Beagle Channel cartography since 1881

There was no agreement about the sovereignty over Patagonia and archipelago of Tierra del Fuego before the Boundary treaty of 1881 between Chile and Argentina. While Chile and Argentina claimed territories on both side of the 1984 defined border as own territories, the US and the European powers considered the land and islands often as Res nullius, although the Chilean settlement, and later city, of Punta Arenas at the Strait of Magellan existed since 1843. File:Chile.1862.djvu|French map 1862: Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego are Res nullius, although Patagonia is claimed by Argentina. File:Chile.1835.djvu|US map 1835: Chilean West-Patagonia. East-Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego are Res nullius. File:South America.jpg|US map 1872: Chilean West-Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego. East-Patagonia is Res nulllius. File:Seelstrang.1875.jpg|Argentine map 1875: Chilean West-Patagonia, Argentine East-Patagagonia and Tierra del Fuego. == The concordant Interpretation of the 1881 Boundary Treaty from 1881 to 1888 ==

From 1881 to 1888 show almost all Argentine maps the Picton, Lennox and Nueva islands as Chilean Territories. All Chilean maps have shown always the islands as Chilean territories, In the extreme southern region, the international boundary is traced along the centre of the Beagle Channel and stretches to the south of the Isla de los Estados. Here it shows Picton, Nueva and Lennox Islands and all other islands and islets extending southward as far as Cape Horn as being under Chilean sovereignty. Two maps of Argentina, Mariano Paz Soldán, 1888 The Peruvian geographer Mariano Felipe Paz Soldán, who sought refuge in Buenos Aires during the disastrous War of the Pacific (1879–1883) between Peru and Chile, drew 1888, amongst others, two maps of Argentina: • (above) (see full size map) and • (below) (see full size map). The relevant sections of the maps are shown on the left side. Soldán wrote in his Diccionario geográfico estadístico nacional argentino page 20 (1885): :''En la Tierra del Fuego sirve de límite una línea que parte del Cabo de Espíritu Santo, en la lat, 52° 40', la que se prolonga hacia el S., coincidiendo con el Meridiano de los 68° 34' hasta tocar en el Canal Beagle; y pertenecen á la República Argentina todas las Islas y territorios que quedan al E. de dicha línea, y á Chile las Islas que existen al S. del Canal de Beagle, hasta el Cabo de Hornos y las que hayan al Occidente de la Tierra del Fuego; y como las Islas de Navarino, Wollaston, La Hermita, Merschel, Lennox, Picton, Isla Nueva, con otras menores, y parte de la de Hoste, están al E. del meridiano que sirve de límite, es claro que todas esas islas son Argentinas.'' :(trns.) :''In Tierra del Fuego, a line that starts at Cabo de Espíritu Santo, on the lat, 52° 40', which extends to the S., coinciding with the Meridian of 68° 34' until it touches Beagle Channel, serves as the limit; and all the islands and territories that lie to the east of said line belong to the Argentine Republic, and to Chile the islands that exist to the south of the Beagle Channel, up to Cape Horn and those that lie to the west of Tierra del Fuego; and since the islands of Navarino, Wollaston, La Hermita, Merschel, Lennox, Picton, Isla Nueva, with other smaller ones, and part of Hoste, are to the E. of the meridian that serves as the limit, it is clear that all these islands are Argentine.'' The shows the Islands Picton and Nueva as under Argentine and the island Lennox as under Chilean sovereignty. In contrast, the shows all disputed islands as Chilean territories. This and other turnarounds (see below) of Paz Soldáns Interpretation of the 1881 Boundary Treaty caused the Arbitral Court to discard his maps from the documentary evidence. Other maps of Paz Soldán show the disputed islands as Chilean Territories: • (see full size map) and • (see full size map) Map of the Argentine Republic and neighbouring Countries, 1889 The map partially reproduced here was drawn up in Buenos Aires in 1889 by J. Duclout and published by E. Nolte. In the southern region the international boundary is shown traced through the centre of the Beagle channel, continuing beyond the eastern mouth of the Channel, indicating Picton, Nueva and Lennox Islands and all other islands and islets extending southward as far as Cape Horn as being under Chilean sovereignty == The Argentine change of policy ==

