Bartolomeu Dias | Portuguese explorer | Britannica.com Portuguese explorer Alternative Titles: Bartholomew Dias, Bartolomeu Dias de Novais, Bartolomeu Diaz Bartolomeu Dias Ferdinand Magellan Bartolomeu Dias, in full Bartolomeu Dias de Novais, Bartolomeu also spelled Bartholomew, Dias also spelled Diaz (born c. 1450—died May 29, 1500, at sea, near Cape of Good Hope), Portuguese navigator and explorer who led the first European expedition to round the Cape of Good Hope (1488), opening the sea route to Asia via the Atlantic and Indian oceans. He is usually considered to be the greatest of the Portuguese pioneers who explored the Atlantic during the 15th century. Portuguese navigator and explorer Bartolomeu Dias. Photos.com/Thinkstock Bartolomeu Dias, from a Portuguese postage stamp, 1945 The Granger Collection, New York Early life and prelude to the expedition Almost nothing is known of Dias’s early life.

His supposed descent from one of Prince Henry the Navigator ’s pilots is unproved, and his rank was the comparatively modest one of squire of the royal household. In 1474 King Afonso V entrusted his son, Prince John (later John II ), with the supervision of Portugal ’s trade with Guinea and the exploration of the western coast of Africa . John sought to close the area to foreign shipping and after his accession in 1481 ordered new voyages of discovery to ascertain the southern limit of the African continent. The navigators were given stone pillars (padrões) to stake the claims of the Portuguese crown. Thus, one of them, Diogo Cão , reached the Congo and sailed down the coast of Angola to Cape Santa Maria at 13°26′ S, where he planted one of John’s markers. Cão was ennobled and rewarded and sailed again: that time he left a marker at 15°40′ S and another at Cape Cross, continuing to 22°10′ S. Royal hopes that he would reach the Indian Ocean were disappointed, and nothing more is heard of Cão. John II entrusted command of a new expedition to Dias.

In 1486 rumour arose of a great ruler, the Ogané, far to the east, who was identified with the legendary Christian ruler Prester John . John II then sent Pêro da Covilhã and one Afonso Paiva overland to locate India and Abyssinia and ordered Dias to find the southern limit of Africa. The voyage Dias’s fleet consisted of three ships: his own São Cristóvão, the São Pantaleão under his associate João Infante, and a supply ship under Dias’s brother Pêro (Diogo in some sources). The company included some of the leading pilots of the day, among them Pêro de Alenquer and João de Santiago, who earlier had sailed with Cão. A 16th-century historian, João de Barros , places Dias’s departure in August 1486 and says that he was away 16 months and 17 days, but since two other contemporaries, Duarte Pacheco Pereira and Christopher Columbus , put his return in December 1488, it is now usually supposed that he left in August 1487.

Britannica Stories Scientists Ponder Menopause in Killer Whales Dias passed Cão’s marker, reaching the “Land of St. Barbara” on December 4, Walvis Bay on December 8, and the Gulf of St. Stephen (Elizabeth Bay) on December 26. After January 6, 1488, he was prevented by storms from proceeding along the coast and sailed south out of sight of land for several days. When he again turned to port, no land appeared, and it was only on sailing north that he sighted land on February 3. He had thus rounded the Cape without having seen it. He called the spot Angra de São Brás (Bay of St. Blaise , whose feast day it was) or the Bay of Cowherds, from the people he found there. Dias’s black companions were unable to understand those people, who fled but later returned to attack the Portuguese. The expedition went on to Angra da Roca (present-day Algoa Bay). The crew was unwilling to continue, and Dias recorded the opinions of all his officers, who were unanimously in favour of returning.

They agreed to go on for a few days, reaching Rio do Infante, named after the pilot of São Pantaleão; this is the present Great Fish (Groot-Vis) River . Human Exploration: From Earth to Space Faced with strong currents, Dias turned back. He sighted the cape itself in May. Barros says that he named it Cape of Storms and that John II renamed it Cape of Good Hope . Duarte Pacheco, however, attributes the present name to Dias himself, and that is likely, since Pacheco joined Dias at the island of Príncipe. Little is known of the return journey except that Dias touched at Príncipe, the Rio do Resgate (in the present Liberia ), and the fortified trading post of Mina. One of Dias’s markers, at Padrão de São Gregório, was retrieved from False Island, about 30 miles (48 km) short of the Great Fish River , in 1938. Another marker once stood at the western end of the Gulf of St. Christopher, since renamed Dias Point. Later life Dias returned to Portugal in December 1488. Nothing is known of Dias’s reception by John II.

