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98-556: 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 and Atlantic Oceans . Most commercial shipping uses the open-ocean Drake Passage. The Beagle Channel is about 240 kilometres (130 nmi; 150 mi) long and 5 kilometres (3 nmi; 3 mi) wide at its narrowest point. It extends from Nueva Island in

196-888: A Chilean 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. 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 , Navarino , and Picton and Nueva , which were claimed by Argentina until 1984. The latter two lie at

294-529: A Spanish expedition commanded by brothers Bartolomé and Gonzalo Nodal verified this discovery making in the way also the first circumnavigation of Tierra del Fuego. After this there would be 150 years before the next ship from Spain would traverse the strait. By 1620, one hundred years after European discovery, at least 55 ships had traversed the strait including 23 Spanish, 17 English and 15 Dutch. John Narborough 's 1670 explorations in Patagonia caused

392-431: A Voyage (1699). In the 18th century further explorations were done by English explorers John Byron and James Cook . The French sent Louis Antoine de Bougainville and Jules Dumont d'Urville . By 1770 the focus of a potential conflict between Spain and Britain had shifted from the strait to Falkland Islands . From 1826 to 1830, the strait was explored and thoroughly charted by Phillip Parker King , who commanded

490-568: A change, from the western archipelagoes to the strait, meant that any English settlement could be approached by Spain by land from the north, which was not the case for the islands in western Patagonia. In February 1696, the first French expedition under the command of M. de Gennes reached the Strait of Magellan. The expedition is described by the French explorer, engineer, and hydrographer François Froger  [ fr ] in his A Relation of

588-476: A naturalist, studies the world by observing plants and animals directly. Because organisms are functionally inseparable from the environment in which they live and because their structure and function cannot be adequately interpreted without knowing some of their evolutionary history, the study of natural history embraces the study of fossils as well as physiographic and other aspects of the physical environment". A common thread in many definitions of natural history

686-556: A part of science proper. In Victorian Scotland, the study of natural history was believed to contribute to good mental health. Particularly in Britain and the United States, this grew into specialist hobbies such as the study of birds , butterflies, seashells ( malacology / conchology ), beetles, and wildflowers; meanwhile, scientists tried to define a unified discipline of biology (though with only partial success, at least until

784-463: A primary refueling port that provided coal for steamships in transit. The Strait's curving channel, with widths varying between 1.9 and 22 miles (3 to 35 km), experiences unpredictable winds and tidal currents, leading sailing ships to prefer the Drake Passage, where they had more room to maneuver. ) in 1900, Joshua Slocum was the first documented person to have single-handedly sailed

882-572: A sanctuary for humpback whales , is located in this area. This part of the strait lies on the elongated Magallanes-Fagnano Fault , which marks a plate boundary between the South American Plate and the Scotia Plate . This fault continues southward under Almirantazgo Fjord and then below Fagnano Lake . Possibly, new tourism industries could be established in the eastern part of the strait for watching southern right whales , as

980-588: A total of 16–17 men perished in it. While by 1676 rumours about English bases in Western Patagonia had been dispelled, that year new rumours appeared claiming that England was preparing an expedition to settle the Straits of Magellan. The focus of Spanish attention to repel tentative English settlements shifted from the Pacific coast of Patagonia to the Straits of Magellan and Tierra del Fuego . Such

1078-470: A type of observation and a subject of study, it can also be defined as a body of knowledge, and as a craft or a practice, in which the emphasis is placed more on the observer than on the observed. Definitions from biologists often focus on the scientific study of individual organisms in their environment, as seen in this definition by Marston Bates: "Natural history is the study of animals and Plants—of organisms. ... I like to think, then, of natural history as

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1176-635: A witch who was said to have "retained the waters and the foods". The channel was named after the ship 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

1274-607: Is a cross-discipline umbrella of many specialty sciences; e.g., geobiology has a strong multidisciplinary nature. The meaning of the English term "natural history" (a calque of the Latin historia naturalis ) has narrowed progressively with time, while, by contrast, the meaning of the related term "nature" has widened (see also History below). In antiquity , "natural history" covered essentially anything connected with nature , or used materials drawn from nature, such as Pliny

1372-460: Is also echoed by H.W. Greene and J.B. Losos: "Natural history focuses on where organisms are and what they do in their environment, including interactions with other organisms. It encompasses changes in internal states insofar as they pertain to what organisms do". Some definitions go further, focusing on direct observation of organisms in their environments, both past and present, such as this one by G.A. Bartholomew: "A student of natural history, or

