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Cape Finisterre (Spanish: Cabo Finisterre; Galician Cabo Fisterra) is a rock-bound peninsula in the uttermost west of Galicia, Spain.
Cape Finisterre is the westernmost point of Spain, though not of Continental Europe (that honour belongs to Cabo da Roca in Portugal), and its name, like that of Finistère in France, derives from Finisterrae in Latin which literally means Land's End.
Cape Finisterre has a notable lighthouse on it and nearby is the seaside town of Fisterra.
The pilgrimage to Finisterre
Cape Finisterre is the final destination for many pilgrims on the Way of St. James, the pilgrimage to the shrine of the apostle Saint James the Great in the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela. Cape Finisterre is about a 90km walk from Santiago de Compostela.
The origin of the pilgrimage to Finisterre is not certain but it is believed to date from pre-Christian times and Finisterre's status as the edge of the world. The tradition continued in medieval times where hospitals were established to cater for pilgrims along the route from Santiago de Compostela to Finisterre.
Some pilgrims continue on to Muxia a day's walk away.
Maritime history
Because it is a prominent landfall on the route from northern Europe to the Mediterranean, several Battles of Cape Finisterre have been fought nearby, and the coast has been the site of numerous shipwrecks and founderings, including that of the British ironclad HMS Captain, with nearly 500 lives, in 1870.
Additionally, laws governing the colonies of the British Empire (including the 1766 amendment to the Sugar Act of 1764) used Cape Finisterre as indicative of the latitude past which certain goods could not be shipped north directly between British colonies. For instance, it was forbidden for sugar cane to be shipped directly from Jamaica to Nova Scotia, as such a transaction crossed through this latitude. Instead, the laws required that the sugar cane be shipped first from Jamaica to England, where it would be re-exported to Nova Scotia.
External links
Catholic pilgrimage sites | Way of St. James | Geography of Galicia | Headlands of Spain | Peninsulas of Spain
Kap Finisterre | Cabo Finisterre | Kapp Finisterre | Kap Finisterre
Side Note: Edouardo Michelin, CEO of Michelin Group (tire manufacturer) died off the coast of Cape Finisterre in a fishing accident on May 26, 2006.
"Cape Finisterre"