Puerto Williams, Chile

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Coordinates: 54°56′S, 67°37′W
Puerto Williams
View of Puerto Williams from the port
Nickname: The World's southernmost city

Country	Chile
Region	Magallanes
Province	Antártica Chilena
Founded as	Puerto Luisa
Founded	21 November 1953
Government
- Mayor	Jose Luis Soto Passek
Population (2002)
- City	2,262

Puerto Williams in Tierra del Fuego

Puerto Williams is a Chilean port, located on Isla Navarino facing the Beagle Channel. It is the capital of Antártica Chilena Province, one of four provinces located in the Magallanes Region. It is within the comuna of Cabo de Hornos and is administered by the Municipality of Cape Horn which also administers the comuna of Antárctica. Cape Horn is the only municipality in the country which administers more than one comuna.

Puerto Williams claims to be the southernmost "town" in the world, using the definition of "town" (pueblo in Spanish), established by the National Bureau of Statistics in Chile.

The town was named after Admiral Juan Williams Rebolledo, who founded Fuerte Bulnes (Fort Bulnes) on the Brunswick Peninsula in the 19th century. Puerto Williams, started as a naval base in the early 20th century, has a population of nearly 2.500, including both naval personnel and civilians. Access is by air or barge service from Punta Arenas, 350 kilometers to the north in Chile, or by private yacht charter from Ushuaia, Argentina. There is, however, no direct, continuous commercial link with Argentine territory.

[edit] Tourism

Tourism to Puerto Williams and Isla Navarino is being encouraged. The community has a small airport. Most lodgings for tourists are hostels.

There are several trails for multi-day hikes and back-packing trips in the mountains south of Puerto Williams. Remains of indian campsites and fishtraps can be found along the coast east of Puerto Williams. Puerto Williams is home to the Martín Gusinde Museum, which depicts the lives of the Yamana and Selknam peoples who once inhabited Tierra del Fuego. For easy exploration of some of the subantarctic forest, the Omora Ethnobotanical Park is five kilomteres down the road to the west.

The Cabo de Hornos (Cape Horn) National Park may be reached by boat from Puerto Williams which serves as a useful jumping-off point for exploring this and other area attractions.