Southernmost settlements are cities, towns, weather stations or permanent military bases which are farther south than latitude 45°S. They are closely related to the

Southern Ocean The Southern Ocean, also known as the Antarctic Ocean, comprises the southernmost waters of the World Ocean, generally taken to be south of 60° S latitude and encircling Antarctica. With a size of , it is regarded as the second-smal ...

or either the

Roaring Forties The Roaring Forties are strong westerly winds found in the Southern Hemisphere, generally between the latitudes of 40°S and 50°S. The strong west-to-east air currents are caused by the combination of air being displaced from the Equator ...

Furious Fifties The Roaring Forties are strong westerly winds found in the Southern Hemisphere, generally between the latitudes of 40°S and 50°S. The strong west-to-east air currents are caused by the combination of air being displaced from the Equator ...

. Antarctic bases are excluded due to not having a permanent population.

Southernmost city

''The southernmost city in the world'' is mainly a slogan used for tourism to attract visitors to a city as well as the tourists headed for Antarctica. ''Ciudad'' (city) is not a legal designation in Chile and Argentina, except for the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires. Currently three places use this slogan:

Ushuaia Ushuaia ( , ) is the capital of Tierra del Fuego, Antártida e Islas del Atlántico Sur Province, Argentina. With a population of nearly 75,000 and a location below the 54th parallel south latitude, Ushuaia claims the title of world's souther ...

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, t ...

as well as Punta Arenas and

Puerto Williams Puerto Williams (; Spanish for "Port Williams") is the city, port and naval base on Navarino Island in Chile. It faces the Beagle Channel. It is the capital of the Chilean Antarctic Province, one of four provinces in the Magellan and Chilean Ant ...

http://www.infinito-sur.com/
, retrieved 9 April 2012Puerto Williams espera una gran temporada de centolla
retrieved 9 April 2012Escritorio Estudiantes
, retrieved 9 April 2012dibam
retrieved 9 April 2012Times Online
/ref>Website thisischile.c
Puerto Williams, the southernmost town in the world
/ref> in

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the eas ...

, with the last being the absolute southernmost town by latitude (see table below). There are several more settlements further south but none are considered to be large enough to be classified as a '

city A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be de ...

'. The three contending cities are from north to south: * Punta Arenas (, population: 130,136), literally in Spanish: "Sandy Point", is the oldest and largest city in Southern

Patagonia Patagonia () refers to a geographical region that encompasses the southern end of South America, governed by Argentina and Chile. The region comprises the southern section of the Andes Mountains with lakes, fjords, temperate rainforests, and ...

, at the

Strait of Magellan The Strait of Magellan (), also called the Straits of Magellan, is a navigable sea route in southern Chile separating mainland South America to the north and Tierra del Fuego to the south. The strait is considered the most important natural pa ...

and the capital of the

Magallanes and Antártica Chilena Region The Magallanes Region (), officially the Magallanes y la Antártica Chilena Region ( es, Región de Magallanes y de la Antártica Chilena), is one of Chile's 16 first order administrative divisions. It is the southernmost, largest, and second lea ...

. It is the largest of the three contenders with around 130,000 permanent residents and it is called the southernmost city by some media outlets. The basis of its claim to be the southernmost city rests on it being larger than

, Río Grande, and

, all of which are farther south. *

(, population: 71,000), the capital of the Argentine province of Tierra del Fuego, is more commonly regarded as the southernmost city in the world due to its large population, 71,000,Boston Globe 2008
/ref> its infrastructure and its accepted classification as a city. Ushuaia is located in a wide bay on the southern coast of the island of

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

, on the northern shore of the Beagle Channel; hence, it is further north than Puerto Williams. *

(, population: 2,874) located on Isla Navarino, is the southernmost town in the world on the southern shore of the

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

. It is the capital of the Antártica Chilena Province, one of four provinces located in the

. Puerto Williams is sometimes considered the southernmost city in the world by Chilean media and some large media international organisations, although it promotes itself with the slogan ''Puerto Williams, the southernmost town in the world'' in its tourism campaigns. It has a Naval Hospital of Puerto Williams, the

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

, the Guardiamarina Zañartu Airport and a university campus and it is a naval base of the

Chilean Navy The Chilean Navy ( es, Armada de Chile) is the naval warfare service branch of the Chilean Armed Forces. It is under the Ministry of National Defense. Its headquarters are at Edificio Armada de Chile, Valparaiso. History Origins and the Wa ...

. File:Ushuaia 2009.jpg,

File:Punta_Arenas_city_view.jpg, Punta Arenas city view File:Micalvi yacht club navarino chile.jpg,

, Micalvi yacht club

Settlements of more than 1,000 inhabitants south of 45°S

This is a list of all settlements south of the

45th parallel south The 45th parallel south is a circle of latitude that is 45 ° south of the Earth's equator. It is the line that marks the theoretical halfway point between the equator and the South Pole. The true halfway point is south of this parallel becau ...

with over 1,000 permanent inhabitants.

Southernmost settlements outside Antarctica

This list of settlements excludes

research stations in Antarctica Multiple governments have set up permanent research stations in Antarctica and these bases are widely distributed. Unlike the drifting ice stations set up in the Arctic, the research stations of the Antarctic are constructed either on rock or ...

and its surrounding islands. *The former Argentine base Corbeta Uruguay (59°28′ S) in South Sandwich Islands was the southernmost settlement outside Antarctica from 1976–1982.

Settlements on the Antarctic continent

There are many research stations in Antarctica, both permanent and summer only. Many of the stations are staffed all year.

McMurdo Station McMurdo Station is a United States Antarctic research station on the south tip of Ross Island, which is in the New Zealand-claimed Ross Dependency on the shore of McMurdo Sound in Antarctica. It is operated by the United States through the Un ...

is the largest with an average population of 1200. A total of 30 countries (as of October 2006), all signatory to the

Antarctic Treaty russian: link=no, Договор об Антарктике es, link=no, Tratado Antártico , name = Antarctic Treaty System , image = Flag of the Antarctic Treaty.svgborder , image_width = 180px , caption ...

, operate seasonal (summer) or year-round research stations on the continent and on its surrounding islands. In addition to these permanent stations, approximately 30 field camps are established each austral summer to support specific one off projects.4.0 Antarctica – Past and Present
/ref> The full list is available at:

Research stations in Antarctica Multiple governments have set up permanent research stations in Antarctica and these bases are widely distributed. Unlike the drifting ice stations set up in the Arctic, the research stations of the Antarctic are constructed either on rock or ...

References

Extreme points of Earth Geography of the Southern Ocean Geography of Antarctica Southernmost

Bibliography