Padrão

A Padrão (Portuguese for: pattern, plural: Padrões ) is a stone pillar bearing the arms of Portugal and a cross on top. On the columns was in Latin and Portuguese, the year of installation, the name of the sailor and the reigning king.

The Portuguese captains of the discovery period set these from 1482 to the shores reached at prominent locations such as capes or estuaries to document Portugal's sovereignty claims over the discovered territories. The first explorers who set these columns was, Diogo Cão, who discovered in 1482 the mouth of the Congo. Original columns were discovered in Namibia, South Africa and Indonesia.