Information about Ushuaia

Ushuaia is the capital of the province of Tierra del Fuego, Antarctica and the South Atlantic Islands, in Argentina.
The city is located on the shores of the Isla Grande of Tierra del Fuego that overlook the bay of Ushuaia in the Beagle Channel, and is surrounded by the Martial mountain range. Besides being an administrative center, it is an industrial, port and tourist hub.

The word Ushuaia comes from the Yagan language: ush (in the background) and waia (bay or caleta) and means deep bay or bay in the background.

Ushuaia is a young city. It is considered as the date of foundation on October 12, 1884 when an Argentine expedition installed a sub-prefecture and raised the flag for the first time in the bay facing the Beagle. However, the area was already populated by some 300 Anglican missionaries from the South American Missionary Society.
They built the first houses and took care of evangelizing the aborigines.

For the Argentines, Ushuaia became known when it was decided to build the prison there, at the beginning of the 20th century. The Ushuaia prison is part of the history of the city and prisoners can also be considered first settlers.

History of Ushuaia

The missionary activities of the Anglicans constituted the initial step in the history of Ushuaia. Initiated the evangelization of the Yámanas Indians in 1850 by the missionary Allen Gardiner, it would be continued by several religious, until the chapter was closed in 1907 by Juan Lawrence.

It would be in October 1884 that Commodore Augusto Lasserre would found the Ushuaia Subprefecture in compliance with a decree signed by President Julio A. Roca, thus establishing sovereignty over this southern area after the Southern Treaty with Chile of 1881, which was recognized by the inhabitants of the Anglican mission.
There was no delineation of streets or blocks until 1894. The expanding village became a picturesque multicolored town. Ushuaia began to occupy a place among the Argentines when he began, in 1896, the Criminal Colonization sending men and women who had to serve sentences of several years. This project changed rapidly when overcrowding occurred in prisons given the great immigration that Buenos Aires received. This happened to be a prison for repeat offenders in wooden boxes and sheet metal. In 1902 the construction in stone and mortar, by the prisoners themselves, of the building of five pavilions begins. The Maritime and Presidio Museum of Ushuaia, the José María Sobral Antarctic Museum, the Ushuaia Marine Art Museum (first Museum of Art of the Province, 2006) and the Art Gallery of the Maritime Museum of Ushuaia (also the first of the province).