The Cradle Days of Natal (1497-1845)

On Christmas Day 1497 Vasco da Gama's fleet of three small vessels plunged slowly along the coast of South-East Africa in search of "Prester John and the King of Calicut" by command of Dom Manoel, King of Portugal, afterwards called "The Fortunate." Dr Manoel believed that in the dark heart of Africa or India there was a mighty Christian State whose monarch bore the dynastic name of Prester John. He was not in this respect original. His ancestors had for centuries nursed the same belief with a praiseworthy insistence, for which the Infidel Turk was in the main responsible. Dom Manoel believed that in the dark heart of Africa or India there was a mighty Christian State whose monarch bore the dynastic name of Prester John. He was not in this respect original. His ancestors had for centuries nursed the same belief with a praiseworthy insistence, for which the Infidel Turk was in the main responsible.