“The Sunken Treasures of the ‘Bom Jesus’” of 1533. The Importance of the Freight of the Portuguese Sailing Ship to India for the International History of Trade – Appreciation and Criticism

Abstract

In April 2008 the wreck of a Portuguese merchant ship, the „Bom Jesus“, which sunk on the voyage from Lisbon to India in 1533 at the coast of Namibia, was discovered and excavated. The archaeologist Dieter Noli and the historian Wolfgang Knabe described the sensational find and its importance for the history of trade in early modern times in their monograph “Die versunkenen Schätze der ,Bom Jesus’”. Unfortunately, in particular Knabe’s statements are subject to a number of misjudgements and misinterpretations since he did not sufficiently take into account the historical economic context. This paper aims at correcting some of Knabe’s conclusions and is not only providing information to underline the importance of the discovery for the international history of trade but at the same time incorporates the most important findings into the context of current research.