Editing Beagle Channel

{{Short description|Strait in Tierra del Fuego}}
{{Infobox body of water
|name               = Beagle Channel
|other_name         = 
|image              = [[File:090111-6 Above ビーグル水道.jpg|frameless|upright=1.2]] <br/> Partial aerial view of Beagle Channel. The Chilean [[Navarino Island]] is seen in the top-right while the Argentine part of [[Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego]] is seen at the bottom-left.<br />[[File:Canalbeagle.png|frameless|upright=1.2]] <br/> Beagle Channel, from the [[Pacific Ocean|Pacific]] to the [[Atlantic Ocean]].
|image_bathymetry   = 
|alt_bathymetry     = 
|caption_bathymetry = 
|location           = [[Pacific Oceans]]–[[Atlantic Ocean]] 
|coords             = {{WikidataCoord|display=it}}
|type               = [[Strait]]
|inflow             = 
|outflow            = 
|catchment          = 
|basin_countries    = Chile <br /> Argentina
|date-built         = 
|date-flooded       = 
|agency             = 
|length             = {{convert|150|mile}}
|min_width          = {{convert|3|mile}}
|area               = 
|depth              = 
|max-depth          = 
|volume             = 
|residence_time     = 
|shore              = 
|elevation          = 
|frozen             = 
|islands            = 
|cities             = [[Ushuaia]], Argentina <br /> [[Puerto Williams]], Chile
|reference          = 
| pushpin_label  = 
| pushpin_map_caption     = 
| pushpin_map_alt         = Location of the Beagle Channel.
| pushpin_map =  Chile#Argentina#South America
| pushpin_relief = y
| pushpin_label_position= top
| embedded      = {{Infobox mapframe |wikidata=yes |zoom=7 |coord={{WikidataCoord|display=i}}}}
}}
'''Beagle Channel''' ({{Langx|es|Canal del Beagle}}; [[Yahgan language|Yahgan]]: ''Onašaga''<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Piepke |first1=Joachim G. |last2=Striegel |first2=Angelika |title=The Last Yagan: Reminiscences of Cristina Calderón from Tierra del Fuego |journal=Anthropos |date=2017 |volume=112 |issue=2 |pages=562–568 |doi=10.5771/0257-9774-2017-2-562 |jstor=44791391 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/44791391 |access-date=17 February 2022 |issn=0257-9774|url-access=subscription }}</ref>) is a [[strait]] in the [[Tierra del Fuego|Tierra del Fuego Archipelago]], on the extreme southern tip of [[South America]] between [[Chile]] and [[Argentina]].<ref>Sergio Zagier, 2006</ref> The channel separates the larger main island of [[Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego]] from various smaller islands including the islands of [[Picton, Lennox and Nueva]]; [[Navarino Island|Navarino]]; [[Hoste Island|Hoste]]; [[Londonderry Island|Londonderry]]; and Stewart. The channel's eastern area forms part of the border between Chile and Argentina and the western area is entirely within Chile.

The Beagle Channel, the [[Straits of Magellan]] to the north, and the open-ocean [[Drake Passage]] to the south are the three navigable passages around South America between the [[Pacific Ocean|Pacific]] and [[Atlantic Ocean]]s. 

The Beagle Channel is about {{convert|240|km|nmi mi}} long and {{convert|5|km|nmi mi|0}} wide at its narrowest point. It extends from [[Isla Nueva|Nueva Island]] in the east to [[Darwin Sound]] and [[Bahía Cook|Cook Bay]] in the Pacific Ocean in the west.  Some {{convert|50|km|nmi mi|0}} from its western end, it divides into two branches, north and south of [[Gordon Island]].  The southwest branch between Hoste Island and Gordon Island enters Cook Bay. The northwest branch between Gordon Island and Isla Grande enters Darwin Sound, which connects to the Pacific Ocean by the O'Brien and [[Ballenero Channel|Ballenero]] channels. The biggest settlement on the channel is [[Ushuaia]] in Argentina followed by [[Puerto Williams]] in Chile. These are amongst the [[southernmost settlements]] in the world.

