Drake Passage or Mar de Hoces between South America and Antarctica. South America is a Continent of the Americas, situated entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a

Drake Passage between South America and Antarctica. South America is a Continent of the Americas, situated entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a

Drake Passage showing the boundary points A, B, C, D, E and F accorded by the 1984 Treaty of Peace and Friendship between Chile and Argentina. 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

The Drake Passage or Mar de Hoces -Sea of "Hoces"- is the body of water between the southern tip of South America at Cape Horn, Chile and the South Shetland Islands of Antarctica. South America is a Continent of the Americas, situated entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a Cabo de Hornos redirects here for the Chilean commune see Cabo de Hornos Chile. Chile, officially the Republic of Chile ( Spanish:) is a country in South America occupying a long and narrow Coastal strip wedged between the The South Shetland Islands are a group of Antarctic islands, lying about 120 kilometres north of the Antarctic Peninsula. It connects the southwestern part of the Atlantic Ocean (Scotia Sea) with the southeastern part of the Pacific Ocean and extends into the Southern Ocean. The Scotia Sea ( is partly in the Southern Ocean and mostly in the Atlantic Ocean between Tierra del Fuego ( Mitre Peninsula) Burdwood The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth 's Oceanic divisions The Southern Ocean, also known as the Great Southern Ocean, the Antarctic Ocean and the South Polar Ocean, comprises the southernmost waters of It is named after 16th century English privateer Sir Francis Drake, although he never sailed the Passage, opting instead for the less turbulent Strait of Magellan. A privateer was a private Warship authorized by a country's Government by Letters of marque to attack foreign shipping Sir Francis Drake, Vice Admiral, (c 1540 &ndash 27 January 1595 was an English Privateer, navigator, Slaver, and politician The Straits of Magellan (rarely referred to as the Magellanic Straits) comprise a navigable sea route immediately south of mainland Chile and north of Isla Grande It was the Spanish navigator Francisco de Hoces who discovered and first sailed this passage in 1525^[1]. Francisco de Hoces (? 1526? was a Spanish sailor who in 1525 joined the Loaísa Expedition to the Spice Islands as commander of the vessel San Lesmes

For this reason, some Spanish, Mexican, Argentinean and Chilean historians and sources call it Mar de Hoces (Sea of Sickles) after Francisco de Hoces. Francisco de Hoces (? 1526? was a Spanish sailor who in 1525 joined the Loaísa Expedition to the Spice Islands as commander of the vessel San Lesmes The second recorded European voyage through the passage was that of the Eendracht, captained by Willem Schouten in 1616. The Eendracht is a former Tidal branch of River Scheldt that has been channelised to form the northern stretch of the Scheldt-Rhine Willem Cornelisz Schouten (1567? Hoorn - 1625 Antongil Bay) was a Dutch navigator

The 800 km (500 miles) wide passage between Cape Horn and Greenwich Island is the shortest crossing from Antarctica to the rest of the world's land. Greenwich Island (variant historical names Sartorius Island, Berezina Island) is an Island 15 Miles (24 km long and from 0 The boundary between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans is sometimes taken to be a line drawn from Cape Horn to Snow Island (130 km (80 miles) north of mainland Antarctica). The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth 's Oceanic divisions Snow Island or Isla Nevada ( is a completely ice-covered Island, 16 by 8 kilometres (10 x 5 mi in size lying 6 kilometres (4 mi southwest of Livingston Alternatively the meridian that passes through Cape Horn may be taken as the boundary. Both boundaries lie entirely within the Drake Passage.

The other two passages around Cape Horn, Magellan Strait and Beagle Channel, are very narrow, leaving little room for a ship, particularly a sailing ship, to maneuver. The Straits of Magellan (rarely referred to as the Magellanic Straits) comprise a navigable sea route immediately south of mainland Chile and north of Isla Grande The Beagle Channel is a strait separating islands of the Tierra del Fuego Archipelago in extreme southern South America. They can also become icebound, and sometimes the wind blows so strongly no sailing vessel can make headway against it. Hence most sailing ships preferred the Drake Passage, which is open water for hundreds of miles. The very small Diego Ramirez Islands lie about 50 km (30 mi) south of Cape Horn. The Diego Ramírez Islands (Islas Diego Ramírez are a small group of lesser Islands located in the southernmost extreme of Chile about 100 km (60 mi southwest

There is no significant land anywhere around the world at the latitudes of the Drake Passage, which is important to the unimpeded flow of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current which carries a huge volume of water (about 600 times the flow of the Amazon) through the Passage and around Antarctica. The Antarctic Circumpolar Current ( ACC) is an Ocean current that flows from west to east around Antarctica. The Amazon River (Rio Amazonas Río Amazonas of South America is the largest river in the world by volume with a total river flow greater than the next top ten largest rivers

Ships in the passage are often good platforms for the sighting of whales, dolphins and plentiful seabirds including giant petrels, other petrels, albatrosses and penguins. Whales are marine mammals which are neither Dolphins (ie members of the families Delphinidae or Platanistoidae) nor Porpoises Orcas Dolphins are Marine mammals that are closely related to Whales and Porpoises There are almost forty species of dolphin in seventeen genera. The giant petrels are two large Seabirds from the Genus Macronectes. This article is about the petrel seabirds For other uses see Petrel (disambiguation. Albatrosses, of the biological family Diomedeidae, are large Seabirds allied to the procellariids, Storm-petrels and Diving-petrels Penguins ( order Sphenisciformes, family Spheniscidae) are a group of aquatic, flightless Birds living almost

The passage is known to have been closed until around 41 million years ago^[2] according to a chemical study of fish teeth found in oceanic sedimentary rock. Before the passage opened, the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans were separated entirely with Antarctica being much warmer and having no ice cap. The joining of the two great oceans started the Antarctic Circumpolar Current and cooled the continent significantly. The Antarctic Circumpolar Current ( ACC) is an Ocean current that flows from west to east around Antarctica.

See also

• García de Nodal
• Strait of Magellan
• Beagle Channel

References

External links

• National Oceanography Centre, Southampton page of the important and complex bathymetry of the Passage
• A personal story describing crossing the Passage
• A NASA image of an eddy in the Passage
• Larger-scale images of the passage from the US Navy (Rain, ice edge and wind images)