Isla de los Estados

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This article is about the island in Tierra del Fuego. For the borough in New York
City, see Staten Island.
Isla de los Estados
Staten Island
Isla de los Estados.jpg
Puerto Cook, north coast
Isla de los Estados Staten Island is located in ArgentinaIsla de los Estados Staten
IslandIsla de los Estados
Staten Island
Location in Argentina
Geography
Location Atlantic Ocean
Coordinates 54�47'S 64�15'WCoordinates: 54�47'S 64�15'W
Area 534 km2 (206 sq mi)
Length 65 km (40.4 mi)
Width 15 km (9.3 mi)
Highest elevation 823 m (2,700 ft)
Administration
Argentina
Province Tierra del Fuego

Lighthouse San Juan del Salvamento in the east (1898)

Isla de los Estados (English: Staten Island, from the Dutch Stateneiland) is an
Argentine island that lies 29 kilometres (18 mi) off the eastern extremity of the
Argentine portion of Tierra del Fuego, from which it is separated by the Le Maire
Strait. It was named after the Netherlands States-General, and its original Dutch
name was identical to that of the New York borough of Staten Island.

The island is administratively part of the Argentinian province of Tierra del

Fuego, and of the department and city of Ushuaia. It has been declared an
"Ecological, Historic, and Tourist Provincial Reserve" ("Reserva provincial
ecol�gica, hist�rica y tur�stica"), with access limited to tours from Ushuaia.

The only settlement is the Puerto Parry Naval Station, located in a deep and narrow
fjord on the northern coast of the island. The naval station, established in 1978,
is manned by a team of four marines on a 45-day rotation. They monitor
environmental conservation and ship movements, and provide emergency assistance.[1]

Contents
1 History
2 Geography
3 Climate
4 Flora and fauna
5 See also
6 References
7 Books
8 External links
History
Prior to European arrival, the islands were regularly visited by the Haush who
inhabited the Mitre Peninsula.[2]

The first European to discover the island was the Spanish naval captain Francisco
de Hoces, when in 1526 the ship San Lesmes, from the Spanish expedition of Loa�sa,
separated from the rest in a storm, being displaced to the south parallel 55,[3]
becoming the discoverer of the great island east of Tierra del Fuego, which would
later be called the Island of the States or Staten Island.

Almost a century after the Spaniards, the Dutch explorers Jacob le Maire and Willem
Schouten passed the island on 25 December 1615, naming it Staten Landt. Le Maire
and Schouten sailed their ship, Eendracht, through a route south of the Straits of
Magellan, a route now called the Le Maire Strait. To his left Le Maire noted the
land mass which he called Staten Landt; he theorized it was perhaps a portion of
the great 'Southern Continent.' (The first European name for New Zealand was Staten
Landt, the name given to it by the Dutch explorer Abel Tasman, who in 1642 became
the first European to see the islands. Tasman also assumed it was part of the
'Southern Continent' later known as Antarctica.)

Dutch captain Hendrik Brouwer recorded sighting the island in 1643. No Europeans
are known to have settled on the island for more than 200 years. In 1862 Argentine
pilot Luis Piedrabuena established a shelter near Port Cook, and built a small seal
oil extraction facility on the island.[4]

On New Year's Day, 1775, Captain James Cook named what is now "Puerto A�o Nuevo",
"New Years Island". Seal hunters established a short-lived factory there (1786-
1787), but abandoned it after Duke of York wrecked there on 11 September 1787 while
bringing supplies.

The island is also referenced in Richard Henry Dana Jr.'s book "Two Years Before
the Mast" as the first land they see after leaving San Diego. He describes the land
as ". . . bare, broken, and girt with rocks and ice, with here and there, between
rocks and broken hillocks, a little stunted vegetation of shrubs. . ."

