Cape of Good Hope

Houlong Cape of good hope is located at the commanding height of the coastal hills. There are many power windmills. From a high position, you can see the beauty of several kilometers of harbor and the endless ocean of rising tide, falling tide and surging white waves. The view of sunset at the Cape of good hope is more spectacular and charming.

Cape of Good Hope

Cape of good hope (Portuguese: cabo Da boa esperan à a, English Cape of good hope) means "Cape of good hope". It is a very famous Cape in Southwest Africa, located at 34 ° 21 ′ 25 ″ s, 18 ° 29 ′ 51 ″ E. It is 52 kilometers north of Cape Town, the Republic of South Africa. Because of many storms and rough waves, it was originally called "storm corner".

In 1939, it became a nature reserve, 2 kilometers east of the Cape of good hope, with a lighthouse.

Cape of good hope is the eastern channel for Western explorers to lead to wealth, so it is renamed Cape of good hope. Before the Suez Canal was opened to navigation, ships between Asia and Europe passed through Cape of good hope. Large oil tankers cannot enter the Suez Canal and still need to take this route.

The Cape of good hope is often mistaken for the southernmost tip of the African continent. However, the southernmost tip of Africa is the Cape of Argus, which is about 150 km east southeast of the Cape and looks across the Gulf of forrs.

Cape of good hope is located at the confluence of the warm mogales current from the Indian Ocean and the cold Benguela current from Antarctic waters. The strong westerly jet waves are constantly rising all year round. In addition to the damage of storms, there are also "killing waves" here. The front part of the wave is like a cliff, and the back part is like a slow hillside. The wave height is generally 15-20 meters. It frequently appears in winter, and sometimes adds the rotating waves caused by the polar wind. When the two kinds of waves are superimposed together, the sea condition is worse, and there is a strong coastal current. When waves and currents meet, the whole sea rolls like a pot. Ships sailing here often suffer, so the Cape of good hope has become the most dangerous navigation area in the world.

The origin of the name

The origin of the name "Cape of good hope" has many interpretations. There are two common sayings: one is that after returning to Lisbon in December 1488, DIAS, the explorer of the kingdom of Portugal, told Joao II about the "storm horn". Joao II thought that if he bypassed the Cape, he would have a chance to reach his dream of India, so he changed the name of "storm horn" to "Cape of good hope"; the other is that after da Gama returned from India with a full load of money, At that time, the Portuguese king changed the name of "storm Cape" to "Cape of good hope" to show that bypassing the Cape brought good luck.

Exploration and discovery

Background of the expedition

In 1000, Europe began to change greatly. One of the main reasons was the religious war known as the crusade. Roman Catholics in Europe want to drive Muslims out of today's Middle East. The Crusade launched by the Holy See began in 1096 and lasted for about 200 years. The emergence of European troops in the Middle East has promoted the development of trade.

Trade led to the rise of towns, but also created a large number of wealthy European businessmen. The strength of European countries is growing, they set up the army and government, relying on taxpayers to pay taxes to maintain. By the 15th century, European countries were ready to explore.

The Portuguese were the first to act. In 1400, they wanted to control the spice trade with the East. European businessmen wanted to go beyond the middlemen of Venice and Arabia and do business directly with the East. If they can go directly to Asia by sea to buy these goods, they can greatly increase their profits. The Portuguese expedition was initiated by Prince Henry, the son of King John I. He loved sailing and exploration and was known as Henry the navigator. Prince Henry hunted experts around the world for scientific research. He also built an observatory to observe the stars. Portuguese explorers have been to the west coast of Africa, hoping to find a way to India and East Asia. They finally reached the southernmost tip of the African continent, the Cape of good hope.

The first expedition

In August 1487, the Portuguese navigator Bartolomeu DIAS led an expedition from Lisbon under the command of Portuguese king Joao II to explore the route to India around the southernmost tip of the African continent, looking for a sea passage to the Oriental "Golden Paradise" described by Marco Polo. When the fleet sailed to the waters at the junction of the Atlantic Ocean and the Indian Ocean, the sea was windy and rough, which almost destroyed the whole fleet. Finally, the huge waves pushed the surviving ships to an unnamed Cape, and the fleet survived. Dias named this place "storm corner". He thought that as long as he turned to continue sailing, he could reach India, but the fleet ran out of ammunition and had to return to Portugal.