1470-411: Is called a naturalist or natural historian . Natural history encompasses scientific research but is not limited to it. It involves the systematic study of any category of natural objects or organisms, so while it dates from studies in the ancient Greco-Roman world and the mediaeval Arabic world , through to European Renaissance naturalists working in near isolation, today's natural history

1568-618: Is connected with other sheltered waterways via the Smyth Channel . This area is similar to the Inside Passage of Alaska . South of Cape Froward, the principal shipping route follows the Magdalena Channel . The climate is generally foggy and cold, and the course is convoluted with several narrow passages. It is several hundred miles shorter than the Drake Passage , but sailing ships , particularly clipper ships , prefer

1666-502: Is enormous tidal energy potential in the strait. The strait is prone to Williwaws , "a sudden violent, cold, katabatic gust of wind descending from a mountainous coast of high latitudes to the sea". The place names of the area around the strait come from a variety of languages. Many are from Spanish and English, and several are from the Ona language , adapted to Spanish phonology and spelling. Examples include Timaukel (a hamlet at

1764-493: Is named, became the first Europeans to discover it. Magellan's original name for the strait was Estrecho de Todos los Santos ("Strait of All Saints"). The King of Spain, Emperor Charles V , who sponsored the Magellan-Elcano expedition, changed the name to the Strait of Magellan in honor of Magellan. The route is difficult to navigate due to frequent narrows and unpredictable winds and currents. Maritime piloting

1862-667: Is now compulsory. The strait is shorter and more sheltered than the Drake Passage , the often stormy open sea route around Cape Horn , which is beset by frequent gale -force winds and icebergs . Along with the Beagle Channel , the strait was one of the few sea routes between the Atlantic and Pacific before the construction of the Panama Canal . Land adjacent to the Strait of Magellan has been inhabited by indigenous Americans for at least 13,000 years. Upon their arrival to

1960-399: Is the inclusion of a descriptive component, as seen in a recent definition by H.W. Greene: "Descriptive ecology and ethology". Several authors have argued for a more expansive view of natural history, including S. Herman, who defines the field as "the scientific study of plants and animals in their natural environments. It is concerned with levels of organization from the individual organism to

2058-550: The American Society of Naturalists and Polish Copernicus Society of Naturalists . Professional societies have recognized the importance of natural history and have initiated new sections in their journals specifically for natural history observations to support the discipline. These include "Natural History Field Notes" of Biotropica , "The Scientific Naturalist" of Ecology , "From the Field" of Waterbirds , and

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2156-520: The Council of the Indies the possibility of establishing contacts between Chile and Seville through the strait. García Jofré de Loaiza was the second captain to navigate the strait and the first to discover that Tierra del Fuego was an island. Valdivia then dispatched Francisco de Ulloa to survey and explore the strait, facilitating navigation from Spain to Chile. In October 1553, Ulloa sailed from

2254-477: The Industrial Revolution prompted the development of geology to help find useful mineral deposits. Modern definitions of natural history come from a variety of fields and sources, and many of the modern definitions emphasize a particular aspect of the field, creating a plurality of definitions with a number of common themes among them. For example, while natural history is most often defined as

2352-486: The Natural History Society of Northumbria founded in 1829, London Natural History Society (1858), Birmingham Natural History Society (1859), British Entomological and Natural History Society founded in 1872, Glasgow Natural History Society, Manchester Microscopical and Natural History Society established in 1880, Whitby Naturalists' Club founded in 1913, Scarborough Field Naturalists' Society and

2450-465: The Renaissance , and quickly became a third branch of academic knowledge, itself divided into descriptive natural history and natural philosophy , the analytical study of nature. In modern terms, natural philosophy roughly corresponded to modern physics and chemistry , while natural history included the biological and geological sciences. The two were strongly associated. During the heyday of

2548-472: The Renaissance , making it one of the longest-lasting of all natural history books. From the ancient Greeks until the work of Carl Linnaeus and other 18th-century naturalists, a major concept of natural history was the scala naturae or Great Chain of Being , an arrangement of minerals, vegetables, more primitive forms of animals, and more complex life forms on a linear scale of supposedly increasing perfection, culminating in our species. Natural history

