Using Narratives to Interpret Pre-Colonial Inhabitants of South West Coast of Africa in the Times of the Wrecking of the Bom Jesus Shipwreck

This paper analyses the chances of survival among shipwreck survivors who endured the initial wrecking of the Bom Jesus shipwreck in 1533 within Southern Africa. The paper takes a comparative historic analysis cantered on the pre-colonial historic relationship between the European sea farers and the indigenous people of South Western Africa in terms of trade, social interactions etc, and shipwrecked survivors narratives in Southern Africa helped to reconstruct the factors at play in ensuring survival or death of the sailors in such situations.

Keywords: Bom Jesus, Carreira da India, Indian Route, Large Portuguese Galleon Ship in Service, Meaning Good Jesus, Narratives, Naus, Ship Christened Name, Written Diaries or Storyline About an Episode