Possible Visits From Africa
The Portuguese explorers discovered the islands in 1456 and described the islands as uninhabited. However, given the prevailing winds and ocean currents in the region, the islands may well have been visited by Moors or Wolof, Serer, or perhaps Lebou fishermen from the Guinea (region) coast. Folklore suggests that the islands may have been visited by Arabs, centuries before the arrival of the Europeans. The Portuguese writer and historian Jaime Cortesão (1884—1960) reported a story that Arabs were known to have visited an island which they referred to as "Aulil" or "Ulil" where they took salt from naturally occurring salinas. Some believe they may have been referring to Sal Island.
Read more about this topic: History Of Cape Verde
Famous quotes containing the words visits and/or africa:
“I suggested a doubt, that if I were to reside in London, the exquisite zest with which I relished it in occasional visits might go off, and I might grow tired of it. JOHNSON. “ ... No, Sir, when a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford.””
—Samuel Johnson (1709–1784)
“In Africa I had indeed found a sufficiently frightful kind of loneliness but the isolation of this American ant heap was even more shattering.”
—Louis-Ferdinand Céline (1894–1961)