Cape Bojador - Historical Significance

Historical Significance

The Spanish interest in Western Africa in desertic coast of Sahara was the result of fishing activities carried out from the Canary Islands by Spanish fishers.

Spaniard fishers were seal fur traders and hunters, fishers and whalers in Sahara coast with several enclaves in Cabo Bojador, Dakhla and Ras Nouadhibou from 1500 to present, extending by West coast of Africa to whaling humpback whales and whale calves, mostly in Cape Verde, and Guinea gulf in Annobon, São Tomé and Príncipe islands just to 1940. These fishing activities have had a negative impact on wildlife causing the disappearance or endangered of many species, it highlighting marine mammals and birds. The earless seal's Mediterranean monk seal (Monachus monachus) former range extended throughout the Northwest Atlantic Africa, Mediterranean and Black Sea, coastlines, including all offshore islands of the Mediterranean, and into the Atlantic and its islands: Canary, Madeira, Ilhas desertas, Porto Santo... as far west as the Azores. Vagrants could be found as far south as Gambia and the Cape Verde islands, and as far north as continental Portugal and Atlantic France.

The discovery of a passable route around Cape Bojador, in 1434, by the Portuguese mariner Gil Eanes was considered a major breakthrough for European explorers and traders en route to Africa and later to India. Eanes had made a previous attempt in 1433 which resulted in failure, but tried again under orders of Prince Henry the Navigator, who first sent him in 1424. He was successful after the second expedition. The disappearance of numerous European vessels that had made prior attempts to round the Cape despite its violent seas, led some to suggest the presence of sea monsters. The region's coastal areas quickly became a very important area for Portuguese traders, whose first delivery of African slaves to Lisbon occurred in 1434. The mythic importance of the cape for Portugal was captured in Fernando Pessoa's early 20th century work "Mensagem." In famous stanzas from this longer poem Pessoa wrote of the enormous costs of the Portuguese explorations to the nation. Capturing the symbolic importance to the nation of rounding Cape Bojador, Pessoa wrote: "Who wants to pass beyond Bojador, Must also pass beyond pain." (Quem quer passar além do Bojador, Tem que passar além da dor.)

The reason for the fearsome reputation of the cape is not immediately obvious from maps, where it appears as the southwestern point of a slight hump in the coastline, bounded at its other end by Cabo Falso Bojador, ten nautical miles to the northeast. Nor does what is said in the Sailing Directions sound terribly formidable: "Cabo Falso Bojador is formed by several tall sand dunes. ... A rocky shoal, with a least depth of 4.8m, extends up to 3 miles N of the cape. A rocky patch, with a least depth of 8m, lies about 2 miles W of the cape. The coast between Cabo Falso Bojador and Cabo Bojador, 10 miles SW, consists of a sandy beach fringed by rocks. Clumps of scrub top the sand dunes which stand about 0.5 mile inland of this beach. Heavy breakers have been observed along this coast at all times. Cabo Bojador, a very low point, is located 9.5 miles SW of Cabo Falso Bojador and is bordered on the S side by black rocks. From the N, the cape appears as a mass of red sand with a gradual slope towards the sea. From the W, the cape is difficult to identify, but from the S its extremity appears as a reef which dries in places and is marked by breakers even in calm weather."

Examining the Pilot Charts for this area, however, it becomes clear that the main concern lies in the changes in winds that occur at about the point at which Cape Bojador is passed in sailing down the coast. It is here that the winds start to blow strongly from the northeast at all seasons. Together with the half-knot set of current down the coast, these conditions would naturally alarm an ignorant and superstitious Medieval mariner used to sailing close to the land and having no knowledge of what lay ahead. In the end it was discovered that by sailing well out to sea—far out of sight of land—a more favorable wind could be picked up.

In addition, this is also believed to be the site where Captain James Riley and the crew of the U.S. brig Commerce, sailing from Connecticut, crashed in 1814. This tragedy is recounted in the historical novel Skeletons on the Zahara, by Dean King, which is set in this region of the African coast. The novel states that any coastal map of Western Sahara is inaccurate because of the ever-changing physical features, due to the harsh conditions of the Sahara. It also mentions that the depth of the water surrounding Cape Boujdour is deceptively shallow, and the color of the sand underneath the water is a "fearful sight".

Sailors' fears were founded in what they saw, and the phenomena witnessed by the sailors of those days can be seen today. Any ship that has to pass those places makes sure to give a wide berth in order to avoid accidents. Cape Bojador and its surrounding coast extends into the sea in the form of an underwater reef, and, when the waves break after crashing into unseen gullies, the water spouts furiously into high foamy clouds that look like steam, even on calm days. The sea next to the Cape, and for approximately 3 miles seaward from the coast, is no more than two metres deep. Fish are abundant in the area, and shoals of sardines rise to the surface during the feeding times of larger fish. When this happens, the sea seems to bubble violently as if boiling, and, observed from a distance, the hissing sound produced by the fish flicking their tails on the water's surface adds to the impression. The stifling air wafted westerly on lazy breezes from the desert heightens the impression of extreme temperature, while the desert dust helps to create a mysterious darkness. Worse, the ferrous rocks make compass needles whirl erratically. Given the real dangers, it is no wonder mariners of old, many of whom also claimed to know some seasoned sea-dog who had sighted an imaginary sea creature at this very location, were afraid to approach this infamous cape.