Dias was later employed to supervise the construction of the São Gabriel and the São Raphael vessels used for Vasco da Gama ’s 1497 expedition to India. He was allowed to sail with da Gama’s expedition only as far as the Cape Verde Islands . Dias later sailed with Pedro Álvares Cabral , part of the expedition that landed on the coast of Brazil on April 22, 1500—Cabral is generally credited as the first European to do so—while en route to India. The next month Dias died after his ship was lost at sea near the Cape of Good Hope during a storm. Bartholomew Diaz-Bartolomeu Dias AlbernasII Map of 1673 Discussion on Place Names: The voyages of exploration were costly, both financially and on men's lives. The mariner's charts and log-books (rutters) containing navigational information such as wind directions, positions of stars, the latitudes of identifiable land marks, the colour of the sea, and of dangerous shoals and currents, were all classified as being important state secrets. The business of espionage and purchase of secret documents was just as active in those days as it is today.

A major blow to history was experienced in the Lisbon Earthquake of 1755 and subsequent fires that ravaged the city and destroyed the great libraries that housed many of the most important records of the voyages of exploration. The earliest known of chart following the rounding of Africa by Bartholomew Diaz is the 1489 map of German cartographer Heinrich Hammer, known as the Henrichus Martellus Germanus Map, which is presently held in the British Library. The Coastline of West-Africa and the Cape were taken from tracings that had secretly been made and then sold on. Interestingly the map incorrectly shows the Cape of Good Hope as being at about 45ï¿½ S whereas Bartholomew Diaz had shown that the Cape as being at latitude 34ï¿½ 22'S. A study of maps of this period also reveals that certain places were often referred to by more than one name. Was it a strategy of the early Portuguese cartographers to publish an amount of disinformation that would help blanket their true findings, and spread confusion and mystery to those who would spy on them?

Present day Luderitz has been referred to as: Golfo de Santo Antonio, Angra da Voltas, Angra dos Ilheus, Angra da Sao Christavï¿½o, Angra Pequena. Some of these names are also duplicates of names given to other locations, a good example of which is Angra das Voltas (bay of Tacks), a bay in which Bartholomew Diaz sheltered after meeting strong head winds. He stayed at anchor in this bay for 5 days, and that it was here that the two negresses were put ashore. But, this could be challenged. The reasoning being that Luderitz and its relative distant surroundings are totally barren and waterless. In those times it would have been quite an uninviting place. The bays would have been useful to pull into for very temporary shelter, but there would be no other reason for a ship on a voyage of exploration the stay there a day longer than needs demanded. Further south the banks of the Orange River and its outlet to the sea are verdant and would have been abundant with a great variety of game and other animals.

It would have been the first suitable location, south of Angola for the fleet to anchor and re-supply with fresh water and meat. Plus Luderitz lays at latitude 26ï¿½ 38'S. The Joï¿½o de Barros chronicle of the expedition tells us that the bay at Angra das Voltas was recorded as being 29ï¿½S. The mouth of the present day Orange River lays at approximate latitude 28ï¿½ 55'S. The section of map shown above left is taken from the Joï¿½o Teixeira Albernas II Atlas published in 1680 clearly shows Angra Pequena as being north of Angra Das Voltas which is indicated as being the mouth of a river. 04 Dec 1487: Terra da Santa Barbera: Bartholomew Diaz arrived at the mouth of a dry river where a thick forest of reeds indicated that there must be water in the vicinity. Going ashore they discovered a lagoon which though the water was brackish could be drunk.

He noted that the place was abundant with wild life, and is possible this was the mouth of the Swakop River Praia das Sardinhas: The sea was abundant with fish and the next bay to be named was most probably Walvis Bay 08 Dec 1487: Golfo da Santa Maria das Concepcoes: Conception Bay 23 Dec 1487: Golfo da Santa Vitoria: This bay was later renamed Hottentots Bay 26 Dec 1487: Golfo da Santa Estavao: This bay was later renamed Elizabeth Bay After a stay of five day at Angra das Voltas, Bartholomew Diaz with his two caravels set a course that took them further out into the South Atlantic. They would have seen the Olifants River in Present Day Namaqualand and it is likely that they named this River Infanta where strong head winds caused them to reef the mainsails at half mast. For thirteen days they beat against the wind, and when it abated they took a course east where they believed they would find land.

But, after some days of seeing just open sea they turned north to search for land and on 3 February 1488 saw for the first time the east coast of Africa at Cape Vacca. They briefly rested in a bay they named Bahia dos Vaqueiros, near to Mossel Bay. Dias followed the coastline until reaching a small island at 33ï¿½ 45'S where the mariners went ashore and on the instruction Bartomoleu Dias erected a Padrao. They named the island Ilheo da Cruz, now known as Kwaaihoek. The crew were suffering both mentally and physically from the ordeal of the voyage and the rounding of the Cape. Their provisions were getting low and they were a long way from the supply ship. A shore-side meeting was held at which Dias listened to their anxieties. Opinions were that they had achieved the expedition's object, that of rounding Southern Africa, and that they should turn back and head for home. Batholomew Diaz requested a further few short days of exploration of the coastline before turning back to which the men agreed and and signed a resolution to that effect.

