Strait of Magellan: Features

The Strait of Magellan is a navigable sea route immediately south of mainland South America and north of Tierra del Fuego.

Two of the most decorative maps of the Magellan Strait, from the golden age of Dutch cartography, the seventeenth century, from two of the most famous mapmaking families, Hondius and Blaeu. 
 

1635: Hondius, Jodocus, 1594/5–1629. 

Though published in the same year, the maps differ substantially in the shape of Tierra del Fuego and the representation of Cape Horn, with Blaeu’s following outdated cartography. They both share the same table, keyed to points in the strait, for example, a penguin island (a) and a new strait (R,S,T). However, Blaeu’s map continues the idea that Cape Horn is the promontory of a cape, whereas Hondius’s map correctly presents it as an island, following the 1624 confirmation by fellow countryman, Admiral Jacques L’Hermite (1582–1624). Moreover, Hondius shows how the northwestern peninsula of Tierra del Fuego breaks up into islands; here, also, the slanting of the territory begins to mirror the true shape of the land. Blaeu’s map is notable for its scale, which illustrates how, with Mercator’s projection, distances increase toward the poles.  

1635: Blaeu, Willem Janszoon, 1571–1638

Several Fuegians, naked or scantily dressed, stand next to it, reflecting what explorers had reported with both shock and surprise—that the natives of the territory appear comfortable in frigid weather with nothing on. To his credit, Blaeu has deleted any reference to Patagonian giants, while Hondius’s map still bears a note claiming they exist.

Features 

The strait is approximately 570 kilometres (310 nmi; 350 mi) long and about 2 kilometres (1.1 nmi; 1.2 mi) wide at its narrowest point (Carlos III Island, west of Cape Froward).[2] The northwestern portion of the strait 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 eastern opening is a wide bay on the border of Chile and Argentina between Punta Dúngeness on the mainland and Cabo del Espíritu Santo on Tierra del Fuego, 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.[3] The Primera Angostura is the closest approach of Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego to the mainland of South America. Farther west lies Magdalena Island, part of Los Pingüinos Natural Monument. The strait's southern boundary in the east follows first the shoreline of the Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego, then the northern end of the Whiteside Channel 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 portion of the strait is flanked on the south by Capitán Aracena Island, Clarence Island, Santa Inés Island, Desolación Island (Cabo Pilar) and other smaller islands, and on 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 Coastal and Marine Protected Area, 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 the Almirantazgo Fjord and then below the Fagnano Lake.