The mid-15th century marked the beginning of the age of exploration. Seafaring expeditions in search of riches of the East and West ignited a battle of first claims. The Spanish and Portuguese were the most active during this time. It was the edict of Price Henry the Navigator and later King John II of Portugal that led to the discovery of the sea route to the bounty of spices and silk of India by way of the rounding of the Cape of Good Hope of present-day South Africa. Bartolomeu Dias was the first to round the Cape in 1488 though he didn’t make it far. Eleven years later Vasco de Gama successfully reached India, though not without grave losses.

Four ships set sail from Portugal with Vasco de Gama leading this voyage. As the armada reached the Cape, violent storms appeared and de Gama claimed that “an immense shape materialized in the night air, grotesque and enormous stature with heavy jowls, and an unkempt beard.” Two ships and more than half of his men were lost at this point and De Gama cried out to this mythological being, stating his intentions and asking permission to pass. The giant vanished, the storms receded, and a clear path of passage appeared. It is believed today that this being, known as the Adamastor, continues to protect the Cape from the unwanted. The Adamastor represents the perilous dangers that explorers have faced trying to abide in an area not wishing to be tamed. The Portuguese aptly named this southerly point – Cabo das Tormentas – or “Cape of Storms.”