19th-century. The ship's crew included Robert Fitz Roy and naturalist Charles Darwin.

Drake Passage

The Drake Passage is a ~800 kilometer-wide passage of water separating South America's Cape Horn (to the north) and the South Shetland Islands of Antarctica (to the south).  The passage connects the southwestern part of the Atlantic Ocean with the southeastern part of the Pacific Ocean and is the shortest crossing between Antarctica and any other landmass.