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Cross erected by Bartholomew Dias

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Bartholomew Dias

The original cross is currently housed in the Library of the University of the Witwatersrand, and was declared a National Monument under old NMC legislation on 6 May 1936.

The Dias Cross Memorial is a Provincial Heritage Site at Kwaaihoek, Alexandria in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa.
A minor road turns sharply off to the right from the main road that leads from Alexandria to Bushman’s River Mouth; it passes Boknes and comes to an end near the coast. About a kilometre further east from the end of the road, beyond the sand dunes, lies Kwaaihoek, also known as False Island, a high promontory that juts out towards the sea. On top of the headland that extends the furthest Bartholomew Diaz, the famous Portuguese navigator and discoverer of the Cape, erected a cross or padrao here, on 12th March, 1488. A replica of the cross has been erected on the same bleak, exposed spot.
References

Government Gazette of South Africa