The research analyzes and characterizes the scientific arguments and territorial, cultural, institutional and historical views that have allowed the Tierra del Fuego-Patagonia zone to establish itself as a global natural laboratory. Despite the great development and speed of production of scientific knowledge in this area in recent decades, the process by which this part of the planet became a global reference point for science has not been studied. What are the special features that scientists have seen in the ecosystems of the austral regions that brought them to consider it as a place for comparison and legitimation of scientific hypotheses? In what way has the research carried out in this area fostered the creation of specific knowledge or the consolidation of some scientific disciplines over time? How has this space been presented in the scientific community, and how do discourses about and perceptions of landscapes and geographies interact?

As a hypothesis, we propose that the consolidation of the Fuego-Patagonia zone as a natural global laboratory was generated as a result of a long-term process in which perceptions and scientific practices interacted to promoted the idea that ecosystems of the region are exceptional, and that from them it is possible to observe and study the origins of both humanity and the planet, as well as its future. At the same time, the geopolitical interests that have advanced scientific agendas that have made it possible to transform it into a field-network where knowledge is expanded worldwide.