In the course of time became noticeable in Argentina a position that worked continuously towards a new interpretation of the Boundary Treaty. For example, in 1885 appeared a map of Mariano Paz Soldán that continued the perpendicular in the Tierra del Fuego Island forth to the Antarctic, "a fanciful line unrelated to the Treaty basis of division" as stated by the Court of Arbitration. In 1891, the Argentine Government created an "International Boundaries Office" at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and in 1893 issued other decree providing that works on national geography already published should not be considered as officially approved unless accompanied by a statement from the Department of Foreign Affairs. In 1889 appeared the as part of [https://archive.org/stream/lagricultureetl00latzgoog#page/n21/mode/2up ], officially sponsored for the purposes of the Argentine participation in the Paris World Exhibition of 1889. In the work of which this map was a part, the version there given of the article III of the 1881 Treaty (Argentine attribution in the Islands clause), was seriously incorrect: By the review of the cartography, the tribunal refused the validity of 3 in Argentina and 1 in London (by the Argentine Embassy) published maps. The maps are not disponible for now, but the court gave to every refuse a briefly map description (see text on the maps) that allowed us to rebuild the border line as showed at the left side. In order to decide the validity of a map the court used following criterion for exclusion: The refused maps are: • Paz Soldán Map 1885, published by Carlos Beyer: This version prolonged the perpendicular to the Antarctic and was discarded: "this map, equally, showed a fanciful line unrelated to the Treaty basis of division". • Map published in 1887 by the Argentine Bureau of Information in London: The footnote 102 regards to this map. It was refused with the argument: "a completely fanciful line division that could have no possible warrant under the 1881 Treaty". The map was corrected by the same Bureau on its map of the next year and the corrected map is linked here. • The "Lajouane" versions of the Paz Soldán maps This versions were published between 1887 and 1890: altogether we know 4 different interpretations of Paz Soldán of the 1881 Treaty, see section "Two maps of Argentina, Mariano Paz Soldán, 1888", (above), and two here (left). Such turnaround lead the tribunal to the conclusion: "Two volte-faces of this kind within one five-year period – for which no explanation seems to have been offered – must throw doubt on the credibility of the whole series of Paz Soldán based maps. It also raises the question of the reason for it". • The Pelliza map was published 1888 and presented to the Court by Argentina as the first official Argentine map that represented the border line according to the 1881 Treaty. 1899 ordered the Argentine navy the ship ARA Almirante Brown (1880) under the command of Captain Juan P. Saenz Valiente on a hydrographic survey of the Beagle channel. The Argentine survey corroborated the Argentine thesis about the change of the Beagle and therefore the institut published 1901 new charts of the zone with a new Toponymy. They expanded the Moat-Bay (), located at the shore of the Tierra del Fuego, opposite to the Picton island, to a (new) Moat channel. The new channel reached from Punta Navarro to Cabo San Pío. Consequently, the Picton, Nueva and Lennox islands became Terra Nullius, because the treaty of 1881 at this zone does not mention other islands than "south of the Beagle channel". The toponymy was disclosed to the United Kingdom and to the United States of America (the United States Hydrographic Office used the Argentine name "Moat Channel" in South America Pilot (1916) in p. 246). Chile, the immediate neighbour was not informed and was advised of the new names only 1904 through new charts of the zone edited by the US. Segundo R. Storni, then Leutnant later (1943) Foreign Ministers of Argentina legitimated the modifications: A Soviet map of the Beagle Channel used the Argentine toponyme "Moat Channel" in 1967. See Sowjet map 1967. The new name didn't prevail and disappeared into oblivion. The Treaty of Peace and Friendship of 1984 between Chile and Argentina mention (only) the Beagle channel. The southern regions of the Republics of Argentina and Chile, 1904 This map, whose southern part is reproduced here, is included in Col. Sir Thomas Holdich's work "The Countries of the King's Award" written immediately after his work on the British Arbitration in 1898–1902. After the British Arbitral Award of 1902 and during the course of the work marking out the frontier line indicated therein, Holdich visited the Beagle Channel zone which was not included in the arbitration. In the Beagle Channel region the map marks the international boundary as passing through the latter up to beyond its eastern mouth. Picton, Nueva and Lennox Islands and all the other islands extending southwards as far as Cape Horn are shown as under Chilean sovereignty. Other Europeans maps showing the same zone: • Stieler Handatlas 1889 • La grande Encyclopedie 1890 • Stieler Handatlas 1891 • Atlante Mondiale Hoepli 1899 Map of the Argentine Army, 1905 This reproduction of the "Map of the division of the Argentine territory into Military regions 1905" was included in the Military Bulletin of the Argentine Ministry of War, Year IV, vol. I, 1 May 1905, No. 140. The Argentine military regions are distinguished by different colours, all territories located south of the Beagle Channel as far as Cape Horn have been omitted and thus understood to be under Chilean sovereignty. "Nuevo Mapa de la República Argentina". Oficina de Cartografía Argentina, 1914 Partial reproduction of the "", 1914, prepared by Pablo Ludwig. The complete map is under Nuevo mapa de la República Argentina (1914). In the map Picton and Nueva appear under Argentine, Lennox under Chilean sovereignty. Sheet Ushuaia from "Instituto Geográfico Militar de Argentina", 1967 Rebuild of the sheet Ushuaia from the :es:Instituto Geográfico Militar (Argentina), 1967 edition. Only the borderline and the oceanic Toponymy are copied from the copyrighted original. A similar map was issued in 1948. The international boundary shown in the Beagle Channel zone corresponds to the Argentine claim in the area which the arbitral decision of 18 April 1977 put a definitive end. Nueva Island is not shown on the map, and Picton and Lennox Islands are partially shown, coloured as belonging to the Argentine Republic. Nevertheless, all the other islands and islets extending southward as far as Cape Horn figure as under Chilean sovereignty. In the official Argentine map the geographic nomenclature "" (South Atlantic Ocean) appears inserted to the south of Hoste Island and in the western region of Wollaston and Hermite Islands, in other words more than one degree longitude west of Cape Horn, thus contradicting the (1978) Argentine thesis concerning the ocean toponymy in the region of the extreme south of America, that the Cape Horn was the border between the Pacific and Atlantic Ocean. The reason could be that in 1938 the Argentine delegation to the Hydrographic Conference in Oslo tried to define the meridian 68° 43'W (through the Chilean Diego Ramírez Islands) as limit between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. ==Post arbitration maps==

