Cape of Good Hope

Why in news?

• With the Suez canal blocked, merchant shipping companies may have to use the longer and more expensive Cape route, which goes around Cape of Good hope.

About Cape of Good Hope:

• The Cape of Good Hope is a place near the far south end of Africa, where the Atlantic Ocean and the Indian Ocean meet.
• It is a well known area for ships that pass in the sea between southern Africa and Antarctica.
• It is in the Western Cape Province of South Africa and forms part of the Table Mountain National Reserve.
• The first person from Europe to see it was the Portuguese man Bartolomeu Dias. He saw it in 1488 and named it the "Cape of Storms".

About the Cape route:

• The Cape Route is a shipping route from the European coast of the Atlantic Ocean to Asia's coast of the Indian Ocean passing by the Cape of Good Hope and Cape Agulhas at the southern edge of Africa.
• The first recorded completion of the route was made in 1498 by Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama.
• The route became partly obsolete as the Suez Canal opened in 1869.

Prelims Question

Cape of good hope is located in:
(a)South Africa
(b)Namibia
(c)Argentina
(d)Kenya

Answer to the Prelims Question