The region of the Beagle Channel, explored by Robert FitzRoy in the 1830s, was one of the last to be colonized by Chile and Argentina. The cold weather, the long distances from other inhabited regions, and the shortage of transport and subsistence, kept it far from the governmental task.

In the maps exhibited in this page it is possible to appreciate the lacking knowledge of the geography by navigators and explorers of the zone and also the statesmen who had to decide on the borders. Nevertheless, when the Boundary treaty of 1881 between Chile and Argentina was signed, in the Beagle Channel zone at least the main islands and waterways were known.

The Beagle Channel Arbitration Court reviewed in-depth the cartography of the zone and stated that:Beagle Channel Arbitration between the Republic of Argentina and the Republic of Chile, Report and Decision of the Court of Arbitration

Before 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.

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, like the map of engineer Alejandro Bertrand showed here. This border line is today valid for both countries.

There were some few dissentient (Argentine) maps in this period, but the Court declared it untrustworthy because of its "excentric" borderline. (see below).

Map in "La Ilustración Argentina", 1881

Partial reproduction of the first Argentine map showing the boundaries laid down in the Boundary Treaty of 23 July 1881, appeared in "La Ilustracion Argentina" issue of 10 November 1881 in Buenos Aires. The copy reproduced here is one handed to the British Minister Plenipontentiary in Buenos Aires by Dr. Bernardo de Irigoyen, Argentine Minister of Foreign Affairs who negotiated and signed the Boundary Treaty. The original is located in the official British Archives. The British Minister sent it to his Government with the comment that the dark shaded area "comprising the Strait of Magellan, half of Tierra del Fuego and all the southern islands, represent was actually has been ceded to Chile by the recent Treaty." (under Irigoyen map)

Map of Francisco Latzina, 1882

This map reproduced here is regarded by Chile as first official Argentine map after the Boundary Treaty of 1881, though its official character was subsequently denied by the Argentine Government. It was ordered to be drawn up by the then Argentine Minister of the Interior, Bernardo de Irigoyen (who had previously been Minister of Foreign Affairs in which capacity he signed the Boundary Treaty of 1881) for inclusion in an official publication issued by the Director of the National Statistics Office, Dr. Francisco Latzina, in 1883 under the title "The Argentine Republic as a field for European Immigration" (under Latzina map of 1882). This was published in Spanish, English, German, French and Italian in an edition of 120.000 copies. On the official map all the islands located south of the Beagle Channel are shown under Chilean Sovereignty.

Official map of the Republic of Chile, 1883

This official map of Chile, partially reproduced here, "was drawn up on the orders of the Chilean Government for use in primary schools in the Republic and with a view to the most recent data" by Alejandro Bertrand in 1884. The author, an engineer, was member of the Boundary Commissions charged with marking out the Chilean-Argentine Frontier. At the time the map was approved by the Chilean Hydrographic Office. On the map all the islands south of the Beagle Channel as far as Cape Hoorn are shown as being under Chilean sovereignty. All Chilean maps have shown this border line since 1881.

Map of the "Instituto Geográfico Argentino", 1886

In 1882 the Argentine Geographic Institute decided to issue a general map and an atlas of the Argentine Republic. The task was put in the hands of the well known Professor of the (Argentine) University of Córdoba, Arturo Seelstrang, who had already brought out a map of the Republic in 1875. The Atlas was "constructed and published" by the institute "under the auspices of the National Government". Plate XXVII of the Atlas, reproduced here, was headed "Gobernacion de la Tierra del Fuego Y Las Islas Malvinas" ("Governorship of Tierra del Fuego and the Malvinas Islands") and were drawn up in 1885 and published the following year. As may be observed, the map shows the boundary line running through the centre of the Beagle Channel, indicating Picton, Nueva and Lennox Islands an all the other islands and islets extending southwards as far as Cape Horn as being under Chilean sovereignty.

General Map of the Argentine Republic and neighbouring countries, 1886

General Map of the Argentine Republic and neighbouring countries, 1886. The map shown here states that it was "made according to the latest official data" and "in the light of the latest plans and sketches" by Francisco Moreno, Argentine expert on the commission for marking out the frontier with Chile, and by Lieutenant-Colonel José Olascoaga, Head of the Military Typographic Office.

At the bottom, right, the map bears the inscription in the Library of Congress.

As may be observed, the international boundary is traced along the centre of the Beagle Channel, showing Picton, Nueva and Lennox and all the other islands and islets extending southwards as far as Cape Horn as being under Chilean sovereignty.

Map of Francisco Latzina, 1888

This map, reproduced here, is included in the book Geography of the Argentine Republic () published in Buenos Aires in 1888, editorial Lajouane, by Francisco Latzina, National Director of the Argentine Statistics Institute and member of numerous scientific societies. "This work obtained the 'Rivadavia Award' [] of the 'Argentine Geographic Institute' and a large number of copies of it were ordered by the Argentine authorities for distribution in Europe and elsewhere." The jury was conformed by Estanislao Zeballos, Bartolomé Mitre, Julio Argentino Roca, Domingo Faustino Sarmiento, Guillermo Rawson and Lucio V. Mansilla.

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 , 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:

instead of the original text:

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.