It was founded on 12 October 1884 by Augusto Lasserre and is located on the shores of the Beagle Channel surrounded by the mountain range of the Martial Glacier, in the Bay of Ushuaia.

The southern group of people indigenous to the area, the Yaghan (also known as Yámana), who occupied what is now Ushuaia, lived in continual conflict with the northern inhabitants of the island.

[2] For much of the latter half of the 19th century, the eastern portion of Tierra del Fuego was populated by a substantial majority of nationals who were not Argentine citizens,[clarification needed] including a number of British subjects.

The British ship HMS Beagle, under the command of Captain Robert FitzRoy, first reached the channel on January 29, 1833, during its maiden voyage surveying Tierra del Fuego.

[clarification needed] The British missionary Waite Hockin Stirling[5] became the first European to live in Ushuaia when he stayed with the Yámana people between 18 January and mid-September 1869.

Natalie Goodall was instrumental in reprinting the dictionary in 1987 and providing valuable insights into the history of Thomas Bridges' work.

(Ref: A de la Rue).During 1873, Juan and Clara Lawrence, the first Argentine citizens to visit Ushuaia, arrived to teach school.

[10][11] On 12 October 1884, as part of the South Atlantic Expedition, Commodore Augusto Lasserre established the sub-division of Ushuaia,[12] with the missionaries and naval officers signing the Act of Ceremony.

The prison operated until 1947, when President Juan Domingo Perón closed it by executive order in response to the many reports of abuse and unsafe practices.

After the prison closed, it became a part of the Base Naval Ushuaia (in Spanish), functioning as a storage and office facility until the early 1990s.

The Argentine cruiser ARA General Belgrano, subsequently sunk by the British Fleet, sailed from the Port of Ushuaia, where a memorial was erected in February 1996.

It is the only city accessed from the rest of the country by crossing part of the Andes mountain range, which runs along the southern edge of Tierra del Fuego.

Temperatures then very slowly recover during the spring, but snow showers and frost are a common occurrence until the beginning of the summer in December, and they might occur even in midsummer.

On the hills around the town, the following indigenous trees are found: Drimys winteri (winter's bark), Maytenus magellanica (hard-log mayten) and several species of Nothofagus (southern beech).

[citation needed]Trees in Ushuaia tend to follow the wind direction, and are therefore called "flag-trees" for their uni-directional growth pattern.

"[37] The main economic activities are fishing, natural gas and oil extraction,[citation needed] sheep farming and ecotourism.

Wildlife attractions include local birds, penguins, seals and orcas, many of these species colonizing islands in the Beagle Channel.

[40] A popular sport in Ushuaia is ice hockey, and low temperatures all year long make the city a perfect spot for practicing it outdoors.

After this Argentina became the first South American nation to be upgraded from affiliate to associate member status of the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF).

[42] Since 2005 the Municipality of Ushuaia and the Argentinean Ice Hockey Federation (FAHH) organize the yearly End of the World Cup (Copa del Fin del Mundo) that has gathered ice hockey teams from Ushuaia, Buenos Aires, Punta Arenas and São Paulo and includes seven different competitions: one for men, one for women, four junior categories and an international tournament.

The summit reaches an elevation of 1,003 metres (3,291 feet) above sea level, and consistently cool temperatures allow the longest skiing season in South America.

Hiking trails lead from the city's edge to the base of the glacier, which has retreated considerably over the past century, as shown in photographs on display at the Antarctic Museum of Ushuaia.

The Committee identified Argentina's south-eastern region of Patagonia, which comprises the southern section of the Andes mountains, as a possible location to host the Winter Games.

The National University of Patagonia San Juan Bosco[62] operates a campus in Ushuaia, with Faculties of Engineering, Economics and Humanities, and Social Sciences.

[citation needed] Several cruise and freight lines also provide transportation between Ushuaia and Valparaíso, Punta Arenas, Buenos Aires, and local seaports and settlements.

Located at the corner of Avenida 12 de Octubre and Maipú, the Hospital Gobernador Ernesto M. Campos[68] is one of the two main health care centers in Ushuaia; the other one is private and it is called Clínica San Jorge.

Ushuaïa, le magazine de l'Extrême was the name of a television program, presented by Nicolas Hulot and broadcast on the French TV channel TF1 from September 1987 to June 1995.

[citation needed] The show is known in English as Ushuaia: The Ultimate Adventure, and this language's version was hosted by Perri Peltz and was shown on NBC, CNBC, and international affiliates of the Discovery Channel.

The city was also featured on the American CBS reality television show The Amazing Race in the fourth leg of season 11.

Before they could do so, however, they were chased out of the city (and subsequently across the border into Chile) by mobs of people angered by an apparent reference to the Falklands War encoded in the registration plate of presenter Jeremy Clarkson's vehicle (H982 FKL).