By Ines Keane
A headland at the far tip of South America carries the name of a small town on the Markermeer. That is the quickest way into Hoorn. The town looks like a harbour that has not quite finished its day’s work, though the sea it once served was closed off long ago.
The town in brief
Hoorn lies in North Holland, on the Markermeer, in the traditional region of West Friesland.
A seaport that stopped being one
Hoorn hosted one of the six chambers of the Dutch East India Company (VOC). The museum page for Hoorn’s sights says the artificial island of Oostereiland held warehouses and homes, later served as a prison, and now has a hotel, a cinema, offices and the Museum of the 20th Century.
How Cape Horn got its name
The New Netherland Institute, a history organisation, tells the story this way. The VOC was formed in 1602 with a monopoly on trade to the East by two routes, the Cape of Good Hope and the Strait of Magellan. A VOC shareholder named Isaac Le Maire looked for a route around that monopoly and in 1614 partnered with Willem Corneliszoon Schouten, a mariner from Hoorn. Two ships, the Eendracht and the smaller Hoorn, left Texel on 14 June 1615. On 29 January 1616 the Eendracht rounded the headland the Dutch called Kaap Hoorn, after Schouten’s hometown, which had helped sponsor the voyage.
Wikipedia agrees on the year and the naming. The Institute adds a note we find useful: the feature now called Cape Horn is a small island off the Chilean coast, and the headland the Dutch named is a different place, the Mitre Peninsula on Isla Grande. Spanish speakers say Cabo de Hornos, “Cape of Ovens”.
What to look at in town
Two sources list the sights, and they agree on most dates.
- The Hoofdtoren, the harbour tower. The museum page for Hoorn’s sights says it was built in 1532 from limestone and brick. The ANWB walking page (the Dutch motoring and travel club) adds that a whaling company, the Noordse Compagnie, was established there in 1614.
- The Maria or Kruittoren, 1508, part of the old wall, on both lists.
- The Oosterpoort, 1578, the only city gate left, with a small house added on top in 1601 (museum page and ANWB).
- The Waag, 1609, a weigh house for cheese and other goods, now cafés and restaurants. The Roode Steen square in front is also called the Kaasmarkt, and DutchNews mentions a summer cheese market.
- The Westfries Museum in the Statencollege of 1632, with a collection the museum page says is centred on 1500 to 1800. Check the museum’s own site for opening arrangements before you go.
- A statue of Jan Pieterszoon Coen stands on Roode Steen.
- The Bossuhuizen, whose coloured reliefs commemorate a naval battle on the Zuiderzee in 1573 (ANWB).
Two ways to leave the harbour
The museum page and DutchNews both describe the steam tram, Museum Stoomtram Hoorn-Medemblik, which runs from the former goods yard at Hoorn station to Medemblik. DutchNews says a ferry, the Friesland, carries on to Enkhuizen and that the trip may be one way, so look at timetables.
Quick answers
Why is Cape Horn named after Hoorn? According to the New Netherland Institute, the Dutch named the headland after Willem Schouten’s hometown, which sponsored the voyage; the Eendracht rounded it on 29 January 1616.
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Roam first. Shop later.