Buque Sarmiento	Remolcador Saint Christopher	Ushuaia antigua	Ushuaia antigua

INTRODUCTION
When the first European expeditions arrived in these lands at the beginning of the XVI Century, Tierra del Fuego had been inhabited for more than 6000 years by four ethnic groups: the SELK'NAM, the YAMANA, the ALAKALUFES and the HAUSH.

The era of European explorations became a landmark in the new book of world history that arrived late to the coasts of Isla Grande of Tierra del Fuego. In the beginning, the explorations were carried out almost exclusively on the coasts, giving birth to the development of a proto-cartography that was slowly recording the profile of the new continent.
During this period, stories of shipwrecks, fantastic tales and small combats converged here. The first contact with local ethnic groups, marked by the difficulty in communication and the articulation of two very different cosmic visions, promoted the dissemination of blurry myths and tales due to the particular vision of each one of the protagonists.

Once the white man settled in these lands, he had to find a way to adapt his European methods to an unknown and hostile geography. But the ingenuity and tenacity of these explorers permitted the survival and expansion with the passage of time. On the contrary, the introduction of new European customs and habits and the intense exploitation of the natural resources of the region deteriorated the life of natives to reach practically their extinction.