Source: The Barrier of Fear: Portugal’s Bermuda Triangle – YouTube
31,247 views Apr 28, 2021
Cape Bojador, The Barrier of Fear, was the end of the known world, beyond which was only superstition and, as the Portuguese explorers would soon discover, the footprints of unknown native peoples. This stunningly executed historical documentary-travelogue traces Portuguese seafaring exploration of the uncharted northwestern African coastline between 1415 and 1460.
The video–the first in a four-volume series–combines citations from original travel logs, rare maps and illustrations, architectural sites, interviews with historians, and vivid film footage shot both on land and at sea. Footage from both restored and modern vessels reveals areas of coastline that look the same now as they must have half a millennium ago. The video also contains spectacular inland footage of the different provisioning locales. In each of these, local historians describe the effects of Portuguese contact, tracing their communities’ history from the first contact to the modern day. The result is a fascinating study of a critical era in maritime history and simultaneously an outstanding travelogue of Madeira and coastal Morocco, Western Sahara, Senegal, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, and the Bijagos Islands.