They then sailed along the coastline reaching the mouth of a river which they named Infanta (north-east of the Great Fish River) in respect of the Joï¿½o Infante, who commended the second vessel the Sao Pantaleï¿½o. It was here that the fleet about turned and began the long journey home. The Cape of Storms? The ships now sailed along a coastline that they hadn't seen before, having rounded the Cape without having had sight of it. When they did arrive at the Cape of Good Hope they logged the latitude as being latitude 34ï¿½ 22'S on 6 June 1488. They found a sheltered bay and anchored and the crew went ashore where they erected a Padrao at a place they named Sï¿½o Filipe, of where the present day location is unknown and to date no trace of a Padrao has been found. Barros informs us that Dias named it the Cape of Storms and that after the return of the expedition to Portugal that King Jaoa II renamed it the Cape of Good Hope.

However, Duarte Pachero Pereira wrote that he was present at the meeting in Lisbon in December 1488 which was presided over by King Jaoa during which Bartholomew Diaz submitted his detailed report of the voyage and that it was Diaz who first referred to the Cabo de Boa Esperanca (Cape of Good Hope). The latter information now being the accepted. 24 July 1488 the ships anchored in a bay he named Angra da Sao Cristavao (Luderitz). It was here, near to a rocky outcrop, now known as Diaz Point that he erected the last of the three Padroes. The sheltered bay was later renamed Angra-Pequena and finally Luderitz . July 1488 Some nine months after leaving the supply vessel Bartholomeu Dias arrived back at the location, to find only three survivors. Their crew mates having been murdered by the local natives who had raided the supply ship camp. One of the men Fernï¿½o Coloï¿½a, a secretary, was in such poor condition that he died on seeing his comrades arrival. The small supply vessel was also in poor condition.

It's hull suffering from shipworm and encrusted with barnacles. Bartolomeu Dias ordered it to be burned. However, the two remaining ships were able to take on good stocks of provisions needed. Barros account informs us that Diaz stopped on Principe Island, off the coast of now Equatorial Guinea, where they found the survivors of another Portuguese voyage of exploration commanded by Duarte Pacheco Pereira, also a gentleman of the King's household. Their objective had been to explore some of the rivers and establish trade. The commander was found to be very sick and their ship had been lost. Pacheco and the surviving crew returned to Portugal with Diaz. December 1488 after 16 months and 17 days from the initial departure Bartholomew Diaz arrived back in Lisbon. The Pedro de Covhilï¿½ Explorations - A Vital Contribution: Shortly after Bartholomew Diaz had departed from Lisbon in August 1487, King Joï¿½o II of Portugal dispatched two undercover agents who travelled via the Mediterranean route to the east. One was tasked with finding the legendary Prestor John and was reported to have reached as far as Ethiopia where he unfortunately died.

The second, Pedro de Covilhï¿½ was to spy-out the sea routes used by the Arab traders between India and East Africa. De Covilhï¿½ sailed by dhow to Hormuz, the busy port at the mouth of the Persian Gulf which was the crossroad for goods coming from India and the east. He then sailed with Arab traders on the East African trade route as far south as Sofala, which lays about 35km south of Present day Beira in Mozambique, at latitude of 18ï¿½ 15' S. While on these journeys he collected and recorded valuable navigational information, such as the direction of the trade winds and the times of the year to take advantage of them. The geography of the coastlines, of the trading ports, of the safe areas and those of danger. He learned of the Arab slave trade and of the kingdom of the African Emperor Monomotapa and the trade with gold. It was while on his homeward bound journey and having arrived in Cairo that he was met by Portuguese agents who told him that King John wished him to guide two further agents to Hormuz.

Pedro de Covilhï¿½ dispatched his findings in writings to the King and then took the two agents to Hormuz. From there he sailed west to Ethiopia where he carried on his explorations, but became so popular that the local Monarch would not allow him to leave. He settled there and later in 1520 when a Portuguese mission arrived they found Pedro Covilhï¿½ , an eldlery man satisfied to stay and enjoy life where he was. The Missing 14ï¿½ of Latitude: It is thought that it the report of Pedro Covhilï¿½ was delivered to King Joï¿½o II sometime in 1491, and by piecing together the discoveries of both Batholomew Diaz who had achieved latitude 32ï¿½ S by sailing northwards along the east coast of Africa, and Pedro Covilhï¿½ who reached latitude 18ï¿½S by sailing in a southerly direction along the east coast of Africa, there only remained a difference of 14ï¿½ degrees of latitude to be explored and charted.

Sailing on a south to north course, this represents a distance of about 287 leagues (1700km). The Portuguese had proven the route to India and the east via the Cape was viable and began planning their next great voyage that would only be ready by 1497 and would be commanded by Vasco da Gama. Notes: Barros wrote that the two negroes were to be returned to the place they were taken from being the Bay of Tigres, Angola. Of the four negresses. one was left at a place they named Angra do Ilheos, a bay possibly in the Luderitz district as there are several islands along this stretch of coastline. A second negress was put ashore at Angra das Voltas. The third one died, and the fourth was left in a bay at the Islets of Santa Cruz (St Croix). The location at which the supply vessel was left is unknown and still debatable. But, it is probable that it was at Baia dos Tigres in southern Angola. The distance of this bay from Lisbon, and then to Ilheo da Cruz and back are about the same. Therefore this bay is the half way point of the total voyage travelled.

