Ushuaia Hotels

Ushuaia is the capital of the Argentine province of Tierra del Fuego. It is commonly regarded as the southernmost city in the world.[2][3] Ushuaia is located in a wide bay on the southern coast of the island of Tierra del Fuego, bounded on the north by the Martial mountain range and on the south by the Beagle Channel. Its population is estimated today at about 64,000. It is the only municipality in the Department of Ushuaia, which has an area of 9,390 km2

The city was originally named by early British missionaries using the native Yamana name for the area. Much of the early history of the city and its hinterland is described in Lucas Bridges's book.
During the first half of the 20th century, the city centered around a prison built by the Argentine government to increase the Argentine population here and to ensure Argentine sovereignty over Tierra del Fuego. The prison was intended for repeat offenders and serious criminals, following the example of the British in Tasmania and the French in Devil's Island. Escape from Tierra del Fuego was similarly difficult, although two prisoners managed to escape into the surrounding area for a few weeks. The prison population thus became forced colonists and spent much of their time building the town with timber from the forest around the prison. They also built a railway to the settlement, now a tourist attraction known as the End of the World Train the southernmost railway in the world.
Ushuaia is surrounded by Magellanic subpolar forests. On the hills around the town, the following indigenous trees are found: Drimys winteri (Winter's bark), Maytenus magellanica and several species of Nothofagus