==Navigation==
Although it is navigable by large ships, there are safer waters to the south ([[Drake Passage]]) and to the north ([[Strait of Magellan]]).<ref name="Laudy">{{Cite book | first = Mark | last = Laudy | editor1-last = Greenberg | editor1-first = Melanie C. | editor2-last = Barton | editor3-last = McGuinness | editor3-first = Margaret E. | contribution = The Vatican Mediation of the Beagle Channel Dispute: Crisis Intervention and Forum Building  | title = Words Over War:Mediations and Arbitration to Prevent Deadly Conflict| year = 2000 | publisher = Rowman & Littlefield | location = Lanham, Md. | isbn = 978-0-8476-9893-6 | editor2-first = John H.}}</ref> Under the [[Treaty of Peace and Friendship of 1984 between Chile and Argentina]], ships of other nations navigate with a Chilean [[Maritime pilot|pilot]] between the [[Strait of Magellan]] and [[Ushuaia]] through the [[Magdalena Channel]] and the [[Cockburn Channel]] to the Pacific Ocean, then by the Ballenero Channel, the O'Brien Channel and the northwest branch of the Beagle Channel.<ref>[https://www.un.org/Depts/los/LEGISLATIONANDTREATIES/PDFFILES/TREATIES/CHL-ARG1984PF.PDF ''Peace and Friendship Treaty of 1984'']</ref>

==Islands==
The Beagle Channel is between islands covering a much larger area; to the north lies Argentine-Chilean [[Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego]], to the south [[Hoste Island|Hoste]], [[Navarino Island|Navarino]], and [[Picton, Lennox and Nueva|Picton and Nueva]], which were claimed by Argentina until 1984. The latter two lie at the bi-national eastern entrance to the channel while the western entrance is wholly inside Chile. The western entrance of Beagle Channel is divided by [[Gordon Island]] into two channels. Some minor islands exist inside the channel among them [[Snipe incident|Snipe Islet]] and [[Gable Island]]. Except for eastern Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego and Gable Island all islands mentioned here belong to Chile.

==History==
{{See also|Tierra del Fuego gold rush}}

The [[Yaghan people]]s settled the islands along the [[Murray Channel]], which connects to the southern side of the Beagle Channel, approximately 10,000 years before present. There are notable [[archaeological]] sites indicating such early Yaghan settlement at locations such as [[Bahia Wulaia]] on [[Isla Navarino]], site of the ''Bahia Wulaia Dome Middens''.<ref>C. Michael Hogan, 2008</ref>

===Mythology===
According to a [[Selkʼnam myth]], the  channel was created alongside the [[Strait of Magellan]] and [[Fagnano Lake]] in places where slingshots fell on earth during Taiyín's fight with a witch who was said to have "retained the waters and the foods".<ref name=Sonia2015>{{Cite book|title=Mitos de Chile: Enciclopedia de seres, apariciones y encantos|last=Montecino Aguirre|first=Sonia|publisher=[[Catalonia (publisher)|Catalonia]] |year=2015|isbn=978-956-324-375-8 |page=125|chapter=Canal de Beagle |language=es}}</ref>

