A mountain, two oceans and a checkpoint

Start with geography

The turn at the bottom of a continent

Before the Suez Canal, a ship sailing between Europe and the Indian Ocean had to go around Africa. That made the southern tip of the continent a fixed point on one of the world's busiest routes — not a destination, a corner you have to turn.

Turning it takes weeks, and crews arrive short of fresh water and food. A place at the corner with a sheltered bay, a reliable stream off a large mountain, and land to grow vegetables is worth a great deal to somebody else's shipping. That is the whole founding logic of the settlement: it was built to supply passing ships.

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