Divers have discovered a 400-year-old shipwreck believed to have sunk off Portugal waters, after returning from India laden with spices. Archaeologists believe this is the greatest history finding of all times in Portugal and ‘the discovery of the decade’ from a heritage perspective globally.
In and around the shipwreck, 40 feet (12 meters) below the surface, divers found spices, nine bronze cannons engraved with the Portuguese coat of arms, Chinese ceramics and cowry shells, a type of currency used to trade slaves during the colonial era, Reuters reported.
The vessel is believed to have sunk somewhen between 1575 and 1625, when Portugal’s spice trade with India was at its peak. Found on 3 September off the coast of Cascais, near Lisbon, the shipwreck and its objects were ‘very well-preserved’, according to the project director Jorge Freire.
In 1994, Portuguese ship ‘Our Lady of the Martyrs’ was discovered near Fort of Sao Juliao da Barra, a military defense complex near Cascais.
The wreck was found as part of a 10-year-old archaeological project supported by the municipal council of Cascais, the navy, the Portuguese government and Nova University of Lisbon.
