The pass has been used since colonial times as the most direct link between the
Pacific seaport of
Valparaiso and the
Atlantic port of
Buenos Aires, avoiding the 11-day, journey by sea, via
Cape Horn, between the two ports. In 1817 it was used by the
Army of the Andes to cross the Andes, in the campaign to free Chile from the
Spanish Empire. Reaching a maximum elevation of about , the pass runs between the peaks of the
Aconcagua to the north and the
Tupungato to the south. In the 1990s it was the most used pass in all of South America. A railroad tunnel built by the now defunct
Transandine Railway (1910–1982) runs underneath. The
Pan-American Highway runs through the nearby
Cristo Redentor Tunnel (in Spanish:
Paso Internacional Cristo Redentor) and a monument,
Christ the Redeemer of the Andes (
"Cristo Redentor de los Andes" in Spanish) is located at the pass. ==See also==