MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Which is the world's most southern city?

Puerto Williams, mostly a port and naval base with less than 3,000 population

Which is the world's most southern city? Or which is the city closest to Antarctica. Somewhere in the southern tip of South America, be it Argentina or Chile. And the usual answer is Ushuaia in Tierra del Fuego, which Argentines recognize as the gate to Antarctica.

However the answer is not necessarily correct and is controversial, because although Ushuaia with some 57,000 people is at latitude 54º48’S, the spot, since March 2019, belongs to Chile with Puerto Williams, still further south at 54º56’S, when the small outpost was designated as a city.

Puerto Williams with a population close to 3,000, was founded as a settlement in 1953 and became a base for the Chilean Navy. Over time, it has become a tourist destination, with quite a few cruise vessels calling in normal times, and also home to scientific communities because of its proximity to Antarctica.

The city, port and naval base is located on the Navarino island and faces the Beagle Channel. It is the capital of the Chilean Antarctic Province and one of four provinces in the Magallanes and Chilean Antarctic Region. Originally Puerto Luisa it was later named Puerto Williams after John William Wilson a British man who founded Fuerte Bulnes, the first settlement in the Strait of Magellan

For the most part, Puerto Williams posts low daily temperatures throughout almost the entire year. Over 12 months, temperatures usually run between 50º F and 5º F. Global warming could change that substantially over the next few decades.

Because the city is so far south, there are very few hours of daylight from May through July. .