The coin that could tear up Australian history

[Brás Garcia de Mascarenhas]

Scientists probe African copper piece found on a beach which could show Portugal reached the continent 250 years before Captain Cook

• The coin discovered last year could be 1,000 years old and come from Tanzania
• It has been suggested that Portuguese seafarers brought it to Australia in 1515
• That would make them probably the first Europeans to reach Australian land

Australia may have been visited by Portuguese seafarers more than 250 years before Captain James Cook arrived on the continent.

That is one theory being examined by scientists in Australia as they try to trace the origins of an African coin which was found on a beach last year.

The copper artefact, which is one of several similar finds, is believed to be a Kilwa coin from what is now Tanzania and could date back almost 1,000 years.

But how the coin ended up on the Wessel Islands off northern Australia is not yet clear.

One possible explanation is that the Portuguese, who had raided Kilwa in 1505, left the coin behind on their travels in south-east Asia.

Portuguese seafarers were in East Timor by 1515 and could potentially have reached the Australian mainland.

That would make them probably the first Europeans to reach Australia.

It would also mean they were there some 250 years before Captain James Cook laid a British claim to the continent.

Speaking to the Guardian, archaeologist Mike Hermes said: 'The Portuguese were in Timor in 1514, 1515 - to think they didn't go three more days east with the monsoon wind is ludicrous.'

Discussing the coin, he said: 'We've weighed and measured it, and it's pretty much a dead ringer for a Kilwa coin. And if it is, well, that could change everything.'

Mr Hermes found the coin lying on a beach on the Wessel Islands last year, saying it had no intrinsic value.

The Wessel Islands are the only place outside Kilwa and the Arabian peninsula where such coins have been found, Mr Hermes said.

Mr Hermes was building on the work of Royal Australian Air Force radar operator Maurie Isenberg, who had found five Kilwa coins there in 1944.

Mr Isenberg also found four Dutch coins of a far lower value.

He kept the African coins hidden away for decades until they were finally donated to a Sydney museum in 1983.

They have prompted a wave of speculation about whether Portugal was the first European power to reach Australia.

It has also been suggested that Kilwa traders could have brought the coins from Africa themselves, or been shipwrecked while trying to do so.

The coins may also simply have been washed ashore from elsewhere.

Scientists in Australia are now examining the new coin in a bid to discover its secrets.

Researchers have said that a sea route from Kilwa in east Africa to Oman and then onto India, Malaysia and Indonesia was well established by the 1500s.

In 2013 professor Ian McIntosh said rock art discovered on the Wessel Islands includes one image which appears to show a European sailing vessel.

The earliest European contacts with Australia have long been shrouded in mystery.

Source: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...n-history.html

[arkas]

Okay fine, the Portuguese can come and take over from now.

[The Lawspeaker]

They could easily have fallen off a boat and washed ashore. This, in itself, doesn't say much.

[arkas]

They could easily have fallen off a boat and washed ashore. This, in itself, doesn't say much.

In Australia, it's already a well known fact and taught in schools that your people were the first Europeans in Australia, before the British. A Dutch navigator came in 1606, I think up until the late 90s they used to teach kids the British were the first.

[The Lawspeaker]

In Australia, it's already a well known fact and taught in schools that your people were the first Europeans in Australia, before the British. A Dutch navigator came in 1606, I think up until the late 90s they used to teach kids the British were the first.

Quite a few Dutchmen washed ashore as well (for instance the survivors of the Batavia) as it was directly under the route used by us to go to Indonesia.

[Brás Garcia de Mascarenhas]

In Australia, it's already a well known fact and taught in schools that your people were the first Europeans in Australia, before the British. A Dutch navigator came in 1606, I think up until the late 90s they used to teach kids the British were the first.

The Portuguese were in the region one hundred years before the Dutch. By 1515 we had already reached East Timor. It is unlikely that we did not set foot in Australia. Historical cartographic evidence like the Dieppe maps seem to support that.

A Tanzanian coin from Kilwa which the Portuguese raided in 1505 washing ashore in Australia is unlikely to me.

[Vojnik]

Doesn't show anything different to what we already knew. People indeed came before the British settled. Including the Portuguese. The British were just the ones who decided to remain.