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The Portuguese planted giant navigational beacons ("padrões") on the coasts where no previous navigators had been. Each beacon corresponded to a precise latitude so pilots could check their coordinates when they saw the beacon from the sea off the coast. | |
Artist's drawing of a navigational beacon at the Congo River. |
Artist's 1502 drawing showing where the beacons were placed along the West Coast of Africa. The top beacon is at the Congo River, the bottom at the Cape of Good Hope. |
Unlike eighteenth- and nineteenth-century lighthouses the beacons did not have a light nor did they warn of danger. Instead they were navigational beacons indicating latitude. However in southern Africa many present day lighthouses are located where these padrões used to be. |
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