Wind-swept sands of Namibia’s Skeleton Coast, long notorious for shipwrecks, have revealed a maritime treasure buried for nearly five centuries. In 2008, miners exploring the restricted Sperrgebiet region stumbled upon fragments of wood and metal. What initially seemed like ordinary debris soon unfolded into a historical revelation: the remains of the ‘Bom Jesus’, a 16th-century Portuguese vessel that vanished in 1533.

The discovery has been hailed as one of Africa’s most significant underwater archaeological finds. The Bom Jesus, long sought by historians and treasure hunters, carried a fortune that underscores the opulence and global reach of the Portuguese Empire at the height of its maritime dominance.

Recovered from beneath layers of sand, nearly 2,000 gold coins were found alongsid

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