In January 1488, DIAS's fleet first followed the route of previous navigators to Elmina in Ghana, then passed the estuary of Congo and Cape cross, and arrived at ludretz, which is now Namibian.

In February 1488, the fleet finally sailed into a bay rich in vegetation. The crew also saw the indigenous black people herding cattle and sheep there. Diash named it Herder's Bay (morsel Bay on the east coast of the Republic of South Africa). Dias wanted to continue eastward along the coastline, but the exhausted crew were eager to return, so DIAS ordered to return.

On their way home, they passed the Cape of good hope again on a fine day. Describing this exciting moment, the Portuguese historian Baros wrote: "the crew were staring at this magnificent promontory, which had been hidden for centuries. They not only found a sudden Cape, but also found a new world Dias named it "storm corner" according to his experience.

Keep exploring

In November 1497, another Portuguese explorer, da Gama, led his fleet to successfully sail into the Indian Ocean through the Cape of good hope. On November 27, da Gama's fleet once again bypassed the Cape of good hope and arrived at kalikut, an important town on the west coast of India, on May 20, 1498. After many hardships, da Gama returned to Lisbon around September 1, 1499. Full of gold and silk back to Portugal. King John II of Portugal changed the name of "storm horn" to "Cape of good hope", and since then, Cape of good hope has become a coastal guide for Europeans to enter the Indian Ocean. The Cape of good hope sea area is full of strong winds and waves almost all the year round, and "killing waves" often appear. The weak waves are 5m-6m high, and the strong waves are more than 15m high. The waves are like cliffs, and the wave back is like a slow hillside. Countless sea going ships are attacked by them, which is one of the most dangerous sea navigation areas in the world.

In 1500, DIAS, the father of Cape of good hope, sailed to Cape of good hope again, but this time he was buried in a huge wave. Nowadays, there are few big waves in the Cape of good hope, but sometimes there is fog, even blocking the light from the lighthouse. Cape Town authorities have built a new, larger lighthouse closer to the coast, marking its distance from the world's famous cities.

lighthouse

In 1849, a lighthouse was set up in the Cape of good hope. Because the Cape of good hope was often foggy, it could not play its role as a lighthouse very well. In 1919, it was abandoned and refitted into a viewing platform, but it also made the best use of everything.

Famous routes

Cape of good hope route: West Asia (Abadan, etc., passing through the Strait of Hormuz), East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia - Indian Ocean - East Africa (Dar es Salaam) - channel of Mozambique - Cape of good hope (Cape Town) - Atlantic Ocean - West Africa (Dallol) - western Europe. Large ships with a capacity of more than 250000 tons cannot pass through the Suez Canal, so they need to bypass the Cape of good hope at the southern end of Africa.

Cause of formation

South Africa's Cape of good hope and its adjacent waters have always been the main channel between the Indian Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean. With the increasing investment of large tonnage bulk carriers and liquid cargo carriers, the navigation density here is increasing day by day. In view of the needs of navigation and shipping, the weather and sea conditions in this area have also been widely concerned by the navigators. In its publications, the world-famous Swedish essert mapping company described 40-50 ° s as a strong wind belt. The Cape of good hope, located at 35 ° south latitude, is just adjacent to the westerly belt and is the direct victim of bad weather.

From 2000 to 2001, the company made more than four voyages in this area, and made a general survey of its meteorological and sea state changes.

It has a lot to do with the location of the Cape of good hope. In the middle latitudes of the southern hemisphere, only the Cape of good hope in Africa, Cape Horn in South America, the southern coast of Australia and the South Island of New Zealand are located here. Other areas are almost surrounded by the southern waters of the three oceans, forming a closed hydrosphere, commonly known as the Southern Ocean, where westerly winds blow hard all year round and storms occur frequently. In summer, the westerly wind roars, and in winter, it is even colder. The perennial westerly wind tames the sea water to run around the earth from west to East, forming the famous "westerly drift".

Climatic characteristics

The following passage is a thrilling and thrilling description of the place by a sailor who often sails in this voyage: "the dark clouds are dense and continuous. There are few blue sky, stars and moons. The westerly wind blows hard all day long, and the swirling clouds fly eastward. The roaring waves on the sea collide with the ship's side from time to time, causing waves

Chinese PinYin : Hao Wang Jiao