The Cape of Good Hope is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of South Africa. It was a popular tourist attraction and being the extreme eastern tip of the Africa continent, it was a major milestone in the attempts by the Portuguese to establish direct trade relations with the Far East.As one of the great capes of the South Atlantic Ocean, the Cape of Good Hope has been of special significance to sailors for many years and is widely referred to by them simply as "the Cape." It is a major milestone on the clipper route followed by clipper ships to the Far East and Australia, and still followed by several offshore yacht races.The term Cape of Good Hope was also used to indicate the early Cape Colony established in 1652, in the vicinity of the Cape Peninsula. Just prior to the formation of the Union of South Africa, the term referred to the entire region that was to become the Cape Province in 1910.