2646-514: The Spice Islands . His ships became the first to navigate the strait in 1520. The five ships included La Trinidad (110 tons, 55 crew members), under the command of Magellan; La San Antonio (120 tons, 60 crew members) under the command of Juan de Cartagena ; La Concepción (90 tons, 45 crew members) under the command of Gaspar de Quesada ( Juan Sebastián Elcano served as boatswain); La Victoria (85 tons, 42 crew members) under

2744-605: The Treaty of Peace and Friendship of 1984 between Chile and Argentina the conflicts between two countries were settled and Argentina ratified the strait as Chilean. In 1840, the Pacific Steam Navigation Company became the first to use steamships for commercial traffic in the strait. Until the Panama Canal opened in 1914, the Strait of Magellan was the main route for steamships traveling from

2842-528: The gentleman scientists , many people contributed to both fields, and early papers in both were commonly read at professional science society meetings such as the Royal Society and the French Academy of Sciences —both founded during the 17th century. Natural history had been encouraged by practical motives, such as Linnaeus' aspiration to improve the economic condition of Sweden. Similarly,

2940-642: The modern evolutionary synthesis ). Still, the traditions of natural history continue to play a part in the study of biology, especially ecology (the study of natural systems involving living organisms and the inorganic components of the Earth's biosphere that support them), ethology (the scientific study of animal behavior), and evolutionary biology (the study of the relationships between life forms over very long periods of time), and re-emerges today as integrative organismal biology. Amateur collectors and natural history entrepreneurs played an important role in building

3038-535: The 1530s Charles V divided South America and whatever was to be south of it into a series of grants to different conquistadors . The strait of Magellan and the area south of it went to Pedro Sánchez de la Hoz . In 1530 and 1531 the Fuggers held rights to trade through the strait of Magellan. While European trade with Asia through this route was thought to be possible, the Fuggers never developed this route. Andrés de Urdaneta who had first hand experience of

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3136-488: The Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific. It was often considered safer than the Drake Passage separating Cape Horn from Antarctica , as the Drake Passage is notorious for turbulent and unpredictable weather, and is frequented by icebergs and sea ice . Ships in the strait, protected by Tierra del Fuego to the south and the coast of continental South America to the north, crossed with relative ease, and Punta Arenas became

3234-427: The Beagle Channel, where he created paintings on board a sailing yacht. Beagle Channel is a prominent area to watch rare, endemic dolphins. Wildlife seen in the channel include: Mammals: Birds: Straits of Magellan The Strait of Magellan ( Spanish : Estrecho de Magallanes ), also called the Straits of Magellan , is a navigable sea route in southern Chile separating mainland South America to

3332-655: The British survey vessel HMS Adventure . In consort with HMS Beagle , King surveyed the complex coasts around the strait. A report on the survey was presented at two meetings of the Geographical Society of London in 1831. In connection to these explorations Robert FitzRoy came to suggest the establishment of a British base in strait to aid travel between the British Isles and Australia . The 1837 French expedition of Dumont D'Urville surveyed

3430-537: The Elder 's encyclopedia of this title , published c.  77 to 79 AD , which covers astronomy , geography , humans and their technology , medicine , and superstition , as well as animals and plants. Medieval European academics considered knowledge to have two main divisions: the humanities (primarily what is now known as classics ) and divinity , with science studied largely through texts rather than observation or experiment. The study of nature revived in

3528-453: The King of Spain's ownership of the territory. Viceroy of Peru Baltasar de la Cueva issued orders to the governments of Chile , Chiloé and Río de la Plata to inquire about the men who disappeared at Evangelistas Islets. However no information about their fate came forth and it is presumed that the boat wrecked in the same storm that forced the remaining party to leave the area. Overall

3626-562: The Lords of the Admiralty to ask Mayne to collect several boatloads of fossils of extinct quadruped species. Admiral Sulivan had previously discovered an astonishingly rich accumulation of fossil bones not far from the strait. These remains apparently belonged to a more ancient period than collections made by Darwin on HMS Beagle and other naturalists, and therefore were of great scientific interest. Many of these fossils were collected with

3724-670: The Natural History Institute (Prescott, Arizona): Natural history – a practice of intentional focused attentiveness and receptivity to the more-than-human world, guided by honesty and accuracy – is the oldest continuous human endeavor. In the evolutionary past of our species, the practice of natural history was essential for our survival, imparting critical information on habits and chronologies of plants and animals that we could eat or that could eat us. Natural history continues to be critical to human survival and thriving. It contributes to our fundamental understanding of how

