Hoorn lies in a bay on the IJsselmeer. Formerly the chief town of West Friesland, it is now an important market for livestock and cheese and the main center of an extensive farming region. It has foodstuffs, metal-processing and woodworking industries; but tourism is now also making a significant contribution to the town's
economy, for Hoorn has two yacht harbors and with its fine 17th century gabled houses it is a very attractive town.
Hoorn was founded in the 14th century as a trading settlement and received its municipal charter in 1356. Its heyday was in the 16th century, when it was the leading port in the Zuiderzee. In 1573 a naval battle took place off the coast here between a Spanish fleet and the combined fleets of Enkhuizen, Edam, Monnickendam and Hoorn, in which the Spanish admiral was taken prisoner. In the 17th century the town began to decline, and many merchants moved to Amsterdam. The construction of the Afsluitdijk cut its harbor off from the open sea. Hoorn was the birthplace of the navigator Willem Schouten (1580-1625), who in 1616 rounded the southern tip of America and gave the name of his home town to Cape Horn. Other natives of the town were Jan Pieterszoon Coen (1587- 1629), who established Dutch colonial authority in the East Indies, and Abel Tasman (1603-59), discoverer of New Zealand and Tasmania.
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