This image depicts the Battle of Salt River which took place on this day in 1510 between the ǃUriǁʼaekua (Goringhaiqua) & the Portuguese. Some historians have cited attempted kidnapping of ǃUriǁʼaekua children that sparked the battle. It ended in defeat of the Portuguese. 
There's always been weariness Khoe communities had with the presence of the Portuguese in the Cape, apparently. Historians specifically note somewhere around 1503 as the first instance of said weariness when the Portuguese led by Antonio De Saldanha became the first to enter what
Is now known as Cape Town. They hiked up a HoeriKwaggo ( the Khoe name for Mountain in the Sea) and named it Tabao De Cabo (Table Mountain). Cape Town is where they would get fresh water by request to the existing community, the ǃUriǁʼaekua.
Fast forward to 1510 when Fransisco D'Almeida are in Cape Town having arrived there from India. I've already mentioned possible kidnapping as one of the reasons. Other records note a fight took place between sailors and some ǃUriǁʼaekua, & D'Almeida decided to retaliate.
In the end the Portuguese lost. D'Almeida was among those killed on this day. And the result of this battle was no Europeans sailed near Cape Town for the next 142 years. The refreshment stop between the Indian & Atlantic Oceans would be Robben Island.
Legend has it that as D'Almeida boarded his ship the day he and his crew left India for Cape Town, a seer predicted he wouldn't make it past the Cape of Good Hope.
Though this battle is barely commemorated, back then news of the Portuguese defeat spread in Europe. It earned the ǃUriǁʼaekua a reputation for being a fierce clan that wasn't to be messed with.
The cattle in the image I used were trained to be shileds in battle.
The cattle in the image I used were trained to be shileds in battle.
Just want to add, what is now known to be Cape Town was originally (according to oral history accounts) named //Hui !Gaeb meaning "Where clouds gather".
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