Cape of Good Hope

The Cape of Good Hope is a Cape located in South Africa, at the end of the peninsula located at the south of the Ville of the Cape and which is closed in the west by the " Distort Baie" ( Valsbaai or False Bay in English).

History

The Cape of Good Hope was discovered by Europeans in 1488. During its exploration along the African coast, the fleet of ships ordered by Bartolomeu Dias was carried towards the east before going up towards north not to discover no ground there. The explorer concluded from it that it had passed the most southern point of the continent. He continued until the rìo C Infante (current Great Fish to rivet ), then made half-turn under the pressure of his crew, and returned while skirting the coasts. At this point in time he discovered the Cape of Good Hope which he baptized initially course of the Storms because of the winds which prevail there. It is in Portugal that it is renamed Cape of Good Hope by the king Jean II of Portugal.

Bartolomeu Dias set up there a cross of marble found in 1497 during the first forwarding of Vasco de Gama, in which Dias took part.

In 1502, during a new directed forwarding this time by Pedro Alvares Cabral, a storm causes the shipwreck of four vessels. Bartolomeo Dias, the discoverer of the Cape, disappeared on one from them.

Geography

The Cape of Good Hope is located at the junction between two very different maritime currents, a cold current " Benguela" in the west and a hot current " Agulhas" in the east. It is not the most southern point of Africa.

The point more in the south of this continent is the Cape of the Needles more in south-east.

The peninsula became natural reserve in 1938 and was built-in the Cape Peninsula National Park in 1998. In 2004 the park was famous in Table Mountain National Park . It extends on 7770 hectares and has 40 km of coasts between Schuster' S Bay in the west and Smitswinkel in the east.

The plate ends in three headlands: Cape of Good Hope, Wraps Maclear and Cape Not.

Fauna and flora

The area has more than 250 species of birds, of the Zèbre S, tortoise S and Antilope S. In the two oceans and on the coasts one can see many animals: Whale S, Seal S, Dolphin S, penguins etc There is also many baboons of which it is necessary to be wary because they attack any person who has food.

The Cape of Good Hope belongs to the Cape Floristic Kingdom and has nearly 1100 types of plants, in particular splendid protéas (family of the Protéacées).

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