Horn, Cape

The Cabo de Hornos is a promontory located on the Isla Hornos in Chile at 55 degrees south and 67 degrees west latitudes, considered the southernmost tip of the continent. Discovered by the Dutch corsairs W. C. Schouten and J. Le Maire on 29 January 1611, it was named Hoorn, for the birthplace of Schouten. The discovery dispelled the belief that Tierra Del Fuego was the northern margin of a large southern continent, Terra Australis, and established a second passage from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean. Sailing ships preferred the open oceanic passage to the narrow and treacherous Strait of Magellan, although heavy storms and the strong westerlies would sometimes paralyze vessels for weeks. Steam navigation dealt a blow to the Cape Horn route by making navigation along the Strait of Magellan safer.

See alsoMagellan, Strait of; Tierra del Fuego.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Webb Chiles, Storm Passage: Alone Around Cape Horn (1977).

Erroll Bruce, Cape Horn to Port (1978).

Hal Roth, Two Against Cape Horn (1978).

Additional Bibliography

Catalán Labarías, Rodrigo. Bosques y comunidades del sur de Chile. Santiago de Chile: Editorial Universitaria, 2006.

Coloane, Francisco. Cabo de Hornos. Santiago de Chile: Editorial Andrés Bello, 1998.

Davis, Charles G. Around Cape Horn: A Maritime Artist/Historian's Account of His 1982 Voyage, edited by Captain Neal Parker. Camden, ME: Down East Books, 2004.

Inda, Enrique S. El náufrago del Cabo de Hornos. Buenos Aires: Cefomar Editora, 2005.

Riesenberg, Felix and Briesemeister, William. Cape Horn: The Story of the Cape Horn Region. Woodbridge, CT: Ox Bow Press, 1994.

                                        CÉsar N. Caviedes