Padrão

A Padrão (English: "Pattern"; Plural: "Padrões") was a large stone cross inscribed with the coat of arms of Portugal that was placed as part of a land claim by numerous Portuguese explorers during the Portuguese Age of Discovery. Notable explorers known to have erected "Padrões" were Diogo Cão, Bartolomeu Dias and Vasco da Gama.

The Sociedade de Geografia de Lisboa (Portuguese Society of Geography) managed to restore in the 20th century three "Padrões" erected by Diogo Cão and one by Bartolomeu Dias. At Diaz Cross on the coast of South Africa's Eastern Cape province there is a replica padrão on a spectacular outcrop (False Island); it marks the site of Dias's most easterly landfall after becoming the first European navigator to round the Cape of Good Hope. The original padrão is now about 100km further north in the East London Museum.

Indonesia National Museum hosts the Luso Sundanese padrão erected by Henrique Leme in 1522 in Sunda Kalapa port (present day Tugu sub-district of Jakarta).

ee also

*Padrão dos Descobrimentos