3822-568: The O'Brien and 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. Although it is navigable by large ships, there are safer waters to the south ( Drake Passage ) and to the north ( Strait of Magellan ). Under the Treaty of Peace and Friendship of 1984 between Chile and Argentina , ships of other nations navigate with

3920-556: The Sorby Natural History Society, Sheffield , founded in 1918. The growth of natural history societies was also spurred due to the growth of British colonies in tropical regions with numerous new species to be discovered. Many civil servants took an interest in their new surroundings, sending specimens back to museums in the Britain . (See also: Indian natural history ) Societies in other countries include

4018-453: The Spanish collected intelligence from all over Patagonia. In 1599 it took five ships under Simon de Cordes and his pilot William Adams four months to traverse the strait; Sebalt de Weert returned before reaching the end. In 1616, Dutch travelers, including Willem Schouten and Jacob Le Maire , discovered Cape Horn and recognized the southern end of Tierra del Fuego. Years later,

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4116-497: The Spanish encountered difficulties, having to abandon their initial economic model based on gold mining and "hispanic-mediterranean" agriculture. In 1578 English navigator Francis Drake crossed the strait, creating fear on the Pacific coast that an attack was imminent. In order to seal the passage, the Viceroy of Peru, Francisco de Toledo , sent a squadron with two ships under Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa . They carefully explored

4214-521: The Spanish southward in Chile halted after the conquest of the Chiloé Archipelago in 1567. The Spanish are thought to have lacked incentives for further conquests south. The indigenous populations were sparse and did not engage in the sedentary agricultural life of the Spanish. The harsh climate in the fjords and channels of Patagonia may also have deterred further expansion. Even in Chiloé

4312-424: The Spanish to launch various maritime expeditions to western Patagonia from 1674 to 1676. In the last and largest one , Pascual de Iriate led a party to Evangelistas Islets at the western entrance to the strait. At Evangelistas sixteen men of the party disappeared on February 17 including the son of Pascual de Iriarte. The ill-fated men had attempted to reach one of the islets to install a metal plaque indicating

4410-543: The aid of hydrographer Richards R. N. and deposited in the British Museum . The Admiralty compiled advice to mariners of the strait in 1871. Chile took possession of the Strait of Magellan on May 23, 1843. President Manuel Bulnes ordered this expedition after consulting the Chilean libertador Bernardo O'Higgins , who feared an occupation by Great Britain or France. The first Chilean settlement, Fuerte Bulnes ,

4508-475: The area as an unrepeatable feat. By contrast, conquistador Pedro de Valdivia , in a letter to Charles V , considered the strait a threat through which rival conquistadors could arrive to challenge his claims. In 1544 Valdivia commissioned Captain Juan Bautista Pastene to explore the coast from Valparaiso to the Strait of Magellan, and installed his personal secretary Juan de Cárdenas in

4606-423: The area of Puerto del Hambre and the navigational conditions in the Strait of Magellan. In a report the expedition recommended that a French colony be established at the strait to support future traffic along the route. Richard Charles Mayne commanded HMS Nassau on a survey expedition to the strait from 1866 to 1869. The naturalist on the voyage was Robert Oliver Cunningham . Charles Darwin requested

4704-418: 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 Islet and Gable Island . Except for eastern Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego and Gable Island all islands mentioned here belong to Chile. The Yaghan peoples settled

4802-450: The border as defined in the Treaty of Peace and Friendship of 1984 between Chile and Argentina . Immediately west are Primera Angostura and Segunda Angostura , narrows formed by two terminal moraines of different ages. The Primera Angostura is the closest approach of Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego to mainland South America. Farther west lies Magdalena Island , part of Los Pingüinos Natural Monument . The strait's southern boundary in

4900-494: The city of Valdivia in the first expedition to enter the strait from the west. Ulloa reached Woods Bay , but faced with the steep coastline and lack of provisions and fearing entrapment in the strait during the winter, he turned around, returning to Chilean ports in February 1554. Valdivia himself never actually reached the strait, as he was killed in 1553 attempting to conquer Araucanía , about 1600 km (994 miles) north of

