   beagle channel () is a strait in tierra del fuego archipelago on the extreme southern tip of south america partly in chile and partly in argentina.sergio zagier, 2006 the channel separates the larger main island of isla grande de tierra del fuego from various smaller islands including the islands of picton, lennox and nueva; navarino; hoste; londonderry; and stewart. the channel's eastern area forms part of the border between chile and argentina and the western area is entirely within chile. the beagle channel, the straits of magellan to the north, and the open ocean drake passage to the south are the three navigable passages around south america between the pacific and atlantic oceans. since the beagle channel and the straits of magellan are both very narrow passages which severely limit the size and types of ships that can safely use them, most commercial shipping uses the drake passage. the beagle channel is about  long and is about  wide at its narrowest point. it extends from nueva island in the east to darwin sound and cook bay in the west. some  from its western end it divides into two branches, north and south of gordon island. the southwest branch, between hoste island and gordon island, enters cook bay, a bay of the pacific ocean. the northwest branch, between gordon island and isla grande, enters darwin sound, which connects to the pacific ocean by the o'brien channel and the ballenero channel. the biggest settlement on the channel is ushuaia in argentina followed by puerto williams in chile, two of the southernmost settlements of the world. ==navigation== although it is navigable by large ships, there are safer waters to the south (drake passage) and to the north (strait of magellan). under the [[treat
ArgentinaaChile_border Channels_of_Chile Fjords_of_Chile Geography_of_Magallanes_y_la_AntA!rtica_Chilena_Region HMS_Beagle International_straits Straits_of_Chile Straits_of_the_Atlantic_Ocean Tierra_del_Fuego