Hoste Island () is one of the southernmost islands in

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

, lying south, across the

Beagle Channel Beagle Channel (; Yahgan language, Yahgan: ''Onašaga'') is a strait in the Tierra del Fuego, Tierra del Fuego Archipelago, on the extreme southern tip of South America between Chile and Argentina. The channel separates the larger main island of I ...

, from

Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego ( English: ''Big Island of the Land of Fire'') also formerly ''Isla de Xátiva'' is an island near the southern tip of South America from which it is separated by the Strait of Magellan. The western portion (61. ...

and west of

Navarino Island Navarino Island () is a large Chilean island, with an area of and a coastline of . It is located between Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego, to the north, and Cape Horn, to the south. The island forms part of the Communes of Chile, Commune of Cabo ...

, from which it is separated by the

Murray Channel The Murray Channel is a channel (geography), channel of Chile located in the Commune of Cabo de Hornos, in the Antártica Chilena Province of the Magallanes y la Antártica Chilena Region. It separates Hoste (island), Hoste Island from Navarino I ...

. It is named after

William Hoste Captain Sir William Hoste, 1st Baronet, KCB (26 August 17806 December 1828) was a Royal Navy officer who served in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. A protégé of Lord Nelson, he was one of the most talented frigate captains of the ...

, one of Lord Nelson's protégés.

Geography

With an area of , Hoste is the second largest island of the

Tierra del Fuego Tierra del Fuego (, ; Spanish for "Land of Fire", rarely also Fireland in English) is an archipelago off the southernmost tip of the South America, South American mainland, across the Strait of Magellan. The archipelago consists of the main is ...

archipelago An archipelago ( ), sometimes called an island group or island chain, is a chain, cluster, or collection of islands. An archipelago may be in an ocean, a sea, or a smaller body of water. Example archipelagos include the Aegean Islands (the o ...

, after Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego. The western area of the island forms part of the

Alberto de Agostini National Park Alberto de Agostini National Park () is a protected area that was created on January 22, 1965, on land that was formerly part of the "Hollanda" forest reserve and "Hernando de Magallanes National Park". It covers and includes the Cordillera Darwi ...

. The most southern point of the island is the

False Cape Horn False Cape Horn or Falso Cabo de Hornos is a headland at the south end of Hoste Island, 35 statute miles (56 km) northwest of Cape Horn, located at . False Cape Horn is the southernmost point of the large islands of the Tierra del Fuego grou ...

, on the Hardy Peninsula. It has 5

peninsula A peninsula is a landform that extends from a mainland and is only connected to land on one side. Peninsulas exist on each continent. The largest peninsula in the world is the Arabian Peninsula. Etymology The word ''peninsula'' derives , . T ...

s: Hardy, Cloué, Rous, Pasteur and Dumas. Peninsula Hardy (sometimes called "Pen Hardy") is located at one of the most

south South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both west and east. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþa ...

erly extremes of

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

. It is the southern landform which extends into the

Drake Passage The Drake Passage is the body of water between South America's Cape Horn, Chile, Argentina, and the South Shetland Islands of Antarctica. It connects the southwestern part of the Atlantic Ocean (Scotia Sea) with the southeastern part of the Pa ...

to make the Bahía Nassau.

(Spanish: ''Falso Cabo de Hornos'') is located at the southern tip of this peninsula.

History

French scientific mission to Cape Horn aboard the frigate ''La Romanche''

The island was explored by the

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

''La Romanche'' scientific expedition in 1882–1883.

Tekenika Bay

As of 1894 the ''Stirling House'', a

prefab house Prefabricated homes, often referred to as prefab homes or simply prefabs, are specialist dwelling types of prefabricated building, which are manufactured off-site in advance, usually in standard sections that can be easily shipped and assembled. ...

built on behalf of the

South American Mission Society The society was founded at Brighton in 1844 as the Patagonian Missionary Society, sometime referred to as the Patagonian Mission. Captain Allen Gardiner, R.N., was the first secretary. The name was retained for twenty years, when South American ...

, was reinstalled in Tekenika Bay, on the southeast coast of Hoste Island in order to avoid the abuses and crimes caused by the recent arrival of miners and diseases in Ushuaia. (Eventually the house was declared a National Monument and was moved to the lands of the

Martin Gusinde Anthropological Museum The Martin Gusinde Anthropological Museum () is an anthropology museum in Puerto Williams, Isla Navarino, in southern Chile. It is the southernmost museum of the world. The museum hosts artifacts, maps and photographs related to the 10,000-year hi ...

Puerto Williams Puerto Williams (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Port Williams") is a city, port and naval base on Navarino Island in Chile. It faces the Beagle Channel. It is the Capital city, capital of Antártica Chilena Province, the Chilean Antarctic Provin ...

).The Stirling House and the History of the anglican missions in Tierra del Fuego
/ref> There had already been unsuccessful attempts at

cattle Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, bovid ungulates widely kept as livestock. They are prominent modern members of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus '' Bos''. Mature female cattle are calle ...

farming by the Chilean government, after which the island was abandoned. Well into the 20th century, a few

Yaghan Yaghan, Yagán or Yahgan may refer to: * Yahgan people, an ethnic group of Argentina and Chile * Yahgan language Yahgan or Yagán (also spelled Yaghan, Jagan, Iakan, and also known as Yámana, Háusi Kúta, or Yágankuta) is an extinct language ...

families lived on the island. These

indigenous peoples There is no generally accepted definition of Indigenous peoples, although in the 21st century the focus has been on self-identification, cultural difference from other groups in a state, a special relationship with their traditional territ ...

vanished after contact with adventurers and fishermen. Since then, the island has remained virtually uninhabited. The 1992

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

reported a population of six living in three houses in the Hoste census

enumeration district A census tract, census area, census district or meshblock is a geographic region defined for the purpose of taking a census. Sometimes these coincide with the limits of cities, towns or other administrative areas and several tracts commonly exist ...

However, some if not all, of this population could be located on one or more of the smaller islands nearby which also belonged to the same district.

Operation Soberania

In December 1978, the island served as a station for Chilean warships during

Operation Soberania Operation or Operations may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * ''Operation'' (game), a battery-operated board game that challenges dexterity * Operation (music), a term used in musical set theory * ''Operations'' (magazine), Multi-Man ...

References

{{Authority control Islands of Tierra del Fuego