4998-473: The coast during the winter and moved into the southern Andes in the summer to hunt. The tribes of the region saw little European contact until the late 19th century. Later, European-introduced diseases decimated portions of the indigenous population. It is possible that Tierra del Fuego was connected to the mainland in the Early Holocene (c. 9000 years BP ) much in the same way that Riesco Island

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5096-709: The command of Luis de Mendoza ; and La Santiago (75 tons, 32 crew members), under command of Juan Rodríguez Serrano ( João Rodrigues Serrão ). Before the passage of the strait (and after the mutiny in Puerto San Julián ), Álvaro de Mesquita became captain of the San Antonio , and Duarte Barbosa of the Victoria . Later, Serrão became captain of the Concepcion (the Santiago , sent on a mission to find

5194-472: The dead white of the upper expanse of snow." Several small islands ( Picton, Lennox and Nueva ) up to the Cape Horn were the subject of the long-running Beagle conflict between Chile and Argentina; by the terms of a Treaty of Peace and Friendship of 1984 between Chile and Argentina they are now part of Chile. From the 1950s to 1970s several incidents involving the Chilean and Argentine navies occurred in

5292-403: The diversity of the natural world. Natural history was understood by Pliny the Elder to cover anything that could be found in the world, including living things, geology, astronomy, technology, art, and humanity. De Materia Medica was written between 50 and 70 AD by Pedanius Dioscorides , a Roman physician of Greek origin. It was widely read for more than 1,500 years until supplanted in

5390-649: The east follows first the shoreline of the Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego, then the northern end of the Canal Whiteside and the shoreline of Dawson Island . The western part of the strait leads northwest from the northern end of the Magdalena Channel to the strait's Pacific entrance. This is flanked on the south by Capitán Aracena Island , Clarence Island , Santa Inés Island , Desolación Island (Cabo Pilar), and other smaller islands, and on

5488-609: The east side of Tierra del Fuego), Carukinka (the end of the Almirantazgo Fjord), Anika (a channel located at 54° 7' S and 70° 30' W), and Arska (the north side of the Dawson Island). Magellan named the strait Todos los Santos , as he began his voyage through the strait on November 1, 1520, the day of "All Saints" ( Todos los Santos in Spanish). Charles V renamed it Estrecho de Magallanes . Magellan named

5586-458: The east to Darwin Sound and Cook Bay in the Pacific Ocean in the west. Some 50 kilometres (27 nmi; 31 mi) 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

5684-410: The ecosystem, and stresses identification, life history, distribution, abundance, and inter-relationships. It often and appropriately includes an esthetic component", and T. Fleischner, who defines the field even more broadly, as "A practice of intentional, focused attentiveness and receptivity to the more-than-human world, guided by honesty and accuracy". These definitions explicitly include the arts in

5782-710: The emergence of professional biological disciplines and research programs. Particularly in the 19th century, scientists began to use their natural history collections as teaching tools for advanced students and the basis for their own morphological research. The term "natural history" alone, or sometimes together with archaeology, forms the name of many national, regional, and local natural history societies that maintain records for animals (including birds (ornithology), insects ( entomology ) and mammals (mammalogy)), fungi ( mycology ), plants (botany), and other organisms. They may also have geological and microscopical sections. Examples of these societies in Britain include

5880-414: The expedition to produce a written account of the lands discovered in order to solidify his claims before the King. Although Pastene's expedition reached only the 41st parallel south , well short of the strait, it discovered San Pedro Bay and the mouth of Valdivia River , where Valdivia would later found the city that bears his name . As Valdivia consolidated his claims, he mentions in a 1548 letter to

5978-411: The field of botany, be it as authors, collectors, or illustrators. In modern Europe, professional disciplines such as botany, geology, mycology , palaeontology , physiology , and zoology were formed. Natural history , formerly the main subject taught by college science professors, was increasingly scorned by scientists of a more specialized manner and relegated to an "amateur" activity, rather than

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6076-638: The field of natural history, and are aligned with the broad definition outlined by B. Lopez, who defines the field as the "Patient interrogation of a landscape" while referring to the natural history knowledge of the Eskimo ( Inuit ). A slightly different framework for natural history, covering a similar range of themes, is also implied in the scope of work encompassed by many leading natural history museums , which often include elements of anthropology, geology, paleontology, and astronomy along with botany and zoology, or include both cultural and natural components of

