Note 147 — Chapter XI · THE BRITISH IN AFRICA, II (South and South-Central.)
Reading edition
Discovered by the Portuguese in 1502, its existence was kept secret by them until 1588, when Captain Cavendish returning from a cruise round the world suddenly lighted on it. The Dutch twice seized it and held it each time for a few months in 1665 and 1673. In this last year it was definitely allotted to the East India Company.