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In 1500: The power of the Portuguese nation begins to decline.European nations pursuing the sea route rather than the land route to India.
1503:Antonio de Saldanha, leading a Portuguese squadron, enters Table Bay.They are the first Europeans to climb Table Mountain, which they name Taboa do Cabo (the Table Cape) on account of its shape.
1510:Thereafter, Portuguese traders tend to bypass the Cape itself, relying on Robben Island for fresh meat and water. -
1554:The Portuguese ship São Bento is wrecked north of the Great Fish River on its return from the East.
1564:An account of the shipwreck of the São Bento by mariner Manuel de Mesquita Perestrelo is published in Portugal
1575-1576: Perestrelo explores the south and south-east coast of South Africa on a voyage for this purpose.
1580: Francis Drake, rounds the Cape on his voyage round the world in his quest to reach India for the English Crown. -
1590:The English and the Dutch begin to call regularly at Table Bay on their way to and from Asia.
1591:The English navigator, James Lancaster, barters sheep in the Bay of Saldaha (called Table Bay after 1601) from the Khoi-Khoi.
1595:4 August, Four ships under Cornelis de Houtman reach São Bras. This is the first contact of the Dutch with the coast of Southern Africa. -
The Dutch Colonized South Africa. After that they became there own country.