Until recently this vast, sparsely populated region in the far south of South America was a byword for remoteness—finis terrae, the uttermost ends of the Earth. Because of its remoteness and inaccessibility, Patagonia has always been, like Timbuktu or Shangri-la, a place of myths and legends.
Text adapted from "Patagonia: Land of the Living Wind," January 2004, National Geographic magazine
Photograph from "Dinosaur Embryos," December 1998, National Geographic magazine