Cape Cross (

Afrikaans Afrikaans is a West Germanic languages, West Germanic language spoken in South Africa, Namibia and to a lesser extent Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe and also Argentina where there is a group in Sarmiento, Chubut, Sarmiento that speaks the Pat ...

: ''Kaap Kruis'';

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: ''Kreuzkap''; Portuguese: ''Cabo da Cruz'') is a headland in the South Atlantic in

Skeleton Coast The Skeleton Coast is the northern part of the Atlantic coast of Namibia. Immediately south of Angola, it stretches from the Kunene River to the Swakop River, although the name is sometimes used to describe the entire Namib Desert coast. The in ...

, western

Namibia Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country on the west coast of Southern Africa. Its borders include the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south; in the no ...

History

In 1484, Portuguese navigator and explorer

Diogo Cão Diogo Cão (; – 1486), also known as Diogo Cam, was a Portuguese mariner and one of the most notable explorers of the fifteenth century. He made two voyages along the west coast of Africa in the 1480s, exploring the Congo River and the coasts ...

was ordered by King

John II of Portugal John II (; ; 3 May 1455 – 25 October 1495), called the Perfect Prince (), was King of Portugal from 1481 until his death in 1495, and also for a brief time in 1477. He is known for reestablishing the power of the Portuguese monarchy, reinvigo ...

to advance south into undiscovered regions along the west coast of Africa, as part of the search for a sea route to

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

and the

Spice Islands In the culinary arts, a spice is any seed, fruit, root, bark, or other plant substance in a form primarily used for flavoring or coloring food. Spices are distinguished from herbs, which are the leaves, flowers, or stems of plants used for ...

. While doing so, he was to choose some particularly salient points and claim them for Portugal by erecting stone crosses called '' padrões''. During his first voyage, thought to have taken place in 1482, he reached a place he called Monte Negro, now called Cabo de Santa Maria, roughly 150 km southwest of today's

Benguela Benguela (; Umbundu: Luombaka) is a city in western Angola, capital of Benguela Province. Benguela is one of Angola's most populous cities with a population of 555,124 in the city and 561,775 in the municipality, at the 2014 census. History Por ...

, Angola. During his second voyage, in 1484–1486, Cão reached Cape Cross in January 1486, being the first European to visit this area. He is known to have erected two ''padrões'' in the areas beyond his first voyage, one in Monte Negro, and the second at Cape Cross. The current name of the place is derived from this ''padrão''. What can today be found at Cape Cross are two replicas of that first cross.

''Padrão''

The original Cape Cross ''padrão'' was removed in 1893 by

Corvette captain Corvette captain is a rank in many European and Latin American navies which theoretically corresponds to command of a corvette (small warship). The equivalent rank is lieutenant commander in the Royal Navy and other Commonwealth navies, the U ...

Gottlieb Becker, commander of the

unprotected cruiser An unprotected cruiser was a type of naval warship that was in use during the early 1870s Victorian era, Victorian or Pre-dreadnought battleship, pre-dreadnought era (about 1880 to 1905). The name was meant to distinguish these ships from “p ...

of the

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, and taken to

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

. The cross is now held in the

Deutsches Historisches Museum The German Historical Museum (), known by the acronym DHM, is a museum in Berlin, Germany devoted to German history. It describes itself as a place of "enlightenment and understanding of the shared history of Germans and Europeans". It is often ...

. A simple wooden cross was put in its place. The wooden cross was replaced two years later by a stone replica. At the end of the 20th century, thanks to private donations, another cross, more similar to the original one, was erected at the cape along with the first replica. The inscription on the padrão reads, in English translation:

Seal reserve

Cape Cross is a

protected area Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural or cultural values. Protected areas are those areas in which human presence or the exploitation of natural resources (e.g. firewood ...

owned by the government of Namibia under the name Cape Cross Seal Reserve. The reserve is the home of one of the largest colonies of Cape fur seals in the world. Cape Cross is one of two main sites in Namibia (the other is in

Lüderitz Lüderitz is a town in the ǁKaras Region of southern Namibia. It lies on one of the least hospitable coasts in Africa. It is a port developed around Robert Harbour and Shark Island. Lüderitz had a population of 16,125 people in 2023. Th ...

) where seals are culled, partly for selling their hides and partly for protecting the fish stock. The economic impact of seals on the fish resources is controversial: while a government-initiated study found that seal colonies consume more fish than the entire fishing industry can catch, animal protection society Seal Alert South Africa estimated less than 0.3% losses to commercial fisheries.

References

External links

Republic of Namibia Ministry of Environment and Tourism: Cape Cross Seal ReserveThe Seals of Nam
{{Authority control Landforms of Namibia Nature reserves in Namibia Maritime history of South Africa Maritime history of Portugal Portuguese exploration in the Age of Discovery Headlands of Africa