Baia dos Tigres
Baia dos Tigres | ||
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Baia dos Tigres (Tiger Bay) on a historical map from 1900 |
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Waters | Atlantic Ocean | |
Land mass | African plate | |
Geographical location | 16 ° 36 '2 " S , 11 ° 43' 34" E | |
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width | approx. 10 km | |
Islands | Ilha dos Tigres |
The Baia dos Tigres ( German Tiger Bay ; English Tiger Bay or Great Fish Bay ) is a bay in the Atlantic Ocean on the coast of Angola .
geography
The bay was previously 37 kilometers long, at its widest point almost 10 kilometers wide and opened to the north to the open sea. In the south it was closed by a narrow headland , which prevented the Benguela Current from penetrating there. In 1962 the headland broke through and made the Ilha dos Tigres the only sand island in front of the 2000 kilometer long Namib desert .
history
The bay was first mentioned around 1485/86 by Diogo Cão on his third trip to the African coast on behalf of King Joao II. Sometimes the island of Ilha dos Tigres is named like that, as well as one of the former settlements and fishing ports on the east coast of the island.
Even before the Portuguese colonial era, the bay was a regular hiding place for international piracy on the west coast of Africa.
After the collapse of the Portuguese colonial empire in the mid-1970s and the associated loss of efficient controls in this maritime district, the bay became an “El Dorado” of criminal activity. The smuggling of ivory flourished and the fish-rich area became a focus of fish poaching .
today
The landscapes on the island and the mainland that surround the bay are characterized by sand dunes and shallow lagoons that are home to countless birds and various marine life. The Baia dos Tigres has the least known coastal wetland on the west coast of Africa, with 25 species of swampy birds.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Baia dos Tigres at Bimbe.Blog.PT
- ↑ XORTEX eBusiness GmbH: Baio-Dos Tigres - Afro Trotter. Retrieved July 20, 2017 .