It is said that the Portuguese Empire came to a fall partially because of all the cargo-filled shipwrecks that line the South African shores. A hundred years before Jan van Riebeeck landed at the Cape, the survivors of the first of these shipwrecks were left with no choice but to walk to the nearest watering port in Mozambique. This event led to the earliest documented prolonged stay of Europeans in Southern Africa. Many shipwrecks after that left hundreds of people stranded on our coast during the Age of Discovery. Some of these survivors decided to stay and were integrated by the local communities, while others made for Mozambique or the Cape. Many died along the way. Their degraded bones are now a part of our land, of us.
Despite the fact that these early shipwrecks left a great impact on South African genetics, culture and language, as well as popular European opinion of Africa and Africans at the time, they are merely glossed over in our history books. No fewer than nine of these ancient wreck sites can be traced between Port Elizabeth (Gqeberha) and Port Shepstone, most within range of a day trip from holiday destinations along the coast. The stranded passengers on every ship made different decisions from their predecessors, which led to different outcomes. Their heart-rending stories are about a forgotten age, courage in the face of adversity and tribulation, and the indomitable human spirit.
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