The crew who asked Diaz at Ilheo da Cruz to turn back would have known this at the time. The total voyage time was some 18 months, of which the fleet was nine months away from the supply vessel. Bartolomeu Dias - Explorer - Biography.com Bartolomeu Dias Portuguese explorer Bartolomeu Dias led the first European expedition round the Cape of Good Hope in 1488. IN THESE GROUPS Famous People Who Died on May 29 Synopsis Born in 1450, Bartolomeu Dias was sent by Portuguese King John II to explore the coast of Africa and find a way to the Indian Ocean. Dias departed circa August 1487, rounding the southernmost tip of Africa in January, 1488. The Portuguese (possibly Dias himself) named this point of land the Cape of Good Hope. Dias was lost at sea during another expedition around the Cape in 1500.

An ambitious plan Almost nothing is known about the life of Bartolomeu de Novaes Dias before 1487, except that he was at the court of João II, king of Portugal (1455-1495), and was a superintendent of the royal warehouses. He likely had much more sailing experience than his one recorded stint aboard the warship São Cristóvão. Dias was probably in his mid- to late 30s in 1486 when João appointed him to head an expedition in search of a sea route to India. João was entranced by the legend of Prester John, a mysterious and probably apocryphal 12th-century leader of a nation of Christians somewhere in Africa. João sent out a pair of explorers, Afonso de Paiva (c. 1460-c. 1490) and Pêro da Covilhã (c. 1450-c. 1526), to search overland for the Christian kingdom in Ethiopia.

João also wanted to find a way around the southernmost point of Africa's coastline, so just a few months after dispatching the overland explorers, he sponsored Dias in an African expedition. In August 1487, Dias' trio of ships departed from the port of Lisbon, Portugal. Dias followed the route of 15th-century Portuguese explorer Diogo Cão (c. 1450-c. 1486), who had followed the coast of Africa as far as present-day Cape Cross, Namibia. Dias' cargo included the standard "padrões," the limestone markers used to stake Portuguese claims on the continent. Padrões were planted at the shoreline and served as guideposts to previous Portuguese explorations of the coast. Dias' expedition party included six Africans who had been brought to Portugal by earlier explorers. Dias dropped off the Africans at different ports along the coastline of Africa with supplies of gold and silver and messages of goodwill from the Portuguese to the indigenous people. The last two Africans were left at a place the Portuguese sailors called Angra do Salto, probably in modern Angola, and the expedition's supply ship was left there under guard of nine men.

Exepedition Around South Africa In early January 1488, as Dias' two ships sailed off the coast of South Africa, storms blew them away from the coast. Dias is thought to have ordered a turn to the south of about 28 degrees, probably because he had prior knowledge of southeasterly winds that would take him around the tip of Africa and keep his ships from being dashed on the notoriously rocky shoreline. João and his predecessors had obtained navigational intelligence, including a 1460 map from Venice that showed the Indian Ocean on the other side of Africa. Dias' decision was risky, but it worked. The crew spotted landfall on February 3, 1488, about 300 miles east of present-day Cape of Good Hope. They found a bay they called São Bras (present-day Mossel Bay) and the much warmer waters of the Indian Ocean. From the shoreline, indigenous Khoikhoi pelted Dias' ships with stones until an arrow fired by either Dias or one of his men felled a tribesman. Dias ventured further along the coastline, but his crew was nervous about the dwindling food supplies and urged him to turn back.

As mutiny loomed, Dias appointed a council to decide the matter. The members came to the agreement that they would permit him to sail another three days, then turn back. At Kwaaihoek, in present-day Eastern Cape province, they planted a padrão on March 12, 1488, which marked the easternmost point of Portuguese exploration. On the journey back, Dias observed the southernmost point of Africa, later called Cabo das Agulhas, or Cape of Needles. Dias named the rocky second cape Cabo das Tormentas (Cape of Storms) for the tempestuous storms and strong Atlantic-Antarctic currents that made ship travel so perilous. Back in Angra do Salto, Dias and his crew were aghast to find that only three of the nine men left guarding the food ship had survived repeated attacks by locals; a seventh man died on the journey home. In Lisbon, after 15 months at sea and a journey of nearly 16,000 miles, the returning mariners were met by triumphant crowds.

In a private meeting with the king, however, Dias was forced to explain his failure to meet up with Paiva and Covilhã. Despite his immense achievement, Dias was never again put in a position of authority. João ordered that henceforth, maps would show the new name for Cabo das Tormentas--Cabo da Boa Esperança, or Cape of Good Hope. Advisor to Vasco da Gama Following his expedition, Dias settled for a time in Guinea in West Africa, where Portugal had established a gold-trading site. João's successor, Manuel I (1469-1521), ordered Dias to serve as a shipbuilding consultant for the expedition of Vasco da Gama (c. 1460-1524). Dias sailed with the da Gama expedition as far as the Cape Verde Islands, then returned to Guinea. Da Gama's ships reached their goal of India in May 1498, nearly a decade after Dias' historic trip around the tip of Africa. Afterward, Manuel sent out a massive fleet to India under Pedro Álvares Cabral (c. 1467-c. 1520), and Dias captained four of the ships.

