Cape Horn

2026-10-12

point · CL

-55.9808, -67.2926

The southernmost headland of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago, on Hornos Island in Chile. It marks the northern boundary of the Drake Passage and the meeting of the Atlantic and Pacific. First rounded in 1616 by the Dutchmen Willem Schouten and Jacob Le Maire, who named it after their home town of Hoorn. The waters are hazardous: strong westerly winds, large waves and ice in the Southern Ocean. A Chilean Navy station, a lighthouse, and a memorial to sailors lost rounding the Horn stand on the island. Fewer ships pass since the Panama Canal opened in 1914, but several round-the-world yacht races still require the rounding. The climate averages 5 Celsius and well over two hundred days of rain a year, with gales common in every season.

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