Cape Boujdour

Cape Boujador (in Arabic, رأس بوجدور ra's Būŷadūr) is a prominent cape on the North African Atlantic coast, located on the northern coast of the Sahara Western, south-southeast of the Canary Islands. The city Boujdour is located in it.

History

The first known European navigator who managed to surpass it was the Portuguese sailor Gil Eanes in 1434, on his fifteenth expedition, under the auspices of Prince Henry the Navigator. The disappearance of many European ships that sailed through the area ^{[citation needed]} had given rise to myths such as the existence of sea monsters and the impossibility of passing the Cape Bojador to the south.

The main concern in cabotage voyages resided in the changes in the winds that occur in the area near Cape Bojador, where they begin to blow strongly from the northeast in all seasons, pushing the ships inevitably towards the south, without possibility of return. On the other hand, the sea currents flow northwards, also forming enormous sand banks in such a way that the depth of the sea five kilometers from the coast only reaches two meters. This caused ships to run aground on these banks and, in many cases, not be able to return.

Finally, Gil Eanes managed to pass the so-called "Cape of Fear" moving away from the coast, which allowed him to continue advancing towards the south, also discovering that there were more favorable winds. The trade winds, blowing clockwise, would allow sailors to direct their ships back to the north and thus return to their starting point.

This fact allowed the Portuguese, starting in 1434, to open the way to new expeditions, first to the west coast of Africa and then to India. In 1455, Pope Nicholas V granted Portugal, through the bull Romanus Pontifex, exclusive ownership of all lands and seas in the regions extending "from the Capes of Bojador and Cape Não." /i> throughout all of Guinea and beyond to the southern shore.

Navigation through these waters was a source of dispute between the Portuguese and Castilians until, with the signing of the Treaty of Alcáçovas in 1479, the distribution of the territories discovered by both kingdoms in the Atlantic Ocean was agreed. Portugal maintained control over its possessions of Guinea, the Gold Coast, Madeira, the Azores, Flores, and the Cape Verde Islands. Castile was recognized as sovereign over the Canary Islands. Cape Bojador is not mentioned in the text of this treaty although it is assumed that before and after the coasts of Western Sahara have had the presence of Spanish sailors and fishermen.

In 1884 Spain declared the coastal area south of Cape Bojador as a protectorate under its sovereignty. After 1912 the cape remained entirely in Spanish Saharan territory. Spain withdrew in 1975, and after the Madrid Tripartite Agreement, Morocco tried to gain control over the area, leading to disputes between Morocco and Algeria, for claiming it by the Polisario Front, the organization that proclaimed the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic in 1976..