They reached Brazil in March 1500, then headed across the Atlantic toward South Africa and, further ahead, the Indian subcontinent. At the feared Cabo das Tormentas, storms struck the fleet of 13 ships. In May 1500, four of the ships were wrecked, including Dias', with all crew lost at sea. Biography courtesy of History.com Fact Check We strive for accuracy and fairness. If you see something that doesn't look right, contact us ! Citation Information Bartolomeu Dias Facts & Biography | Famous Explorers Occupation: Navigator and explorer Famous For: First European to sail around the southernmost tip of Africa Bartolomeu Dias was a Portuguese explorer . He was the first man to have sailed around the Cape of Good Hope. Dias did not set out on the journeys which made him famous until he was in his thirties. Voyage to the Cape All that is known about Dias’s life before his time as an explorer is that he was in charge of some of King João II’s warehouses. Also, he had only made a single voyage aboard a warship.

Sometime in 1486, however, the king tasked him with leading an expedition to discover a route to India by sea. With a small fleet of three ships, Dias set sail in August of the following year. The party at first followed the route discovered a few years earlier by Diogo Cão, which ended at what is now Namibia. After having stopped at several African ports with gifts of precious metals and assurances of friendship toward the native peoples, Dias’s ships were blown out to sea by a storm. However, he had been given a Venetian map by the king that showed that the Indian Ocean lay to the east of Africa, and this encouraged him to turn south. As the party was heading into entirely unknown territory, Dias was effectively betting his men’s lives on the course change. Yet, in February, 1488, land was sighted. The Southern Tip of Africa Landfall was a few hundred miles east from the Cape, but there was little time to explore as tribesmen attacked with stones. Eventually, one of Dias’s men killed a tribesman, after which resistance ceased. Though Dias wanted to push on along the coastline, their food was running out, and the threat of mutiny hung in the air.

Eventually, an agreement was reached that a maximum three more days of sailing would be allowed. This brought them to Kwaaihoek in the Eastern Cape, which proved to be the eastern extent of their travels. During the return journey, Dias saw the extreme southernmost tip of Africa. He named it the Cape of Storms. He chose the name for the treacherous mixture of strong currents and frequent storms that combined in the area. Upon arriving home, large crowds greeted the explorers when they got to Lisbon. Aftermath Despite Dias’s achievements, the king was unhappy that he had not managed to find Pêro da Covilhã, a secret agent stationed in India. He commanded that the cape the explorer had named should instead be referred to as the Cape of Good Hope. Dias himself, now out of favor, lived for a while in the Portuguese trading center of Guinea. After this, the new king, Manuel I, sent him to oversee the shipbuilding for Vasco da Gama’s expedition. Dias accompanied da Gama as far as Cape Verde, and then returned to Guinea. After the success of da Gama’s voyage, Manuel assembled a large fleet and sent it to India under the command of Pedro Álvares Cabral.

Dias himself was put in charge of four ships, which traveled first to Brazil, reaching it in March 1500. From there, a course was set for South Africa and then India. Dias, however, was never to see the land he had tried for so long to reach. In May, as the ships rounded the Cape, four of the 13 ships were sunk in a storm, with Dias among those who drowned. Famous Explorers Bartholomeu Dias | South African History Online South African History Online Posted by Anonymous (not verified) on People category: Portuguese navigator discovered the Cape of Good Hope in 1488 and maritime explorer First name: 24 May 1500 Lives of Courage Bartholomeu Dias, also called Bartholomew Diaz, was a Portuguese navigator whose discovery in 1488 of the Cape of Good Hope showed Europeans there was a feasible route to India around the storm-driven southern tip of Africa. He also discovered for Europe the south-east trade winds and the westerlies to the west and south of South Africa, thus establishing the wind system for those who sailed after him. King João II of Portugal financed Dias’s expedition.

Dias took part in Cabral's expedition that discovered Brazil, but Dias’s ship sank during a storm. It is very unlikely that Dias was, in fact, the first mariner to round the Cape. The great merchant traders of antiquity Â¾ the Phoenicians, Egyptians, Greeks, Arabs, Chinese and Indians ”” all made journeys down the west and east African coasts, and one expedition went right around the continent. Nevertheless, the voyage of Dias was fraught with consequences, for at the time the search for a passage to the Indies was a move in the great struggle between the Moslem world and Christendom. The epoch-making voyage of Dias not only opened up the sea route to the Indies; it paved the way for contact between Europe, Africa, and the East, greatly extending the Portuguese sphere of influence. Early information about Dias's voyage is limited because all the actual records of his voyage perished when the castle of São Jorge, in which they were housed, burnt down after the Lisbon earthquake of 1755.

