Cape Horn Click Image to Enlarge  (JPG) (896,503 bytes) ( 3,207 x 2,503 )

Cape Horn is the southernmost point of South America. It is located in the Tierra del Fuego archipelago and is itself an island belonging to Chile. The Cape was first rounded by a European in 1616 by the Dutch expedition of Willem Schouten and Jacob Le Maire. Cape Horn is notorious because of the poor weather conditions that made it difficult to round in sailing ships before the construction of the Panama Canal. The route around the Horn was an important path for trade and passenger ships taking goods and people from the East Coast of the US to the West Coast, and was an essential supply route for the Spanish Empire. The ASTER scene shows Cape Horn in the lower right, near 56 degrees south latitude, 67.3 degrees west longitude; it was acquired on 20 September 20, 2005, and covers an area of 32.7 x 48.1 km.