__NOTOC__ 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
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

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

History

See also

References

External links