6174-471: The foods". The first European contact in this area was evidently the voyage of Ferdinand Magellan . (A report by António Galvão in 1563 that mentions early charts showing the strait as " Dragon's Tail " has led to speculation that there might have been earlier contact, but this is generally discounted.) Magellan led an expedition in the service of the Spanish King, Emperor Charles V , to reach

6272-755: The island on the south side of the strait Tierra del Fuego , which the Yaghan people called Onaisín in the Yaghan language . Magellan also gave the name Patagones to the mainland Indians, and their land was subsequently known as Patagonia. Bahía Cordes is named for the Dutch pirate Baltazar de Cordes . Naturalist Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms , including animals , fungi , and plants , in their natural environment , leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history

6370-582: The islands along the Murray 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 . According to a Selk'nam 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

6468-676: The lamines were hunted has been found at some sites, such as Cueva del Medio. Historically identifiable indigenous ethnic groups around the strait are the Kawésqar , the Tehuelche , the Selk'nam and Yaghan people . The Kawésqar lived on the western part of the strait's northern coast. To the east of the Kawésqar were the Tehuelche , whose territory extended to the north in Patagonia . To

6566-547: The land on behalf of the King of Spain. Magellan's chronicler, Antonio Pigafetta , called it the Patagonian Strait , and others Victoria Strait , commemorating the first ship that entered. Within seven years, it was being called Estrecho de Magallanes in honor of Magellan. The Spanish Empire and the Captaincy General of Chile considered the strait the southern boundary of their territory. In

6664-548: The latter. Its major port is Punta Arenas , a transshipment point for Chilean mutton situated on the Brunswick Peninsula . Exemplifying the difficulty of the passage, it took Magellan 38 days to complete the crossing. The eastern opening is a wide bay on the border of Chile and Argentina between Punta Dúngeness on the mainland and Cabo del Espíritu Santo ("Cape of the Holy Spirit") on Tierra del Fuego,

6762-406: The main island. The Selk'nam, Haush, and Tehuelche are generally thought to be culturally and linguistically related peoples physically distinct from the sea-faring peoples. According to a Selk'nam myth the strait was created along with the Beagle Channel and Fagnano Lake by slingshots falling on Earth during the fight of Taiyín with a witch who was said to have "retained the waters and

6860-571: The north and Tierra del Fuego to the south. The strait is considered the most important natural passage between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. The strait is approximately 570 km (310 nmi; 350 mi) long and 2 km (1.1 nmi; 1.2 mi) wide at its narrowest point. In 1520, the Spanish expedition of the Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan , after whom the strait

6958-422: The north by Brunswick Peninsula , Riesco Island , Muñoz Gamero Peninsula , Manuel Rodriguez Island , and other minor islands of the Queen Adelaide Archipelago . Two narrow channels connect the strait with Seno Otway and Seno Skyring . A broader channel, Smyth Channel , leads north from the strait between Muñoz Gamero Peninsula and Manuel Rodriguez Island. Francisco Coloane Marine and Coastal Protected Area ,

7056-458: The north coast of the strait. Opposite Pecket Bay is Gente Grande Bay ( Spanish : bahía Gente Grande ) in Tierra del Fuego. On the Atlantic side, the strait is characterized by semidiurnal macrotides with mean and spring tide ranges of 7.1 and 9.0 m, respectively. On the Pacific side, tides are mixed and mainly semidiurnal, with mean and spring tide ranges of 1.1 and 1.2 m, respectively. There

7154-402: The number of observations in the area has increased in recent years. In the more well-defined northeastern course of the strait various bays stand out in its geography. Pecket Bay ( Spanish : bahía Pecket ) is a shallow and somewhat closed bay in the strait located near where Brunswick Peninsula is as narrowest. San Gregorio Bay ( Spanish : bahía San Gregorio ) is an open bay located in

7252-466: The passage, was caught in a storm and wrecked ). San Antonio , charged to explore Magdalen Sound, failed to return to the fleet, instead sailing back to Spain under Estêvão Gomes , who imprisoned the captain Mesquita. Magellan's ships entered the strait on All Saints' Day , 1 November 1520. Magellan named the strait Estrecho de Todos los Santos ("Strait of All Saints") and planted a flag to claim