===Naming and Darwin visit===
The channel was named after the ship [[HMS Beagle|HMS ''Beagle'']] during its first [[hydrographic survey]] of the coasts of the southern part of South America which lasted from 1826 to 1830. During that expedition, under the overall command of Commander [[Phillip Parker King]], the ''Beagle''{{'s}} captain [[Pringle Stokes]] committed suicide and was replaced by captain [[Robert FitzRoy]]. The ship continued the survey in the [[second voyage of HMS Beagle|second voyage of ''Beagle'']] under the command of captain FitzRoy, who took [[Charles Darwin]] along as a self-funding [[wikt:supernumerary|supernumerary]], giving him opportunities as an amateur [[naturalist]]. Darwin had his first sight of [[glacier]]s when they reached the channel on 29 January 1833, and wrote in his field notebook  "It is scarcely possible to imagine anything more beautiful than the beryl-like blue of these glaciers, and especially as contrasted with the dead white of the upper expanse of snow."<ref>Charles Darwin, ''Voyage of the Beagle'' (New York: Collier, 1909), chapter 10, p. 240.</ref><ref name=glaciers>{{cite web |url=http://darwin-online.org.uk/content/frameset?viewtype=side&itemID=A345&pageseq=2 |title=An 1830s View from Outside Switzerland: Charles Darwin on the "Beryl Blue" Glaciers of Tierra del Fuego |author=Herbert, Sandra |year= 1999 |publisher=Eclogae Geologicae Helvetiae |pages=92, 339–46 |access-date=2008-12-22}}</ref>

===Beagle conflict===
Several small islands ([[Beagle Channel cartography since 1881|Picton, Lennox and Nueva]]) up to the [[Cape Horn]] were the subject of the long-running [[Beagle conflict]] between Chile and Argentina. From the 1950s to 1970s several incidents involving the Chilean and Argentine navies occurred in the waters of the Beagle Channel, for example the 1958 [[Snipe incident]], the 1967 ''Cruz del Sur'' incident and the shelling of ''Quidora'' the same year. See [[List of incidents during the Beagle conflict]]. By the terms of a [[Treaty of Peace and Friendship of 1984 between Chile and Argentina]] the islands are now part of Chile.<ref name="Laudy" />

=== Beagle Channel in the Fine Arts ===
As a ship's painter, [[Conrad Martens]] drew and created watercolour paintings in 1833 and 1834 during the [[Second voyage of HMS Beagle|second voyage of HMS ''Beagle'']] in [[Tierra del Fuego]].<ref>[[Richard Keynes]]: ''The Beagle Record: Selections from the Original Pictorial Records and Written Accounts of the Voyage of H.M.S. Beagle'', 1979, CUP Archives {{ISBN|0-521-21822-5}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8D1K22Rbc20  |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/8D1K22Rbc20| archive-date=2021-12-11 |url-status=live|title=A Voyage of Sketches: The Art of Conrad Martens |date=2014|publisher=Cambridge Digital Library |via=www.youtube.com}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

The German painter [[Ingo Kühl]] traveled three times to the Beagle Channel, where he created paintings on board a sailing yacht.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://portal.dnb.de/opac.htm?method=simpleSearch&cqlMode=true&query=idn%3D994116454|title=Landschaften am Ende der Welt / Paisages del fin del mundo / mit einem Text von / con un texto de Antonio Skármeta|first=Ingo|last=Kühl|date=2006|publisher=I. Kühl|via=Deutsche Nationalbibliothek|access-date=16 April 2022|archive-date=11 March 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220311133535/https://portal.dnb.de/opac.htm?method=simpleSearch&cqlMode=true&query=idn%3D994116454|url-status=live}}</ref>

<Gallery class="center" widths="200px">
File:HMS Beagle by Conrad Martens.jpg|[[HMS Beagle|HMS ''Beagle'']] at Ponsonby Sound in the Beagle Channel, by the ship's artist Conrad Martens.<ref>{{harvnb|Keynes|2001|p=[http://darwin-online.org.uk/content/frameset?viewtype=text&itemID=F1925&pageseq=259 227]}}</ref>
File: Ingo Kühl "Gletscher (Beagle Kanal)" 2005.jpg |''Glacier (Beagle Channel)'', painted by Ingo Kühl (2005).
</Gallery>

==Fauna==
Beagle Channel is a prominent area to watch rare species of dolphins.<ref>{{cite web |title=Scotia Sea: Part 5. The Great Marine Mammals |url=http://www.vulkaner.no/n/vlad/escotia5.html }}</ref>  Wildlife seen in the channel include:<ref>{{cite book |last1=Lowen |first1=James |title=Antarctic Wildlife: A Visitor's Guide |date=2011 |publisher=Princeton University Press |location=Princeton |isbn=9780691150338 |pages=41–43, 78–110}}</ref>

