Guardafui

thumb| Cape Guardafui (Somali: Raas Caseyr, Arabic: راس عسير) is a headland in Somalia, in the federal state of Puntland. It forms the geographical apex of the Horn of Africa. Its shore at 51°27'52"E is the second easternmost point on mainland Africa after Ras Hafun. It is named after the offshore oceanic strait of the Guardafui Channel. Quotes This entrance [to the Red Sea] begins to shew itself, or take a shape between two capes; the one on the continent of Africa, the other on the peninsula of Arabia. That on the African side is a high land, or cape, formed by a chain of mountains, which run out in a point far into the sea. The Portuguese, or Venetians, the first Christian traders in these parts, have called it Gardefui, which has no signification in any language. But in that part of the country where it is situated, it is called Gardefan and means the Straits of Burial, the reason of which will be seen afterwards. ... After getting within the Straits, the channel is divided into two, by the island of Perim, otherwise called Mehun. ... The coast upon the left hand is part of the kingdom of Adel, and, on the right, that of Arabia Felix. ... The passage on the Arabian shore, though the narrowest and shallowest of the two, is that most frequently sailed through, and especially in the night; because, if you do not round the south-point of the island, as near as possible, in attempting to enter the broad one, but are going large with the wind favourable, you fall in with a great number of low small islands, where there is danger. James Bruce, Travels to Discover the Source of the Nile (1790), vol. 1, p. 315 O Cabo vê já Aromata chamado,E agora Guardafú, dos moradores,Onde começa a boca do affamadoMar Roxo, que do fundo toma as cores. The Cape which Antients 'Aromatic' clepebehold, yclept by Moderns Guardafú;where opes the Red Sea mouth, so wide and deep,the Sea whose ruddy bed lends blushing hue. Luís de Camões, Os Lusíadas, x. 97 (tr. R. F. Burton, 1880) Other The outlines of Capo Guardafui and Ras Shenaghef are similar, but the latter is 3,041 feet high. United States. Defense Mapping Agency. Hydrographic Center, 1976 But Socotra lies much nearer to Cape Guardafui than to any point of the Arabian coast. Royal Geographical Society (Great Britain), 1891 We have the name from the Portuguese, and it has been alleged to have been so called by them as meaning, 'Take you heed!' (Gardez-vous, in fact.) But this is etymology of the species that so confidently derives 'Bombay' from Boa Bahia. Bruce, gives dogmatically an interpretation which is equally unfounded. We must look to history, and not to the 'moral consciousness' of anybody. Hobson-Johnson (1866) Category:Geography of Asia Category:Geography of Africa Category:Somalia