However, historians have reconstructed story from chronicles written in the sixteenth century, from near-contemporary maps, and from the stone pillars or padroes which the explorers raised on headlands along the African coast during their voyages, and from old rutters (sailing instructions). The route-book of Duarte Pacheco Pereira has been particularly useful. Pereira wrote the Esmeraldo de Sito Orbis, in which he records his own adventures on the Guinea coast. He wrote from direct experience because Dias rescued him in 1488 on his return voyage after the discovery of the Cape of Good Hope. Dias's squadron of three ships departed from the River Tagus below Lisbon in August 1487. The name of the flagship has not survived, but we do know that Dias’s pilot was Pero de Alenquer. The second caravel was the São Pantaleao, commanded by João Infante and piloted by Alvaro Martins. Diogo Dias, Bartolomeu’s brother, commanded the storeship, a square-rigger. Her pilot was João de Santiago, who had previously accompanied Diogo Cão up the Congo River.

(See Cão, D.) They also carried with them six African hostages who had been taken to Portugal earlier, some by Diogo Cão. They were to be landed at various places on the coast to praise the greatness of the Portuguese and to explain to local chiefs that the Portuguese king wished to establish friendly relations and make contact with Prester John, the legendary Christian king of Ethiopia. The Portuguese king wished them to know that they were seeking a way to India in order to trade. To replenish provisions before voyaging beyond the Congo, the squadron called at São Jorge de Mina, the Portuguese fortress on the Gold Coast. They touched on the barren Namibian coast in December, and on the coast of Angola, they transferred provisions and supplies from the storeship and left it at anchor with a caretaker crew of nine men. Beyond Cape Cross, they sailed close to the coast. It is thought that they reached Golfo da Conceicão (Walvis Bay) on 8 December, where it is likely that they anchored. Sailing southward along the Namaqualand coast, they named the Gulf of St Thomas (Spencer Bay) and the Angra das Voltas (Luderitz).

Continuing along an inhospitable coast, they sailed into Golfo de Santo Estevão (Elizabeth Bay). On 6 January, Dias named a range of mountains Serra dos Reis (the northern Cedarberg). Beyond this point, tradition has it that they encountered adverse winds. Beating on for some days without sighting land, they unwittingly rounded the Cape of Good Hope in late January 1488. While coasting along the southern shores, they came to the Gourits estuary where they saw Khoikhoi tending their wide-horned cattle. They named this river, Rio dos Vacqueiros (River of the Cowherds). Much worn by wind and weather, in early February 1488 they pressed on eastwards along the coast and, realizing they must have rounded the continent of Africa, they anchored in a broad bay to replenish their water casks. They named this bay Golfo de São Bras (Mossel Bay). Here, the local inhabitants accepted their trinkets and the sailors were able to buy by barter cattle and sheep. But the Khoikhoi later grew distrustful of the interlopers and attacked them.

Snatching up a crossbow, Dias shot one of them dead causing the people to flee in terror. The sailors immediately withdrew to their ships, and the expedition sailed on eastward as far as Bahia da Roca (Algoa Bay) where they anchored in the lee of the largest of three rocky islets crowded with sea birds and sea-lions. On the summit, they raised a wooden cross and celebrated mass. They named the islet ilhéu da Cruz. A few days after leaving Algoa Bay, they came to a river mouth, which Dias called Rio de Infante after João Infante, the captain of the second ship. Here, his men compelled him to return them to Portugal because they were exhausted and frightened and their provisions were running out. Historians first assumed his turning point to be the mouth of the Great Fish, but it is now thought to have been the Keiskamma River at Hamburg, 50 km south-west of East London. On 12 March 1488, a little west of Bushman's River mouth, they dropped anchor at a headland, formerly called False Islet, now known as Kwaaihoek.

Here, Dias erected his farthest stone pillar, the padrão de São Gregorio and then resumed his homeward journey. Eric Axelson excavated fragments of this padrão in 1938. Again, Dias's caravels sailed into Algoa Bay. They anchored at Struisbaai Bay on 23 April, naming it Aguada de San Jorgy. They probably stayed here for some time renewing their supplies of fresh food. They saw Cape Agulhas on 16 May, but were unaware that this unimpressive point was the southern extremity of Africa, as all later maps indicate the Cape of Good Hope as being the tip of the continent. The caravels then sailed into Walker Bay, beyond which lies modern Hermanus. Sailing on past a backdrop of mountain ranges, they rounded Cape Hangklip, and entering False Bay, naming it Golfo dentro das Serras (the bay between the mountains). Dias sailed for some days in False Bay and it is very likely that he saw Table Mountain from here, as the side of the mountain is clearly seen fro this position. On 6 June, Dias erected a second padrão somewhere on the Cape Peninsula.

