Page 9 - Bulletin 20 2016

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King João in the year 1488, saw that the coast here turned northwards and north-
eastwards towards Ethiopia under Egypt and on to the gulf of Arabia, which gave
indication and expectation of the discovery of India, called it the ‘Cape of Good
Hope’. ......At this promontory Africa comes to an end in the Ocean, and is divided
(6)
from Asia.... .
Another point of contention that has left the Barros’ account open to question has been the
fact that no tangible evidence of the padrão de São Filipe has ever been found. This has left a
number of armchair historians to question not only if Dias actually erected this landmark but
if so- where exactly on the southern end of the Cape Peninsula or possibly somewhere else on
the greater peninsula. Certainly the earliest map of Portuguese discoveries in the East and
West named after Alberto Cantino [Cantino Map / Planisphere of 1502] displays a padrão at
the Cape of Good Hope but the scale is such that the exact location cannot be pinpointed.

Suggestions have been made that Dias came ashore and more likely erected this padrão at
nearby Buffels Bay in the present reserve where a modern replica (modelled on what the
original padrão is believed to have looked like based on the recovered remains of the padrão
São Gregorio) was erected in 1988 as part of a ceremony held to commemorate the 500 year
anniversary of Dias' arrival at the Cape of Good Hope. Another suggestion has been Hout
Bay or somewhere else along the Atlantic coast of the peninsula from Llandudno to Camps
(7)
Bay . Even Table Bay has been proposed or more specifically, on an eminence that rose
above the historical landing place of Rogge Bay. Buried under land that was reclaimed from
th
th
the sea as part of the greater ‘Foreshore’ development of the late 19 and early 20 centuries
this places this proposed location at what is today the corner of Long and Riebeek Streets in
(8)
Cape Town .

What can be said with certainly is that a padrão, in a word, was intended to be a ‘landmark’
and not tucked away in just any obscure place but rather a place of significance and
prominence - where it would be as visible as possible to passing ships. This being said, surely
the final word in this controversy should go to Professor Eric Axelson who in his lifetime was
Head of the History Department at the University of Cape Town and Research Officer at the
Ernest Oppenheimer Institute for Portuguese Studies, at the University of the Witwatersrand.
Regarded as the foremost expert in South Africa and arguably, internationally on the early
history of the Portuguese in South-East Africa - it was Axelson who located and expertly
excavated and recovered the remains of the padrão de São Gregorio at Kwaaihoek in 1938

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