An Astonishing Discovery: The 18th Century Portuguese Shipwreck Looted by Pirates Unearthed in Madagascar

A Portuguese ship found in Madagascar

Golden age of piracy, many wrecks of ships dating from the 16th to 18th centuries are found in the shallows. The latest, the Senhora Do Cabo. This Portuguese ship was discovered at the bottom of a small port on the island of Nosy Boraha, off the northeast coast of Madagascar after LiveScience.

He transported goods from India, before being the target of Pirates in 1721. Under the governance of Olivier “The Buzzard” Levasseur, famous French pirate captain, a group of brigands then attacked and captured, near the French island of Reunion, the ship which contained the outgoing Portuguese viceroy and the archbishop of Goa, the center of a Portuguese colony located on west coast of India according to the archives.

“A breathtaking treasure”

The ship was identified and analyzed by Brandon Clifford and his colleague Mark Agostini, both archaeologists at Brownla University in the United States. The treasure, which contained gold bars and chests filled with pearls, was qualified “Breathtaking, even according to pirate standards”.

Many religious artefacts made in Goa have also been discovered in the wreckage. The researchers thus got their hands on a representative Mary, the mother of Jesus, a fragment of crucifix and an ivory plate bearing the inscription “INRI” in gold letters. This inscription meant “Jesus of Nazareth, king of the Jews” in Latin, according to Christian Gospels. Clifford and Agostini, estimates that the cargo alone could be worth more than $ 138 million in current currency.

An important colonial empire

In the 18th century, Portugal was known to be a vast colonial empire. Indeed, the Portuguese have control over Brazil, which was known to be one of the countries that had the most gold in the world, which has greatly participated in the enrichment of the European country.

They were also present in Africa, with the colonies in Angola and Mozambique. Finally, Portugal controlled many colonies in India (Goa, Daman and Diu), China (Macau) or even Eastern Timor, a small country in Southeast Asia today called Timor-Leste. A colonial power which will gradually weaken with the independence of Brazil in 1822 and the wars which broke out in their African colonies.

Source: LiveSciencece