7350-432: The region, they would have encountered native equines ( Hippidion ), the large ground sloth Mylodon , saber toothed cats ( Smilodon ) the extinct jaguar subspecies Panthera onca mesembrina , the bear Arctotherium , the superficially camel-like Macrauchenia , the fox-like canid Dusicyon avus and lamine camelids, including the extant vicuña and guanaco . Evidence to suggest that Mylodon , Hippidion and

7448-520: The south of the Tehuelche across the strait lived the Selk'nam, who inhabited the majority of the eastern portion of Tierra del Fuego . To the west of the Selk'nam were the Yaghan people , who inhabited the southernmost part of Tierra del Fuego. All tribes in the area were nomadic hunter-gatherers . The Tehuelche were the only non-maritime culture in the area; they fished and gathered shellfish along

7546-497: The strait by his participation in the Loaísa expedition , argued before viceroy Antonio de Mendoza in the 1550s for the establishment of an Asia–Mexico trade route and presented arguments against the establishment of rival route of direct trade between Spain and Asia through the strait of Magellan. According to Urdaneta, climate would made passage through the strait possible only during summer and that therefore ships would need to stay

7644-500: The strait with 300 settlers. That winter, it became known as Puerto del Hambre , or "Port Famine", as most of the settlers died of cold or starvation. When Sir Thomas Cavendish landed at the site of Rey Don Felipe in 1587, he found only ruins of the settlement. The Spanish failure to colonize the Strait of Magellan made the Chiloé Archipelago key in protecting western Patagonia from foreign intrusions. Valdivia, reestablished in 1645 , and Chiloé acted as sentries, and as hubs where

7742-401: The strait, trying to ferret out English invaders, while surveying locations for future fortifications. Pigafetta had described the strait as a hospitable area with many good ports, " cedar " wood, and abundant shellfish and fish. In 1584, Sarmiento de Gamboa founded two colonies in the strait: Nombre de Jesús and Ciudad del Rey Don Felipe. The latter was established on the north shore of

7840-480: The strait. In October 1557, Governor García Hurtado de Mendoza sent another exploratory squad of 70 men under the command of Juan Ladrillero . They were charged with mapping the coastline and surveying the region's flora, fauna, and ethnography. On August 16, 1558, Ladrillero arrived in the Atlantic Ocean , becoming the first navigator to cross the Strait of Magellan in both directions. Colonization by

7938-565: The strait. He experienced a 40-day hiatus in the strait due to storms and adverse weather, while piloting the gaff-rigged sloop oyster boat Spray in the first solo global circumnavigation . He wrote about the experience in Sailing Alone Around the World . In 1976, American open water swimmer Lynne Cox became the first person to swim across the strait. Almost 40 years later, on January 17, 2014, Hunter Wright became

8036-577: The strait. Meanwhile, Sánchez de la Hoz was executed in Chile by Francisco de Villagra , one of Valdivia's men. The first map of the Pacific Ocean , Maris Pacifici from 1589, depicts the strait as the only route between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Contemporaries differed in their estimation of the strait's significance. In Europe it was viewed by some as an opportunity and a strategic location to facilitate long-range trade, though Antonio Pigafetta seemed to have understood his voyage through

8134-451: The study of life at the level of the individual—of what plants and animals do, how they react to each other and their environment, how they are organized into larger groupings like populations and communities" and this more recent definition by D.S. Wilcove and T. Eisner: "The close observation of organisms—their origins, their evolution, their behavior, and their relationships with other species". This focus on organisms in their environment

8232-520: The survey in the second voyage of Beagle under the command of captain FitzRoy, who took Charles Darwin along as a self-funding supernumerary , giving him opportunities as an amateur naturalist . Darwin had his first sight of glaciers 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

8330-524: The system of the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus . The British historian of Chinese science Joseph Needham calls Li Shizhen "the 'uncrowned king' of Chinese naturalists", and his Bencao gangmu "undoubtedly the greatest scientific achievement of the Ming". His works translated to many languages direct or influence many scholars and researchers. A significant contribution to English natural history

8428-526: 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 . As a ship's painter, Conrad Martens drew and created watercolour paintings in 1833 and 1834 during the second voyage of HMS Beagle in Tierra del Fuego . The German painter Ingo Kühl traveled three times to

8526-452: The winter in a more northern port. Urdaneta's preference for Mexico may have also been influenced by his links to the Pedro de Alvarado . Following Urdaneta's plans in 1565 the first Manila galleon inaugurated European trade with Asia across the Pacific. Pedro de Valdivia , the conquistador of Chile, managed to have Charles V extend his governorship all the way to the northern shores of

