Wollaston Islands

The Wollaston Islands ( Islas Wollaston Spanish ) located in southern Chile, located about 60 km south of Puerto Williams an uninhabited group of islands in the Tierra del Fuego archipelago. Administratively, the islands belong to the municipality of Cabo de Hornos in the Región de Magallanes y Antártica Chilena de la. Named Archipelago 1821-1823 by the British naval officer Henry Foster in honor of William Hyde Wollaston, an English physician, physicist and chemist. The Yámana were called the islands Yachkusin to German "place of the islands".

Geography

The island group consists of four islands and numerous rocks. Isla Wollaston largest and principal island is in the center of the group, with an area of ​​221.9 km ². The other three islands are Isla Grey, Isla Isla Bayly and Freycinet. The highest point is Mount Hyde on the main island with 670 meters.

The archipelago is located in the north of Isla Grevy from 25 km away, Navarino Island and the west of the island, 16 km away Hoste, especially the Hardy Peninsula with the False Cape Horn. In between each of the Bahia Nassau. To the east lies the open Atlantic.

A few kilometers south of Wollaston Islands, the group of Hermite Islands lies with the island Hornos, on which the Cape Horn is located. The two island groups are separated by the Canal Franklin, ( from Isla Freycinet to Isla Herschel ) to 1.5 km (from the Isla Wollaston to Isla Herschel ) measures at the narrowest points within 1.3 km.

The Wollaston Islands are part of the National Park Cape Horn.