During the Proceso de Reorganización Nacional (1976–1983) and based on concepts of territorial nationalism and geopolitics Argentine geography sustained the possession of the islands as a "vital issue" and called on to a "march to the south" in order to follow some kind of Argentine Manifest Destiny: The Beagle conflict, the Falklands dispute and the question of the use of the Rio de la Plata Basin became through the works of the geographic topics of popular interests and opinion. Book of Admiral Isaac Francisco Rojas approved by the Argentine Ministry of Education, 1979 This image shows a facsimile of the map appeared in the cover of the book compiled by of Admiral (R) Isaac Rojas, former vice-president of Argentina and former Chief of the Argentine Navy, and Arturo Medrano "". It is approved by the Argentine Ministry of Education for teaching in schools and high schools. The book justifies, as they say, the Argentine claim over the islands. Not only Picton, Nueva, Lennox and all islands east from Cape Horn meridian are Argentine Territories but also the east side of Navarino Island with the Chilean village of Puerto Toro appears under Argentine sovereignty. Argentine stamp, 1983 After the Falklands War, on the postage stamp issued in 1983 Cape Horn island was labeled as Argentinian, and the islands of Picton, Lennox and Nueva at the eastern entrance to the Beagle Channel are shaded like Argentina. Argentine Passport 2011 A map of South America appears on the back of Argentine passports, showing the country's location within the continent and within Mercosur, together with the Argentine Antarctic Claim and the Falkland Islands as part of Argentina. Most of the Chilean Magallanes Region disappeared, included the Strait of Magellan, the Chilean part of Tierra del Fuego and all islands south of the Beagle Channel. ==Analysis==

The contrast could hardly be starker between the multiple Argentine views and the sole Chilean view of the 1881 Boundary Treaty. The interpretation of the 1881 Boundary Treaty seems to have challenged to the limit the fantasy and intelligence of the Argentine cartography as of 1888, for they found more than 8 different border lines from the same text. Anyway, in his Report and Decision on 18 April 1977 the Court of Arbitration judged: Argentine scientists Carlos Escudé and Andrés Cisneros in Historia general de las relaciones exteriores de la República Argentina give a résumé of the Boundary Treaty of 1881: Annegret I. Haffa and Andrea Wagner. == See also ==