Hoste is one of the southernmost island

Island

An island or isle is any piece of sub-continental land that is surrounded by water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, cays or keys. An island in a river or lake may be called an eyot , or holm...

s in Chile

Chile

Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...

, lying south, across the Beagle Channel

Beagle Channel

thumb|right|300px|Aereal view of Beagle Channel. The Chilean [[Navarino Island]] is seen in the top-right while the Argentine part of [[Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego]] is seen at the bottom-left....

, from Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego

Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego

Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego is an island near the southern tip of South America from which it is separated by the Strait of Magellan...

 and west of Navarino Island, from which it is separated by the Murray Channel

Murray Channel

The Murray Channel is a channel of Chile located in the Commune of Cabo de Hornos, in the Antártica Chilena Province of the Magallanes y la Antártica Chilena Region. It separates Hoste Island from Navarino Island and is bounded by the Beagle Channel to the north...

. With an area of 4117 sqkm, Hoste is the second largest island of the Tierra del Fuego

Tierra del Fuego

Tierra del Fuego is an archipelago off the southernmost tip of the South American mainland, across the Strait of Magellan. The archipelago consists of a main island Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego divided between Chile and Argentina with an area of , and a group of smaller islands including Cape...

 archipelago

Archipelago

An archipelago , sometimes called an island group, is a chain or cluster of islands. The word archipelago is derived from the Greek ἄρχι- – arkhi- and πέλαγος – pélagos through the Italian arcipelago...

, after Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego. The island is located in the Commune of Cabo de Hornos, which belongs to the Antártica Chilena Province

Antártica Chilena Province

Antártica Chilena Province is the southernmost and one of four provinces in Chile's southernmost region, Magallanes and Antártica Chilena Region . The capital is Puerto Williams...

 of the Magallanes y Antártica Chilena Region. The western area of the island forms part of the Alberto de Agostini National Park

Alberto de Agostini National Park

Alberto de Agostini National Park is a park located in the Chilean part of Tierra del Fuego. It covers and includes the Cordillera Darwin mountain range. The park is named after Alberto Maria De Agostini, who was an Italian missionary and explorer. Several tidewater glaciers and steep fjords form...

. The most southern point of the island is the False Cape Horn

False Cape Horn

False Cape Horn or Falso Cabo de Hornos is a headland at the south end of Hoste Island, 35 statute miles northwest of Cape Horn, located at . False Cape Horn is the southernmost point of the large islands of the Tierra del Fuego group, located close to the mainland of South America.At least 100...

, on the Hardy Peninsula

Hardy Peninsula

Peninsula Hardy is a peninsula at one of the most southerly extremes of South America. It is the southern landform which extends into the Drake Passage to make the Bahia Nassau. It is part of a large island called Hoste, next to Isla Navarino and Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego...

. The highest point of the island is at 1402 metres (4,599.7 ft).

The island was explored by a French

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 scientific expedition towards the end of the 19th century. Already before, there have been unsuccessful cattle

Cattle

Cattle are the most common type of large domesticated ungulates. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae, are the most widespread species of the genus Bos, and are most commonly classified collectively as Bos primigenius...

 farming attempts of the Chilean government, after which the island had been abandoned. Well into the 20th century, a few Yamana

Yamana

Yamana may mean:* Yámana, an alternate name for the Yaghan language and people, in Chile and Argentina* Yamana clan, a Japanese clan * Yamana Gold Inc., a Canadian-based gold mining company operating in South and Central America...

 families lived on the island. Those indigenous people vanished after contact with adventurers and fishermen. Since then, the island has been virtually uninhabited. The 1992 census

Census

A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...

 reported a population of six, among three residential buildings in the Hoste census district (http://www.ine.cl/canales/chile_estadistico/territorio/division_politico_administrativa/pdf/dpa2001.pdf, whereby some or all of this population could be located on one or more smaller islands close by, that also belong to the district). In 1978, the island served as a station for Chilean warships during Operation Soberania

Operation Soberanía

Operación Soberanía was the codename of a planned Argentine military invasion of Chile to be carried out on 22 December 1978 due to the Beagle conflict dispute. The invasion was halted at the last minute and did not take place....

.

Hoste Island has the southernmost trees on earth (Nothofagus antarctica

Nothofagus antarctica

Nothofagus antarctica , is a deciduous tree or shrub native to southern Chile and Argentina from about 36°S to Tierra del Fuego . The southernmost occurrence is on Hoste Island, making it the southernmost trees on earth...

).

In Magellania, Jules Verne

Jules Verne

Jules Gabriel Verne was a French author who pioneered the science fiction genre. He is best known for his novels Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea , A Journey to the Center of the Earth , and Around the World in Eighty Days...

 described an imaginary republic

Republic

A republic is a form of government in which the people, or some significant portion of them, have supreme control over the government and where offices of state are elected or chosen by elected people. In modern times, a common simplified definition of a republic is a government where the head of...

on the island.