The Tierra del Fuego shield is one of the most recent shield designs for Argentine provinces. It has been in use for 25 years and only that of the province of Río Negro surpasses it in youth.
Like other coats of arms of Argentine provinces, the Tierra del Fuego Shield was chosen after a competition in which the symbols of the entity had to be considered for its design.
Having the lowest population (less than 200 thousand inhabitants) and the most prominent name among the Argentine provinces, the “Province of Tierra del Fuego, Antarctica and the South Atlantic Islands” is located in the extreme south of Argentina.
It includes territories as varied as the extreme south of Patagonia and much of its extension is located in Antarctica, not counting the large number of islands in that space.
All these elements of the geography of the entity are present in the official coat of arms of the province.
History
Since its inception, Tierra del Fuego has used the national coat of arms in all official communications since it was established in 1884.
By the end of 1992, after having been incorporated as a province by the National Government, a competition was called for the creation of its own shield in which aspects of the entity should be considered.
These included its geographic location, natural resources, and the spirit of its people. At the end of 1992, the design made by the artist "Kewel", named Rosana Giménez, was chosen.
It was promulgated in Law No. 61 on December 24, 1992, just a week after the winning design was chosen.
At the beginning of the following year, the color shield was published along with the meaning of the elements that compose it.
Meaning
On an oval format, similar to most of the shields of Argentine provinces, you can see a rising sun with ten rays built with irregular bars on which you can see a snowy mountain on the peaks.
This mountain, surrounded by sea, occupies the upper half of the oval in conjunction with the sun.
The lower part of the oval is a sky blue field that, in addition to giving continuity to the sea of the upper field, has 4 penguins on it.
In this way, the penguins in the lower (south) part of the emblem would represent the southern fauna that inhabits the southern part of the entity in Antarctica, while the snowy mountain refers to the mountain range in the northern region.
The azure blue that floods the oval symbolizes the seas that surround the province at both ends: the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean, in the same azure hue that is the Argentine national color.
The outer part of the oval shows an oval crown of fire, covered entirely by a bird with open wings with an attitude of flight and a half-open plumage.
The bird, apart from including the rest of the heraldry inside, refers to the albatross, the characteristic bird of the region.
References
- Heraldica Argentina - Province of Tierra del Fuego, Antarctica and the South Atlantic Islands heraldicaargentina.com.ar
- General Secretariat of the Government of Tierra de Guego, Antarctica and the South Atlantic Islands secretariageneral.tierradelfuego.gob.ar
- Fullblog.com - History of the coat of arms of the province of Tierra del Fuego, Antarctica and the South Atlantic Islands masalladelsur.fullblog.com.ar
- Taringa - The meaning of the shield of all Argentine provinces www.taringa.net
- Wikipedia - Coat of arms of the province of Tierra del Fuego, Antarctica and the South Atlantic Islands en.wikipedia.org