Patagonia is a territory located in the southern cone of the American Continent, whose human population dates from approximately 14,000 BC, and which begins at 39° southern latitude to the north, on territory belonging to the Republic of Chile, in a region known as Western Patagonia. This sector is defined by the mouth of the Río Calle-Calle that empties into the Pacific Ocean by the city of Valdivia and whose water course can be followed from north-east direction, as far as the Andean Mountain Range and the highest snow-capped mountains.
From its headwaters and via the highest peaks of the cordillera, heading south-east, the Patagonian region spreads into Argentinean territory and becomes known as Eastern Patagonia, where it is in the Province of Neuquén, and its border is commonly accepted to be the Río Negro that empties into the Atlantic Ocean at Carmen de Patagones. At the southern extreme of the American Continent, the Patagonian region is embraced to the east and west by the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean respectively, up to where those oceans meet in the region of the Straits of Magellan and Cape Horn, a territory belonging to the Republic of Chile, although the large island of Tierra del Fuego is currently divided between the Republics of Chile and Argentina.
(1) Quote from Susana Bandieri, ‘Historia de la Patagonia’ (A History of Patagonia), second edition, Editorial Sudamericana, Buenos Aires, 2009. pp. 51
Charles Darwin in Patagonia
Fossil with petrified flower
During the five-year voyage around the world on bord the HMS Beagle and, in particular, during the time of his stay on the American Continent between 1832 and 1835, Charles Darwin explored the coasts and mountains of Patagonia, while the captain and cartographer Robert Fitzroy remained near the coastline to measure the depths of the seas, explore navigable channels, and study the strong currents of the southern ocean. Darwin took advantage of those long periods the HMS Beagle remained in the southern channels to explore the Patagonian region by land, which enabled him to gather useful anthropological and geological material, as well as zoological information in the shape of a collection of animal species, while also undertaking paleontological scientific research.
He studied the ‘Falkland Islands Wolf,’ which was apparently twice the size of an English fox, and was also variously known as the ‘Falkland Island Dog,’ ‘Falkland Island Fox,’ ‘Antarctic Fox’ or ‘Warrah.’ Darwin also studied Toxodon fossils from an extinct herbivore very similar to a rhinoceros and found skeletal remains for a Macrauchenia (a three-toed South American ungulate mammal), and a Mastodon (which had a similar weight to elephants), as well as horse fossils with shorter and wider legs. His research also makes reference to his discovery of a Glyptodont, a Megatherium and a Mylodon. His observations regarding climate and the glaciers led him to measure and relate these formations to the glaciers that existed in Europe.
According to Darwin, the southern-most glacier moving towards the sea in the Northern Hemisphere was located on the coast of Norway, at the northern latitude of 67° and was twenty degrees closer to the North Pole than the glacier of Lake San Rafael in Chilean Patagonia in relation to the South Pole. This is a difference of 1,980 km between the two hemispheres, from which one can deduce that, already, during the time of the voyage of the HMS Beagle in 1834, the phenomenon of global warming was being observed occurring naturally for the first time. The northern hemisphere demonstrated this symptomatic decline and Darwin noted that the southern hemisphere was a great deal colder, with differences in the extent of its glacial regions that varied from the European ones by as much as 2,000 km.
Darwin contributed to our knowledge of the elements such as the coastal climate for the Straits of Magellan. He climbed Mount Tarn that rises 825 m above sea level and his account of the ascent to the summit is highly descriptive. Darwin relates in his diary for Patagonia that the vegetation at the start of the expedition was very bushy and, as they made their ascent, they saw rotting trees spread out in all directions and experienced forceful gusts of wind and a terrible cold that barely allowed them to stand up while they observed the snowy mountains and a large part of Tierra del Fuego.
He collected and studied edible mushrooms and observed the native trees and marine plants, gathering all his notes into his writing and later using them to develop his theory of evolution, publishing his famous books after he completed his journey to the Galapagos Islands and finished analyzing all the investigations he had undertaken during his voyage around the world. His controversial book On the Origin of Species was published in 1859.
The flora of this region is highly diversified and ranges from the Andean-Patagonian forests to the semi-desert vegetation of the extreme south of the American Continent. Its flora survives on the highland plains of the Altiplano, where it is exposed to the predominant arctic winds, which dehydrate the atmosphere in the region, resulting in a great scarcity of trees.
However, abundant native forests can be found, predominantly in the north of continental Patagonia, between the Patagonian Mountains and the Pacific Ocean, where they are located in the valleys near lakes. These forests can also be found in the bays at the openings of the system of fjords, beginning by the Guaitecas Islands in the south, and reaching Golfo de Penas (Gulf of Sorrows) and its glaciers. This is primary forest, commonly known as Valdivian temperate rainforest, and it owes its survival and natural reproduction in particular to the predominant rains of the regions near the Pacific Ocean, and to the humid saline climate that spreads into the valleys of the Patagonian Mountain.
The range for this dense forest is defined by the area immediately adjoining the Andes to the east, with its volcanoes and ancient glaciers, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Similarly, there is a very humid forest on the eastern slopes, which has a wealth of native species, even while the eastern region of the Patagonian Mountains has scarce native species, and is predominantly covered by the plains of the Argentine Pampa in Southern Patagonia.
The main body of Valdivian temperate rainforest is found on the continental section of Patagonia and, in particular, in the north; while to the south, on the mainland and along the fjords, the Magellan subpolar forests are encountered.
The Valdivian temperate rainforest is mostly comprised of species such as the roble southern beech (Nothogagus oblicua) and the lenga (Nothogagus pumilio); as well as the Antarctic beech (Nothofagus antartica), and an abundant presence of mosses and a variety of fern species, such as Blechnum chilensis and Lophosoria quadri-pinnata. Also present are the ulmo tree (Eucruphia cordifolia), the laurel-leaved tineo (Weinmannia trichosperma), the canelo (Drimys winteri), and the Chilean myrtles arrayán (Luma apiculata) and melí (Amomyrtus meli). Among the conifers found is the cypress tree of the Guaitecas Islands (Pilgerodendron uviferum) and the mountain cypress (Austrocedrus chilensis).