Want To Live At The Ends Of The Earth? This Is Where You Need To Go

No, we’re not about to dramatically reveal we’ve been shilling for the reptilians all along – it’s just a thought experiment. If the Earth were really shaped like a map … where would the edges be?

The southern end of the world

Now, obviously, if we’re going to do this, we’ll have to define some terms. We’re not talking about the center of the South Pole here, but the last major human settlement. Where’s that?

Well, truth is there’s not all that many places to choose from. Past the 45th parallel South, there are only the Falkland Islands and the very tips of New Zealand, Chile, and Argentina – so which of these contenders take the top (or maybe we should say the bottom) spot?

It turns out, there’s a choice of three: Punta Arenas, in Chile; Ushuaia, in Argentina; or Puerto Williams, in Chile. All three of these places advertise themselves as being “the southernmost city in the world”, and all three have at least a reasonable claim to the title, even though some are further south than the others. So, let’s check out their cases.

First, and perhaps most convincingly, there’s Puerto Williams. Located on Isla Navarino, a big island so close to the tip of South America that you might not even have noticed it’s not connected to the mainland if you’ve only ever seen it on maps, it’s the capital of the Commune of Cabo de Hornos, the southernmost division of Chile and the world.

At a latitude of 54°56’S, it’s certainly further south than either of its fellow contenders – so why isn’t this a slam-dunk? Well, it all comes down to whether you consider it a “city”: with a population of less than 2,000, Puerto Williams may be the biggest place in the vicinity, but by global standards it’s teeny-tiny. A city? There are high schools in the US with a bigger population than that!

So, if you don’t accept Puerto Williams as a city, maybe your vote will go to Punta Arenas, the capital city of Chile’s southernmost region, Magallanes and Antarctica Chilena (as a vague US comparison, you can think of that as the state, while the Commune of Cabo de Hornos, where Puerto Williams is located, is like a county within that state). 

With a population more than 60 times that of Puerto Williams, Punta Arenas certainly has more claim to the “city” part of the “southernmost city in the world” title. The problem comes when you look at its location: it’s almost 200 kilometers further north than Puerto Williams. 

Admittedly, that’s less than half the length of the Grand Canyon, but it’s still something – potentially enough to make labeling it as the most southerly city in the world a bit uncomfortable. So can we do better?

Turns out, we kind of can. Located between Puerto Williams and Punta Arenas – both in terms of its location and its population – sits Ushuaia, the capital of the Argentinian province of Tierra del Fuego. With a population of around 83,000 and some genuine urban infrastructure, its designation as a city is far less questionable than Puerto Williams – and its location at 54°48′ south puts it further south than Punta Arenas.

Overall, then, it’s Ushuaia that most commonly gets the title of “southernmost city in the world” – and even if you don’t agree that it’s deserved, it’s less than 15 kilometers (9 miles) north of Puerto Williams. That’s close enough for us.

The northernmost end of the world

The globe is (currently) very north-focused. Want proof? Just flip those most southerly latitudes upside-down and see where you end up: 54°48′ South, and you’re at the ends of the Earth; 54°48′ North, and you’re somewhere around Harrogate in England. You haven’t even reached Sweden yet; heck, you aren’t even in Scotland.

And not only is there more land in the Northern Hemisphere, but it’s arguably more livable. The weather is nicer at the poles; places are pleasantly warm when they should by rights be frigid; and the seas around the most northern places are far nicer than the turbulent Tierra del Fuego, where the Pacific and Atlantic oceans meet and mix.

For all those reasons, there are a lot more cities to choose from up north – and they’re uniformly much further north than even Puerto Williams is south. But what’s good news for the countless groups who have made their homes above the 70th parallel North is bad for us, because we have basically too much to choose from. 

Do we count Frigg Fjord, at the very tippy-top of Greenland, for example? It’s not inhabited now, and hasn’t been for more than two millennia – but it was once, and for thousands of years. No? Well, how about Alert, in Ellesmere Island, Nunavut: it’s the most northern place with a year-round population – but that population is only about 100, and nobody lives there permanently. Perhaps not there either, then.

Moving further south, we get to Ny-Ålesund, in Norway’s Svalbard, a company town with a permanent population (yay!) of about 30 (boo!). Less than 50 kilometers south of that, at 78°13′ north, is Longyearbyen – and here we have the first real contender for “most northerly city”, with a population of about 2,800, capital status in Svalbard, and, as of 2008, official recognition as a municipality from the Norwegian government. 

There’s just one problem: that population. It’s a town – and if we’re going strictly for cities, then it doesn’t count. So what’s the most northerly city?

For that, it seems you have to go back to the New World. With a population of around 5,000, it’s not much bigger than Longyearbyen, but Utqiagvik, right at the top of Alaska, is officially and legally a city.

So, the ends of the Earth? North and south alike, you have to be in the Americas – which means, theoretically at least, you could traipse the whole thing on foot. Of course, they’ll have to finish the Pan-American highway first – but that’s another story entirely.