The world's southernmost city — a Chilean naval base on Navarino Island where the Beagle Channel meets the Dientes de Navarino range
Puerto Williams on Navarino Island in Chile's Tierra del Fuego is officially the world's southernmost city (population ~3,000), set on the south shore of the Beagle Channel where condors circle over glacially carved peaks. The town exists because of the Chilean Navy — it is primarily a naval base — but it has become a destination for trekkers tackling the Dientes de Navarino circuit (the southernmost hiking route in the world, through sub-Antarctic forest and glacial lakes) and for yacht crews positioning for Cape Horn passages. The Museo Martín Gusinde documents the Yagán people, the indigen…
The Yagán (Yamana) people occupied the Beagle Channel coastline and islands for at least 6,000 years, surviving on shellfish, fish, and marine mammals in one of the world's harshest inhabited environments — they wore little clothing, relying instead on body fat and permanent fires (hence Tierra del Fuego, 'land of fire'). Charles Darwin encountered them during the Beagle voyages (1831–36) and was struck by what he considered their primitiveness; in fact the Yagán had an elaborate social structure. Chilean settlement began in earnest in the early 20th century; the naval base was established in…