Tierra del Fuego

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A group of islands at the southern tip of South America divided between Chile and Argentina

proper noun
/tiˈɛrə dɛl ˈfweɪɡoʊ/

: Tierra del Fuego

In southern Chile's Tierra del Fuego, a combination of social justice, nationalism, and geopolitical concerns stimulated land reform between 1924 and 1978.
Chilean Tierra del Fuego
Argentine Tierra del Fuego
land in Tierra del Fuego

Examples

The stunning landscapes of Tierra del Fuego attract many tourists each year.
A Drying Lake in Tierra del Fuego, Chile

Academic text (2008)
Tierra del Fuego is a remote area with limited biophysical and socioeconomic data on it.

Academic text (2008)
The Tierra del Fuego archipelago is located at the southernmost tip of South America (Figure 1).

Academic text (2008)
Many travelers dream of exploring the breathtaking beauty of Tierra del Fuego in southern South America.
The Strait of Magellan separates Tierra del Fuego from mainland South America, making it a unique destination.

Surface Forms

Tierra del Fuego main

Morphology

Tierra + del + Fuego

Although this is a Spanish proper name, its parts are directly compositional: 'tierra' = land, 'del' = of the, 'fuego' = fire, so a learner who knows those words can derive 'Land of Fire' and understand it denotes a place (likely with fiery/volcanic associations). Place-naming with 'land of X' is cross-linguistically common, making the meaning transparent to a B1 learner familiar with the constituents.

Etymology

Tierra del Fuego comes from Spanish: tierra means 'land' and fuego means 'fire'. One popular story says early European sailors saw many fires on the island shores and called the place Tierra del Fuego, so the name remembers those fires even though the islands are cold.