Battle of Salt River: Difference between revisions

The loss was a notable military embarrassment for the Portuguese and led to stricter enforcement of an earlier policy of theirs not to land ships in the region. It also earned the Khoikhoi clans of the region a reputation for ferocity amoungstamongst European nations. The Portuguese directive not to land ships in the region put them at a long-term disadvantage with the [[Dutch East India Company|Dutch]], [[East India Company|English]] and [[French East India Company|French]] when competing for trade and influence in the Indian Ocean, as their competitors did land on the coast for replenishment.<ref name=":2" />

The battle has been sporadically used as a parable by a number of writers since the 1500s to reflect on moral or political anxieties of their times. Contemporary Portuguese writers such as Correa, [[João de Barros]] and [[Luís de Camões]], and later British writers such as [[Thomas Herbert (seaman)|Thomas Herbert]] and [[William Julius Mickle]]<ref name=":0" />, use the battle to reflect on the “tensions and synergies between military conquest and commercial pursuit”.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Ulrich|first=Nicole|date=2013-08-01|title=Imagining the Cape colony: History, literature, and the South African nation|url=https://doi.org/10.1080/18125441.2013.828416|journal=Scrutiny2|volume=18|issue=2|pages=85–89|doi=10.1080/18125441.2013.828416|s2cid=147514961|issn=1812-5441}}</ref> In recent times, former South African President [[Thabo Mbeki]] has portrayed the battle to reflect on what he viewed as the “first moment of black anti-colonial struggle”.<ref name=":0" />