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The Hermite Islands () are the islands ''Hermite'', ''Herschel'', ''Deceit'' and ''Hornos'' as well as the islets ''Maxwell'', ''Jerdán'', ''Arrecife'', ''Chanticleer'', ''Hall'', ''Deceit (islet)'', and ''Hasse'' at almost the southernmost end of
South America
South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the sout ...
.
[7. Cabo de Hornos ](_blank)
retrieved on 14 February 2013 The smallest and southernmost of the major islands is
Hornos Island
Hornos Island ( es, Isla Hornos) is a Chilean island at the southern tip of South America. The island is mostly known for being the location of Cape Horn. It is generally considered South America's southernmost island, but the Diego Ramírez Islan ...
, the location of
Cape Horn
Cape Horn ( es, Cabo de Hornos, ) is the southernmost headland of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago of southern Chile, and is located on the small Hornos Island. Although not the most southerly point of South America (which are the Diego Ramí ...
. The islands are located south of the
Wollaston Islands
The Wollaston Islands () are a group of islands in Chile south of Navarino Island and north of Cape Horn and east of the Hoste Island. The islands are ''Grevy'', ''Bayly'', ''Wollaston'' and ''Freycinet'', as well as the islets ''Dédalo'', ''S ...
and separated from them by the ''Franklin Channel''. The islets ''Terhalten'', ''Sesambre'', ''Evout'' and ''Barnevelt'' are located easterly and are not considered part of the Hermite islands.
The southernmost islands of the
American continent are the
Diego Ramírez Islands
The Diego Ramírez Islands ( es, Islas Diego Ramírez) are a small group of subantarctic islands located in the southernmost extreme of Chile.
History
The islands were first sighted on 12 February 1619 by the Spanish Garcia de Nodal expedition, ...
, southwest of Cape Horn. South of all these islands is the
Drake Passage
The Drake Passage (referred to as Mar de Hoces Hoces Sea"in Spanish-speaking countries) is the body of water between South America's Cape Horn, Chile and the South Shetland Islands of Antarctica. It connects the southwestern part of the Atla ...
.
The southern tip of Deceit island extends southeastwards through a line of sharp-edged rocks known as ''Los dientes o garras de Deceit (the Teeth or Claws of Deceit)'' that end in a rough islet, Islote Deceit. The islands form part of the
Cabo de Hornos National Park
Cabo de Hornos National Park is a protected area in southern Chile that was designated a Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO in 2005, along with Alberto de Agostini National Park. The world's southernmost national park, it is located 12 hours by boat from ...
.
History
They are named after the Dutch admiral
Jacques l'Hermite
Jacques l'Hermite (c. 1582 – June 2, 1624), sometimes also known as Jacques le Clerq , was a Dutch merchant, explorer and admiral known for his journey around the globe with the Nassau Fleet (1623–1626) and for his blockade and rai ...
(1582-1624). Hermite Islands were visited by
Charles Darwin
Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all species of life have descended ...
at the turn of 1832/1833. In 1979, the Argentine
military junta
A military junta () is a government led by a committee of military leaders. The term ''junta'' means "meeting" or "committee" and originated in the national and local junta organized by the Spanish resistance to Napoleon's invasion of Spain in ...
known as the
National Reorganization Process made a strategic feint towards the islands, called
Operation Soberania
Operation or Operations may refer to:
Arts, entertainment and media
* ''Operation'' (game), a battery-operated board game that challenges dexterity
* Operation (music)
Musical set theory provides concepts for categorizing musical objects ...
, in an attempt to compel
Chile
Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...
into renegotiating their border with
Argentina
Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
.
File:Hermite.Islands.JPG, Landscape in the Hermite Islands
File:Deceit teeth.JPG, Teeth of Deceit
File:Barnevelt Island.jpg, Barnevelt Island
File:Evout Islands.jpg, Evout Island
See also
*
List of islands of Chile
This is a list of islands of Chile, as listed by the National Geospatial-Intelligence AgencyCountry Files (GNS)The data was retrieved on 19 January 2013 and thwere "ISL" and "ISLS" The country has 43,471 islands, according to the Chilean Ministr ...
*
Beagle conflict
The Beagle conflict was a border dispute between Chile and Argentina over the possession of Picton, Lennox and Nueva islands and the scope of the maritime jurisdiction associated with those islands that brought the countries to the brink of war i ...
*
*
References
External links
Cape Horn & Hermite Islands chart
{{authority control
Archipelagoes of Chile
Islands of Tierra del Fuego
Archipelagoes of the Pacific Ocean
Pacific islands of Chile