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Cape Bojador is a headland on the northern coast of Morocco's Western Sahara province, just below latitude 27° North.
It is also known as the "Bulging Cape", and is sometimes spelled "Cape Boujdour". The Cape's name in Arabic is "Abu Khatar", meaning the father of danger.
The discovery of a passable route around Cape Bojador, in 1434, by the Portugese mariner Gil Eanes was considered a major breakthrough for European traders en route to Africa and later to India. Eanes had made a previous attempt in 1433 which resulted in failure, but tried again under orders of Prince Henry the Navigator. Eanes' success was the fifteenth expedition sent by Henry, the first of which was in 1424.
The disappearance of numerous European vessels that made prior attempts, despite its violent seas, to round the Cape led some to suggest the presence of sea monsters.
The region's coastal areas quickly became a very important area for the Portugese traders, whose first delivery of African slaves to Lisbon occurred in 1434.
Spain declared itself a protectorate over the coastline of Cape Bojador in 1884, and a land dispute over posession of the Cape continued until it was left in Morocco's hands in the 1990's.
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