Legend has it, Dias called Cabo Tormentosa ””Cape of Storms ””, and the Portuguese king supposedly renamed it Cabo da Boa Esperanca. Professor Axelson scotches this with reference to Pacheco Pereira's statement: It was not without good reason that this promontory received the name Cabo da Boa Esperanca because Bartolomeu Dias, who discovered it at the command of the late King João in the year 1488, saw that the coast here turned northwards and north-eastwards towards Ethiopia-under-Egypt and on to the gulf of Arabia, which gave indication and expectation of the discovery of India, and for this reason gave it the name of Cabo da Boa Esperanca. Moreover, a note in a book of Christopher Columbus records that Dias gave an account to King João of how he navigated `to the promontory called by him Cabo da Boa Esperanca'. (Axelson, 1972: 149). Dias's chroniclers record that a padrão dedicated to São Filipe was placed on a prominence of the Cape of Good Hope on 6 June 1488 (Saint Philip's Day).

But no trace of it has ever been found. From the Cape of Good Hope, Dias sailed northward. On St Christopher's Day, 34 July, he rejoined the storeship they had left behind at Luderitz Bay. Of the nine men who had remained, six had been killed in attacks by Khoikhoi hostile to their presence, and the three survivors were so weak that the purser, Fernão Colaco, apparently died with joy at the sight of the returning ships. After setting fire to the store-ship, Dias erected his last padrão to the west of the bay that he called Golfo de São Cristovão. By the 1820s, the limestone pillar had been overthrown. Professor Axelson identified the original site on the foghorn knoll in 1953 and he recovered many fragments of the padrão at the foot of the hill and in the adjacent channel and shallows. Dias probably put in at the mouth of the Congo. He certainly anchored at Principe Island in the Gulf of Guinea, where he rescued Pacheco Pereira and the survivors of an expedition, which had been sent to explore the waterways entering the Bight of Biafra.

These explorers had fallen ill with fever and had lost their vessel after a fruitless search for a navigable route to the land of Prester John. Dias dropped anchor at the river Tagus in December 1488 after a voyage of sixteen months and seventeen days, and having discovered 350 leagues of coastline unknown to Europeans. According to Christopher Columbus, who said he was present at the time, Dias sketched and wrote in a chart for the king, league by league, the voyage he had just completed. This chart has since vanished. In the same decade that Dias had reached the Cape of Good Hope, Christopher Columbus had sailed across the Atlantic, also looking for a sea route to the Indies. To settle conflicts between Spain and Portugal arising out of Columbus's first voyage, Pope Alexander VI drew up the Treaty of Tordesillas of 1494 to demarcate the boundaries of the spheres of influence of the Spanish and Portuguese kings. Nine years were to elapse before the next Portuguese fleet under Vasco da Gama sailed around Africa in search of India. During that time, João II died (1495) and was succeeded by his cousin and brother-in-law, Manuel, who took a keen interest in exploration.

Dias accompanied Da Gama's fleet as far as the Cape Verde islands where he left it to command the fort at Mina. Dias gained experience in trading at Mina and brought back with him a cargo of gold and slaves, which were sold to provide finances for further expeditions. When Da Gama returned to Portugal in 1499 with news about the extent of Muslim gold trading on the east African coast, King Manuel became determined to send a strong armada to take advantage of these discoveries. The fleet, under the command of Admiral Pedro Alvares Cabral, included a squadron of four caravels under Dias, who had been selected to found a fortress-factory at the gold-exporting port of Sofala on the east coast. On 9 March 1500, the armada set out on the Atlantic and turned south-westward to take advantage of the south-east trade winds. Cabral may well have been secretly instructed to explore the western area allotted to Portugal under the Treaty of Tordesillas of 1494. Sailing westward, the fleet came upon the bulge of South America. Dias thus became an active participant in the first discovery of Brazil.

In order to test the mood of the local inhabitants Dias was ordered to land a longboat at an anchorage they named Porto Seguro (the present Baia Cabralia). As the natives proved friendly and attractive, the Portuguese went ashore and danced and made merry with them, visited their village, and afterwards celebrated mass on the beach. Cabral and his fleet sailed from Brazil on 2 May 1500. On 24 May, while re-crossing the South Atlantic, a cyclone suddenly overwhelmed the fleet. Four ships were swallowed up, including the caravel of Bartolomeu Dias. Cabral secures the sea route to India for Portugal. Cabral eventually found himself off Sofala with only six battered ships, all stripped of sail. Realizing it was now impossible to establish a fortress at Sofala, he pressed on to Cochin and other ports where he traded for spices and formed alliances with the local rajas, finally securing the Portuguese sea route to India that Dias had done so much to establish. Note: explorersg7 - Bartolomeu Dias explorersg7 Wiki by: Daniela Nguyen, Katelyn Keough, Ly Truong, and Amber Haughney. Map 1.

