The Story Behind the Cape of Good Hope
Long before European sailors charted these waters, the Cape Peninsula was inhabited by pastoralist Khoikhoi and hunter-gatherer San peoples who called the peninsula Hoerikwaggo ('Mountain in the Sea') and the region Hui !Gabe. In 1488, Portuguese navigator Bartolomeu Dias became the first European to round the headland. Fighting fierce Atlantic gales, he named it Cabo das Tormentas (Cape of Storms). King John II of Portugal later renamed it Cabo da Boa Esperança (Cape of Good Hope) to signify the great optimism of discovering a direct ocean trading route to India.
Sailing around the Cape of Good Hope was notorious among seafarers for century-spanning maritime hazards. Gale-force winds and treacherous reefs caused dozens of tragic shipwrecks, giving birth to the legend of the Flying Dutchman ghost ship. In philately, the Cape of Good Hope is globally famous for issuing the world's very first triangular postage stamps in 1853 and rare Victorian revenue stamps, highly prized by collectors today.
Disambiguation Note: If you are searching for 'Cape of Good Hope Warwick' or the 'Cape of Good Hope pub Warwick menu', that refers to the historic waterside public house located on Lowsonford / Saltisford Canal in Warwick, England—not the natural cape reserve in South Africa!
