Monday, September 24, 2018

Alex Carrington- 400 Year Old Shipwreck Discovered

       3 hours ago, an article was written that reported an archaeologists’ discovery of a 400-year-old shipwreck off the coast of Portugal. The archaeologists have stated that this could be the "discovery of a decade". Extremely valuable historical items like spices, ceramics and cannons engraved with Portugal's coat of arms all were found buried under the sand around the wreck.
         The team of archaeologists have a theory that the ship sank while returning from India sometime between 1575 and 1625; this was at the height of Portugal's spice trade with Asia. Further evidence was provided when they discovered Chinese porcelain from the late 16th and early 17th centuries also among the wreck.                                                                                                                                                       
     In the wreckage, historians discovered cowry shells and bronze artillery pieces- a currency used in the slave trade. The transatlantic slave trade began during the 15th century when Portugal, and subsequently other European kingdoms, were finally able to expand overseas and reach Africa. The Portuguese first began to kidnap people from the west coast of Africa and to take those they enslaved back to Europe.
This fascinating article was written to educate the world on the amazing things that linger all around us that we have yet to discover. There’s still so much left for us to find.  

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/abolition/africa_article_01.shtml

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