Puerto Williams

Puerto Williams

The city of Puerto Williams, a port and naval base on the Chilean island of Navarino, is the southernmost inhabited settlement in the world. The port draws tourists heading to Cape Horn or Antarctica. The tourism industry is built on the concept of the "the world's southernmost city", which is one of the main economic activities of Puerto Williams, with several day hiking trails and backpacking routes in the Dientes de Navarino mountains south of the city. The city is the gateway and main hub of scientific activity related to Antarctica and the islands south of Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego. The University of Magallanes has its campus in Puerto Williams and is the supplier of weather stations and lighthouses in Cape Horn and Diego Ramírez. To the east of the town, along the coast, are the remains of Yahgan Indian camps and fishing traps. It is also home to Martin Gusinde Anthropological Museum, which exhibits the lives of the Yahgan and Selk'nam peoples, indigenous to the Tierra del Fuego. There are no native terrestrial predators on Isla Navarino, except for the Canadian Beaver, which was first introduced in the late 1940s, and now threatens the survival of the native sub-Antarctic Forest and the birdlife that depends on it. The birdlife here includes the Kelp Goose, the White-Bellied Seedsnipe, the Fire-eyed Diucon, the Austral Pigmy Owl and the Thorn-Tailed Rayadito.