Hoorn

Town in the province of North Holland, the Netherlands, on the west coast of the IJsselmeer, 40 km/25 mi north of Amsterdam; population (2006 est) 67,800. It is a picturesque town with cheese and cattle markets, boatyards, and sawmills. Hoorn was a port on the Zuider Zee in the 17th century, handling Baltic trade to the colonies, and held the headquarters of the Dutch East India Company, but the town declined in importance after the harbour silted up and the IJsselmeer was created.

Hoorn was the ancient capital of West Friesland. It is the birthplace of the navigator Willem Schouten (1580–1625), who rounded the southern tip of America in 1616 and named it Cape Horn after his native town.