Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
continent, later known as the Cape of Good Hope. It was not until 10 years later that
da Gama pushed the voyage yet further by sailing northward along the eastern coast
of Africa, reaching in April, 1498 Malindi in Kenya (mentioned in Chinese records
as Malin or Maliniti). Then, starting out from Malindi, da Gama began the last and
most important section of his voyage by crossing the Indian Ocean, ending up in
Kozhikode in May of the same year.
1
In this manner was “discovered” the much-vaunted new sea-route to the East. To
the Asian and African peoples, however, the route was by no means new, so that any
claim to have “discovered” it is out of the question. It can be confi dently established
that every section of the route had been traversed by Asian and African navigators
and explicitly recorded in historical texts.
Let us fi rst take up the route along the African coast. We know from the distin-
guished Greek historian Herodotus (484-425 B.C.) that the fi rst cruise around the
African continent dates back to about 600 B.C. In trying to show that the African
continent (then called Libya), besides being joined to Asia by a narrow isthmus, was
completely surrounded by the ocean, he cited as evidence the following facts. In
600 B.C. or there-abouts, a fl eet manned by Phoenicians, who were experienced
sailors, left the Red Sea under the orders of the Egyptian Pharaoh Necos, and made
its way southward into the open ocean. It took them 2 years to return safely to
Egypt, having fi nished the voyage in accordance with Necos' plan which necessi-
tated their entering the Mediterranean Sea via the Strait of Gibralter.
2
That was an
astonishing feat in the history of navigation.
3
We may suppose that in rounding the
southernmost point of the African continent and sailing up northward, da Gama was
not aware that he was following a route which had already been discovered by
Phoenician sailors more than 2,000 years ago, the only difference being that he was
sailing in a direction opposite to that of his predecessors.
Indeed, besides that remarkable voyage made by the Phoenicians, history knows
of other instances that men had sailed southward along the eastern coast of Africa,
rounded the cape and entered the Atlantic Ocean. In the 1420s, or about 70 years
before da Gamma's eastern voyage, an Arabian navigator had taken exactly that
route.
4
The Arabs had then established extensive oversea trade along the eastern
coast of Africa, which penetrated as far southward as Mozambique, and it was from
1
J. N. L. Baker,
A History of Geographical Discovery and Exploration
, London, 1931, pp. 63-70.
2
Herodotus,
The History of Herodotus
, translated by G. Rawlingson, New York, 1946,
pp. 216-217.
3
The account of Herodotus has raised much controversy, but of late there has been a tendency to
belief. See J. Oliver Thomson,
History of Ancient Geography
, Cambridge, 1948, pp. 71-73. J. N.
L. Baker points out that “the geographical conditions do not make such a feat impossible.”
op. cit.
,
p. 23.
4
World History
(in Russian), vol. 4, M. M. Smirin (chief editor), Moscow, 1958, p. 88. G. Ferrand
cited the identifi cation of D. Couto and maintained that the Java had sailed as far as the southern
tip of the African continent long before. See Gahriel Ferrand, An Investigation of the Voyage in
Kunlun and China North Sea (in Chinese), translated by Feng Chengjun, Zhonghua Book
Company, 1957, p. 66.
