Thursday, 1st May 2008 (421 views)

A shipwreck containing "thousands" of Spanish and Portuguese coins that could date back to the 15th century has been discovered off the coast of Namibia in south-east Africa.

According to the International Herald Tribune, the ship could have belonged to some of the earliest explorers of the continent, who would have been contemporaries and perhaps even rivals of famous figures like Vasco de Gama and Christopher Columbus.

In addition to the haul of gold coins, the galleon was also found to contain Spanish cannons forged from bronze and around 50 elephant tusks.

The sunken vessel was discovered by Nemdeb Diamond, a company partly owned by the government of Namibia.

A spokesman for the firm told the National Post: "If the experts' assessments are correct, the shipwreck could date back to the late 1400s or early 1500s, making it a discovery of global significance."

The early 15th century is often characterised as the Age of Discovery, as European ships from Portugal, Spain, England, France and the Netherlands traversed the world in search of trade, gold and resources.

 

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