Scholars of
classical antiquity disagreed whether the Atlantic was connected to the Indian Ocean. There are anecdotes about circumnavigation of Africa in ancient times; according to
Herodotus, a
Phoenician expedition commissioned by Egyptian king
Necho II completed a voyage from the Red Sea to the Nile delta around 600 BC.
Eudoxus of Cyzicus explored the West African coast, but was forced to return.
Ptolemy's world map, on which the geographic knowledge of medieval Europe was founded, displays the oceans as separated from each other, with Ptolemy conjecturing on the existence of a land bridge between Africa and India.
Discovery In the
late Middle Ages, the
spice trade from India and the
Silk Road from China were of economic importance, but the 1453
fall of Constantinople disrupted trade, and gave the Europeans incentives to find a sea route. Portuguese explorer
Diogo Cão explored the African coast south to present-day
Namibia, and
Bartolomeu Dias found the
Cape of Good Hope in 1488.
Vasco da Gama headed an expedition which led to the
Portuguese discovery of the sea route to India in 1498, and a series of expeditions known as the
Carreira da Índia. Since then, the Cape Route has been in use.
Christopher Columbus sought to find a westward sea route to the
Indian subcontinent, but instead found the way to the
Americas. These expeditions marked the beginning of the
Age of Discovery, in which European explorers charted the world's oceans.
Use during Age of Sail The Cape Route was used by European East India Companies. In the 17th century, during the beginnings of
colonialism, Caribbean pirates followed the
Pirate Round; a parallel route from the
Caribbean across the south Atlantic, to the
Indian Ocean. The European
colonization of Africa was before the late 19th century mostly limited to a few coastal outposts, to support the Cape Route. The
Dutch East India Company founded the
Dutch Cape Colony as a layover port on the way to the
Dutch East Indies in Southeast Asia. The
Brouwer Route was an extension of the Cape Route across the Indian Ocean to Indonesia. The
Clipper Route is a route along the
Roaring Forties between Europe and the island of
Australia.
Suez Canal The Suez Canal opened in November 1869, allowing a shortcut between the Atlantic and the Indian Ocean. Because of the prevailing winds at Suez, the canal is less suitable for sailing boats, so steamships got a competitive advantage when the canal opened. While the Cape Route remained useful for
clippers for some decades, the opening of the canal was the beginning of the end of the Cape Route, as well as the Age of Sail as a whole. Nowadays, the route around the Cape remains popular in
yacht racing. The maximum ship size for the Suez Canal are referred to as
Suezmax.
Capesize ships are those too large for the Suez Canal, which need to use the Cape Route between the Atlantic and the Indian Ocean. The 2015 inauguration of the New Suez Canal raised the Suezmax dimensions, and allowed larger ships. Thereby, the Cape Route became even less important, although it still is an alternative secondary route if the Suez Canal is somehow disrupted (for example, during the
2021 Suez Canal obstruction), or to avoid paying fees for crossing the canal if it is economically advantageous to do so. The journey can take up to two weeks longer for modern ships than a direct route via the Suez. ==See also==