More than twenty years later, the San Juan del Salvamento Lighthouse was
inaugurated on May 25, 1884, by Comodoro Augusto Lasserre. It operated until
September 1900. The lighthouse, better known as Faro del fin del mundo ("Lighthouse
at the end of the world"), is said to have inspired Jules Verne's novel The
Lighthouse at the End of the World (1905). A military prison was based on the
island from 1899 to 1902. It had to be moved to Tierra del Fuego after being
compromised by the strong winds.[5]

Geography
The island is approximately 65 kilometres (40 mi) long east-west, and 15 kilometres
(9 mi) wide, with an area of 534 square kilometres (206 sq mi). The island is
deeply indented by bays. Its highest point is 823 metres (2,700 ft), and is
considered to be the last prominence of the Andes mountain range. It receives
around 2,000 millimetres (79 in) of rain per year.

The island is surrounded by minor islands and rocks, the largest being Observatorio
island 6.5 kilometres (4.04 mi) north, with an area of 4 square kilometres (2 sq
mi). At the eastern end of the island is Cape St John, a landmark for ships sailing
around the island in order to avoid the currents and tides of the Le Maire Strait
to the west.[6]

Landsat Geocover 2000 image of Isla de los Estados, with Tierra del Fuego at the
left
Climate
The island has a cold and humid climate and is characterized by rapid and
unpredictable changes in the weather from day to day.[7] Under the K�ppen climate
classification, despite the vegetation, it would be classified as a mild tundra
climate (ET), a cold climate with a mean temperature in the warmest month below 10
�C (50.0 �F) with abundant precipitation year-round.[8]

The climate of the island is strongly influenced by the subpolar low pressure
system which develops around the Antarctic Circle and the surrounding oceans.[7]
Being located between the semi�permanent high pressure cell and the subpolar low
(which does not change in intensity through the year and have little seasonal
variation), the island is exposed to westerlies throughout the year.[7]

Temperatures are low year round but without extreme minimum temperatures.[8] The
mean temperature in summer is 8.3 �C (46.9 �F) with mean extremes of 16.2 �C (61.2
�F) and 3.0 �C (37.4 �F) while in winter, the mean temperature is 3.3 �C (37.9 �F)
with mean extremes of 7.7 �C (45.9 �F) and -4 �C (24.8 �F).[8] Mean temperatures
are lower in Tierra del Fuego but due to the moderating influence of the ocean,
extreme minimum temperatures are higher than in Tierra del Fuego.[8] Coastal areas
have average temperatures above 0 �C (32.0 �F) in the coldest month while higher
altitude locations may average below 0 �C (32.0 �F).[8]

Though no reliable records are available, it is estimated that the island averages
around 2,000 mm (79 in) of precipitation per year.[7] However, owing to its relief,
precipitation is highly variable across the island.[7] In the eastern parts of the
island, it averages 1,400 mm (55 in) based on 4 years of data.[9] Precipitation
occurs frequently on the island, averaging 252 days with precipitation.[8][10] June
is the wettest month while October is the driest.[10] Thunderstorms are very rare.
[11]Snow frequently falls during the winter months, averaging 33 days although they
can fall during Autumn and Spring.[10] The island receives high cloud cover
throughout the year, with 74% of the days being cloudy.[10] June is the cloudiest
month while October is the least cloudiest month.[10] Fog is uncommon, averaging
only 16 days per year.[10] Similar to the rest of Patagonia, the island is exposed
to strong westerly winds.[11] These winds often carry moisture with them, leading
to frequent storms.[11] Average wind speeds range from a high of 37 km/h (23 mph)
in August to a low of 24 km/h (15 mph) in December.[11]

Flora and fauna

Isla de los Estados is covered with dense low forests of Nothofagus southern beech.
The animal life is composed mainly of penguins, orcas, seals, seagulls and
cormorants, as well as the human-introduced deer and goats. The island is the
location of one of the more southerly Atlantic breeding colonies of the Magellanic
penguin.[12] As early as the last part of the 18th century, Isla de los Estados was
used as a seal harvesting location.[13]