8624-475: The world works by providing the empirical foundation of natural sciences, and it contributes directly and indirectly to human emotional and physical health, thereby fostering healthier human communities. It also serves as the basis for all conservation efforts, with natural history both informing the science and inspiring the values that drive these. As a precursor to Western science , natural history began with Aristotle and other ancient philosophers who analyzed

8722-687: The world's large natural history collections, such as the Natural History Museum, London , and the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, DC. Three of the greatest English naturalists of the 19th century, Henry Walter Bates , Charles Darwin , and Alfred Russel Wallace —who knew each other—each made natural history travels that took years, collected thousands of specimens, many of them new to science, and by their writings both advanced knowledge of "remote" parts of

8820-564: The world. The plurality of definitions for this field has been recognized as both a weakness and a strength, and a range of definitions has recently been offered by practitioners in a recent collection of views on natural history. Prior to the advent of Western science humans were engaged and highly competent in indigenous ways of understanding the more-than-human world that are now referred to as traditional ecological knowledge . 21st century definitions of natural history are inclusive of this understanding, such as this by Thomas Fleischner of

8918-799: The world—the Amazon basin , the Galápagos Islands , and the Indonesian Archipelago , among others—and in so doing helped to transform biology from a descriptive to a theory-based science. The understanding of "Nature" as "an organism and not as a mechanism" can be traced to the writings of Alexander von Humboldt (Prussia, 1769–1859). Humboldt's copious writings and research were seminal influences for Charles Darwin, Simón Bolívar , Henry David Thoreau , Ernst Haeckel , and John Muir . Natural history museums , which evolved from cabinets of curiosities , played an important role in

9016-471: The youngest person to swim across the strait at age 17. In June 2004, the USS Ronald Reagan was the first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier to navigate the strait. The strait is approximately 570 km (310 nmi; 350 mi) long and 2 km (1.1 nmi; 1.2 mi) wide at its narrowest point ( Carlos III Island , west of Cape Froward ). The northwestern portion of the strait

9114-463: Was an important supply stop for mariners. It has been claimed that Chile's annexation of the area originated from a fear of occupation by Great Britain or France. In the Boundary treaty of 1881 between Chile and Argentina , Argentina effectively recognized Chilean sovereignty over the Strait of Magellan. Argentina had previously claimed all of the strait, or at least the eastern third of it. In

9212-515: Was back then. A Selk'nam tradition recorded by the Salesian missionary Giuseppe María Beauvoir relate that the Selk'nam arrived in Tierra del Fuego by land, and that the Selk'nam were later unable to return north as the sea had flooded their crossing. Selk'nam migration to Tierra del Fuego is generally thought to have displaced a related non-seafaring people, the Haush that once occupied most of

9310-801: Was basically static through the Middle Ages in Europe—although in the Arabic and Oriental world, it proceeded at a much brisker pace. From the 13th century, the work of Aristotle was adapted rather rigidly into Christian philosophy , particularly by Thomas Aquinas , forming the basis for natural theology . During the Renaissance, scholars (herbalists and humanists, particularly) returned to direct observation of plants and animals for natural history, and many began to accumulate large collections of exotic specimens and unusual monsters . Leonhart Fuchs

9408-402: Was made by parson-naturalists such as Gilbert White , William Kirby , John George Wood , and John Ray , who wrote about plants, animals, and other aspects of nature. Many of these men wrote about nature to make the natural theology argument for the existence or goodness of God. Since early modern times, however, a great number of women made contributions to natural history, particularly in

9506-405: Was one of the three founding fathers of botany, along with Otto Brunfels and Hieronymus Bock . Other important contributors to the field were Valerius Cordus , Konrad Gesner ( Historiae animalium ), Frederik Ruysch , and Gaspard Bauhin . The rapid increase in the number of known organisms prompted many attempts at classifying and organizing species into taxonomic groups , culminating in

9604-524: Was situated in a forested zone on the north side of the strait, and was later abandoned. In 1848, Punta Arenas was founded farther north, where the Magellanic forests meet the Patagonian plains. In Tierra del Fuego, across the strait from Punta Arenas, the village of Porvenir emerged during the Tierra del Fuego gold rush in the late 19th century. Until the opening of the Panama Canal , the town

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