For the Papua New Guinea archipelago, see Duke of York Islands.
The Duke of York Island is located in the Pacific Ocean in the southern region of Chile, south of the Gulf of Penas. It is part of the Madre de Dios archipelago. It has an area of 522 km², which makes it the 27th largest island of Chile.
Administratively, it belongs to the Province of the Last Hope of the XII Region of Magallanes and the Chilean Antarctic.
For approximately 6,000 years their coasts were inhabited by the Kawésqar people. At the beginning of the 21st century this town had been practically extinguished by the action of the white man.
HistorySince 1520, with the discovery of the Strait of Magellan, few regions have been as explored as that of the Patagonian channels. In ancient letters the region of Patagonia, between the parallels 48 ° and 50 ° South, was almost exclusively occupied by a large island called "Campana" separated from the mainland by the "channel of the Calén nation", a nation believed to have existed until the eighteenth century between the parallels 48 ° and 49 ° south latitude.
Since the middle of the 20th century, these canals have been safely navigated by large ships of all nations, thanks to the numerous reconnaissance and hydrographic work carried out on these dangerous coasts.
For more than 6,000 years these canals and their coasts have been visited by the Kawésqar, indigenous, nomadic canoeros. There are two hypotheses about their arrival at the places of settlement. One, that came from the north following the route of the chilotes channels and that crossed to the south crossing the isthmus of Ofqui. The other is that they came from the south and that through a process of colonization and transformation of terrestrial hunting populations from Eastern Patagonia, they populated the islands of the Strait of Magellan and climbed the Patagonian channels to the Gulf of Penas. At the beginning of the 21st century this town had been practically annihilated by the action of the white man. Appearance of the coasts
They are a succession of highlands and ravines with numerous peaks and promontories very similar to each other. Its ends and ends abruptly. This, together with the silence and solitude of the environment, make these islands and canals one of the most beautiful regions of the planet.
The coasts are cliffs and their channels, in general are clean and open, where there are stumbling blocks are invariably marked by sargazos. On the eastern coast there are numerous entrances that constitute inlets or sieves.
There are quite remarkable heights that serve to recognize the entrance to different breasts, channels or bays. These are clearly indicated in the respective charts and routes of the region. At the NE end stands Mount Vallejo, 829 meters high, in the interior of the eastern coast, the Shergall peak rises 453 meters and in the southern part of the island the Santiago peak 725 meters. geology
The entire Patagonia archipelago dates from the Tertiary period; is the product of the same geological cause that first appeared the mountain range of the Coast and then that of the Andes. In the glacial age, it took its present aspect being the continuation towards the south of the mountain range of the Coast.
It is of igneous origin by the class of rock that constitutes it and by its rough and irregular relief, characteristic of the chains of eruption. Weather
The region is continually affected by west winds and by the frequent passage of frontal systems. These frontal systems are generated at latitude 60 ° S, a zone in which masses of subtropical air and masses of polar air converge creating a belt of low pressures that form the frontal systems.
This area has a climate that is known as "temperate cold rainy" that extends from the southern part of the X Region of Los Lagos to the Strait of Magellan. Here we record the highest cantid
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