[meteorite-list] Fw: Namibia: So Much Potential But Not EnoughFunds (Hoba Meteorite)

[Jose Campos]

Hi Sterling and List,

The first europeans to sail along the coast of present day Namibia, was the 
portuguese sea navigator Diogo Cam in 1483; he erected on the coast a 
padrão (a limestone column with the portuguese coat of arms and an engraved 
inscription and a small cross on top). In fact, on another trip further 
south, he erected another one, I think in 1485. One of these padrão has been 
kept in a german museum for quite a number of years. Next, was Bartolomeu 
Dias, who also placed aonother padrão at Dias Point, he went on sailing much 
further down the east african coast and rounding the Cape to which then, he 
called it the Cape of  Storms, but on his return voyage back to Lisbon, King 
Dom João II of Portugal changed the name to Cape of Good Hope, as it is know 
to this day. The Namibian coast (previously South West Africa), become known 
as the Skeleton Coast because of the many shipwrecks that happened on that 
feared stretch of coast land, with  sandbanks, dangerous currents and fog. 
In those days of sea discovery, there were no known maps and they knew 
nothing about winds and sea currents. No GPS either! :)

NAMIBIA has, I think, 13 know meteorites, the most famous ones are the HOBA 
~60 Tons and the GIBEON (several large masses) of which I have seen the 880 
kg one (among others), at the South African Museum, Cape Town  in 1982.
José Campos
Portugal


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Sterling K. Webb" <sterling_k_webb at sbcglobal.net>
To: "Meteorite List" <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Thursday, January 18, 2007 9:28 PM
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Namibia: So Much Potential But Not EnoughFunds 
(Hoba Meteorite)


> Hi, Dave, List,
>
>    Somebody's doing some good PR for Namibia.
> Take the name "Namibia." If you look at the nice
> Wikipedia article on Namibia, the facts are all there:
> one of the lowest population densities in the world,
> one of the most rain-deprived countries in the world
> (like none), one of the least blessed by economic
> resources, a sad history, and so forth. But nowhere
> in the article will you find the name that "Namibia"
> went by for centuries: THE SKELETON COAST.
>
>    Getting people to stop calling you "The Skeleton
> Coast" is a good job of PR. There's just something
> about the name "The Skeleton Coast" that puts people
> off, don't you think?
>
>
> Sterling K. Webb
> ---------------------------------------------------------------
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Dave Freeman mjwy" <dfreeman at fascination.com>
> To: "Ron Baalke" <baalke at zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>
> Cc: "Meteorite Mailing List" <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
> Sent: Thursday, January 18, 2007 1:53 PM
> Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Namibia: So Much Potential But Not Enough
> Funds (Hoba Meteorite)
>
>
> Sounds like a great tourist destination, a big rock, alcoholics and drug
> addicts, crime, town in debt up to their ears, danger of electricity amd
> water being turned off, high unemployment, and a large military presence.
> Well pack my bags!
> Poorly thought out release by Mr. Kangueehi, maybe the spoof and phish
> people will move to Namibia for the new center of commerce.
> Dave F.
>
>
>
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