Mammals:

* [[South American sea lion]]
* [[South American fur seal]]
* [[Peale's dolphin]] (endemic to [[Patagonia]])
* [[Dusky dolphin]]
* [[Commerson's dolphin]]
* [[Risso's dolphin]]
* [[Burmeister's porpoise]]
* [[spectacled porpoise]]

Birds:

* [[Magellanic penguin]]
* [[southern rockhopper penguin]]
* [[upland goose]]
* [[kelp goose]]
* [[crested duck]]
* [[great grebe]]
* [[flying steamerduck]]
* [[flightless steamerduck]]
* [[black-faced ibis]]
* [[black-crowned night-heron]]
* [[imperial shag]]
* [[rock shag]]
* [[Neotropic cormorant]]
* [[black-chested buzzard-eagle]]
* [[turkey vulture]]
* [[Andean condor]]
* [[crested caracara]]
* [[chimango caracara]]
* [[white-throated caracara]]
* [[striated caracara]]
* [[Magellanic oystercatcher]]
* [[blackish oystercatcher]]
* [[southern lapwing]]
* [[rufous-chested plover]]
* [[Baird's sandpiper]]
* [[white-rumped sandpiper]]
* [[brown-hooded gull]]
* [[dolphin gull]]
* [[South American tern]]
* [[kelp gull]]
* [[Chilean skua]]
* [[Magellanic diving-petrel]]
* [[common diving-petrel]]

==Gallery==

<Gallery class="center">
Image:beagle-canal-panorama.jpg|Beagle Channel seen from above [[Puerto Williams]]
Image:Beagle Channel - La Isla de Los Lobos.jpg|Sea Lions Island or La Isla de Los Lobos
Image:BeagleChannelGlacier.jpg|[[Romanche Glacier]] on the north shore of the channel
Image:Beagle-Kanal Ushuaia.JPG|Beagle Channel, January 2006
Image:Farofindelmundo2.JPG| View of The Lighthouse [[Les Eclaireurs Lighthouse|Les Eclaireurs]] called ''End of the World'' near [[Ushuaia]] on the north shore of the channel
</Gallery>

==See also==
* [[Beagle conflict]]
* [[Beagle Channel cartography since 1881]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
{{Commons category|Beagle Channel}}
* C. Michael Hogan (2008) [http://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=18795 ''Bahia Wulaia Dome Middens, Megalithic Portal'', ed. Andy Burnham]
* {{Cite web
 | last= Keynes
 | first= Richard
 | author-link = Richard Keynes
 | year= 2001
 | title=Charles Darwin's Beagle Diary
 | publisher=Cambridge University Press
 | url =http://darwin-online.org.uk/content/frameset?itemID=F1925&viewtype=text&pageseq=1
 | access-date =2008-10-24
 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20081010111116/http://darwin-online.org.uk/content/frameset?itemID=F1925&viewtype=text&pageseq=1| archive-date= 10 October 2008 | url-status= live}}
* Sergio Zagier (2006) ''Patagonian & Fuegian Channels Map: Chilean Fjords Cruise Chart – Cape Horn, Ushuaia, Magellan Strait'',  Zagier & Urruty Publishers  {{ISBN|1-879568-96-9}}
* (2006) [http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol11/iss1/art43/ Omora Ethnobotanical Park and Cape Horn Biosphere Reserve]

{{Authority control}}
[[Category:Straits of the Atlantic Ocean]]
[[Category:Straits of the Pacific Ocean]]
[[Category:Straits of Argentina]]
[[Category:Straits of Chile]]
[[Category:Landforms of Tierra del Fuego]]
[[Category:Bodies of water of Magallanes Region]]
[[Category:Landforms of Tierra del Fuego Province, Argentina]]
[[Category:Argentina–Chile border]]
[[Category:International straits]]
[[Category:HMS Beagle]]