Relative merits of Straits of Magellan and Drake Passage
Latest comment: 16 November 20196 comments6 people in discussion
It think that the article is incorrect in claiming that the straits provide a safer passage than the Drake Passage. For sailing vessels, this is not true because of a) the very limited searoom in the Straits and b) the very unpredictable and rapidly changing winds in the Straits. I am told that highly destructive squalls can drop off the mountains with very little warning. Although the Drake Passage has very high winds and seas, there is plenty of sea-room and the winds tend to be relatively steady. Given a well-found ship, the preference would clearly be for the Drake Passage, and most of the clipper ships followd this route.--APRCooper12:48, 1 November 2006 (UTC)Reply
Logic would appear to be on your side: if it were safer, it would have been the preferred route, since it is also shorter than Drake's Passage. But it was less often used than Drake's. --mglg(talk)23:28, 1 November 2006 (UTC)Reply
When you say that it was less used than the drakes passage, its not totaly correct because steam ships prefered to use Magellan strait, while clippers and other sailing ships prefered drakes passage. 200.126.70.12418:48, 10 March 2007 (UTC)Reply
The article is confused about what Drake actually did. It says that Drake crossed the strait in 1578, but that the Drake's Passage was found in 1616.
In fact Drake did sail through, but thought that Tierra del Fuego was part of the great unknown southern continent. He was then driven back to the east by a storm, and found open water south of South America. This was previously unknown.
This is now known as the Drake Passage.Dean1954 (talk) 14:58, 16 November 2019 (UTC)Reply
Attribution
Latest comment: 26 October 20198 comments1 person in discussion
Latest comment: 22 February 202518 comments6 people in discussion
I've added Argentina to the basin_countries parameter of the infobox. It clearly belongs there, as Lago Fagnano, which lies mostly in Argentina, drains into the strait. According to the definition of the parameter in template:Infobox body of water:
"which countries have drainage to/from or border the body of water. To conform a standard, this should include all countries that are directly involved with the body of water's ecology; this would include inflows, outflows, or physically contact the body of water."
Yes, I was working from an earlier version of the article and did not realize there had been an intervening edit until after I saved mine. -- Elphion (talk) 21:25, 16 November 2019 (UTC)Reply
The Strait of Magellan is an interoceanic maritime pass, it is not a river or a lake, therefore, it does not have tributaries, nor does it have Basin countries. The reason that the Argentine wikipedista, to put this in the article is to confuse readers and promote the aspiration of some Argentines to have dominion over the Straits of Magallnes, a real national frustration for some Argentines. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Antarcticwik2020 (talk • contribs) 18:32, 8 May 2020 (UTC)Reply
That is nonsense. Have you never heard of, say, the Pacific Basin? "Basin countries" makes no claim whatsoever that Argentina claims dominion over the straits. And if by "Argentine wikipedista" you mean me, you are quite mistaken. -- Elphion (talk) 21:05, 8 May 2020 (UTC)Reply
As for the claim that the parameter was added in an attempt to assert Argentine dominion, the parameter was included when the infobox was first added in this edit by Austrian user RScheiber -- and it incorrectly included only Chile. It would help this discussion a lot if you would tone down the nationalistic claims. -- Elphion (talk) 21:35, 8 May 2020 (UTC)Reply
I have reverted another edit that removed Argentina as a basin country, this one on the basis that Argentina signed a treaty giving full authority over the strait to Chile. But "basin country" says nothing about authority, it's about water courses that drain into the body of water in question. (Look it up in template:Infobox body of water.) It's not about politics, it's about the area's geography. Please park your politics at the door. -- Elphion (talk) 02:16, 28 November 2024 (UTC)Reply
No part of the Strait touches coasts of Argentina since it ends in Punta Dúngenes and Cabo del Espíritu Santo, so Argentina is not a basin country. Janitoalevic (talk) 15:02, 28 November 2024 (UTC)Reply
Of course, you are right that "No part of the Strait touches coasts of Argentina." However, "basin countries" is broader than what you imply. Waters that flowed through Argentina could reach the strait after passing through other countries. 7&6=thirteen (☎)16:56, 29 November 2024 (UTC)Reply
@Elphion is there any source that can be used to reference that Argentina is a basin country or that what you say about Lake Fagnano is correct? I believe that the use of the parameter is unnecessary in the case of ocean basins, besides the statement that Argentina is a basin country is questionable.
Elphion But are you sure that you can consider that a drainage into the Strait since the strait goes to the west of Dawson Island? The waters that are to the east of Dawson and in between the Tierra del Fuego Island are not. The drainage is on the coords -54.472120, -68.971796, while the strait is on -53.457045, -70.527653 (The Fagnano Lake drains on the Seno Almirantazgo, not on the Strait) File:Beagle1984.png
[outdent] Baia Inútil, Canal Whiteside, Seno Almirantazgo are all inlets of the Strait. The only way their waters communicate with the ocean is via the Strait. In the same way, the Tigris and Euphrates are part of the Indian Ocean watershed, the Arabian Sea watershed, and the Persian Gulf watershed -- because they join and flow into the Persian Gulf, which is an inlet of the Arabian Sea, which is an inlet of the Indian Ocean. -- Elphion (talk) 13:32, 22 February 2025 (UTC)Reply
So where specifically is the Strait of Magellan? Still have no idea after reading article.
The satellite image doesn't clearly show the actual route. I can guess the long narrow body of water is part of it, mostly it or entirely it? But why do I need to guess, the image either needs to be annotated or a new map added to the article that shows the actual route.
Latest comment: 17 August 20231 comment1 person in discussion
Nomadism is moving around among a set and limited number of places, usually with the beginning of transhumance (pastoralism). People take their flocks from place to place.
Hunter-gatherers are not nomads, they are seasonal migrants - or free-ranging (and sometime their ranges are indefinite, as we think was the case in Patagonia).
Recently, so that there's greater understanding, archaeologists and anthropologists are combining the word "nomad" with a descriptor to indicate its fuzzy nature (sea-nomads; desert-nomads, etc). It's possible that the Patagonians were sea-nomads (implying that they had a region of origin, expanded it by sea travel, then went back to origin spot and so on). However I just don't see the evidence for that in the archaeology. Nor is there a citation for it here. El Cubedo (talk) 17:42, 17 August 2023 (UTC)Reply