His birth was 1450. 2. Bartolomeu was a Portuguese explorer who sailed around the southernmost tip tip of Africa in 1488. He was the first European to have done this. 3. Dias was a Knight of the royal court. -Superintendent of the royal warehouses -Sailing-master of the man-of-war Sao Cristovao (Saint Christopher). 4. Bartolomeu's religion is roman catholic. 5. He was a nobleman of the Portuguese royal household. 6. bartolomeu was a navigator and an explorer. 8. Bartolomeu Dias was famous for the first European to lead a 1487 voyage around the Cape of Good Hope on theSouthern tip of South Africa. 6. Death - May 29,1500; caused by a drowning. Interesting Facts 1. There are two way to spell Bartolomeu Dias's name: a) Bartolomeu Dias b) Bartholomew Diaz 2. He explored with Vasco Da Gama.3. He had three ships; two for sailing and one for storing food.4.

Bartolomeu explored because King John II wanted a spice trade.5. If Bartolomeu did not sail, King John II would have his men kill him.6. He sailed at the age of 36, and died at the age of 49. Facts and "Timeline" about the life and history of Bartolomeu Dias. 1457 -Bartolomeu Dias came from a noble family and his father attended the Portuguese court. He was a member of the royal Portuguese court and held the title Sailing Master. 1481 - Bartolomeu Dias joined Diogo d'Azambuja to explore the Gold Coast of Africa. 1486 - October 10, King John II of Portugal appoints Bartolomeu Dias leader of an expedition to sail around the southern most tip of Africa and make contact with a Christian ruler in the Indies called Prester John. Marco Polo and Vasco de Gama had both informed the Portuguese court of the existence of Prester John, King of Ethiopia.

1487 - August- Bartolomeu Dias embarked from the River Tagul below Lisbon on his voyage of exploration around Africa to the Indies with two armed caravels, and one supply-ship, a square-rigger, which was commanded by his brother Pero Dias. 1487 - December- They reached Golfo da Conceicao. 1488 - January- Bartolomeu and his brother, Pero, unknowingly saild through a terrible storm around the Cape of Good Hope which Diaz called Cabo Tormentosa- The cape of Storms. 1488 - February 3 - They landed at Bahia da Roca (Algoa Bay). 1488 - March 12 - West of Bushman's River mouth, they dropped anchor at a headland, called False Islet now known as Kwaaihoek and decided to embark on their journey home. 1488 - December - Bartolomeu Dias returned to Lisbon having opened up trading routes from Europe to Asia and with invaluable information for future Portuguese voyages of exploration.

These Portuguese expeditions were headed by Christopher Columbus, Vasco da Gama, and Pedro Alvares Cabral who all used the charts prepared by Bartolomeu Dias. 1497- Dias accompanied the expedition led by Vasco da Gama to India. 1500 - Dias accompanied Pedro Alvares Cabral on the voyage that resulted in the discvery of Brazil. This voyage mysteriously took a course to the New World and Cabral discovered Brazil- the expedition then turned back towards the south coast of Africa. 1500 - Bartolomeu Dias dies in a violent snow storm in the Cape of Good Hope. Biographical Sketch of: Bartolomeu Dias Bartolomeu Dias was a nobleman of the Portuguese royal household and was also a Portuguese explorer who sailed around the southern tip of Africa. Dias left Lisbon in August, 1487, to begin his expedition. He had three ships. One was for storing food and the other two was for sailing. The expedition sailed south along the West coast of Africa. His expedition reached its furthest point on March 12, 1488.

Bartolomeu wanted to continue sailing to India, but he was forced to turn back when his crew refused to go further. It was only on the return voyage that he actually discovered the Cape of Good Hope, in May 1488. He returned to Lisbon after an absence of sixteen months. The discovery was important because Europeans could trade directly with India and the other parts of Asia. Dias originally named the "Cape of Good Hope" but later renamed by King John ll of Portugal. The Cape of Good Hope represents the opening of a route to the east. Bartolomeu Dias was married and had two children. He died off the shore at the Cape of Good Hope when his vessel was wrecked in a storm. 6 IMPORTANT THINGS THAT HAPPENED ON DIAS' VOYAGE 1. He sailed towards the mouth of the Congo, which was discovered by Cao and Behaim. 2. Dias followed the African coast, entering Walfisch Bay. 3. From Port Nolloth, he lost sight of the coast and was driven by a storm which lasted 13 days. 4. Bartolomeu returned to Libson after an absence of 16 months and 17 days.

5. In 1497, he accompanied Vasco Da Gama on his expedition. 6. In 1500, Dias commanded a ship in the expedition of Cabral. Pictures of Bartolomeu Dias Thank you for . We hope you enjoyed it and learned a lot about the Portuguese explorer, Bartolomeu Dias.Information gathered by : Ly Truong, Daniela Nguyen, Amber Haughney, Katelyn Keough. Bartolomeu Dias - Exploration - HISTORY.com Bartolomeu Dias A+E Networks Introduction In 1488, Portuguese explorer Bartolomeu Dias (c. 1450-1500) became the first European mariner to round the southern tip of Africa, opening the way for a sea route from Europe to Asia. Dias’ ships rounded the perilous Cape of Good Hope and then sailed around Africa’s southernmost point, Cabo das Agulhas, to enter the waters of the Indian Ocean. Portugal and other European nations already had long-established trade ties to Asia, but the arduous overland route had been closed in the 1450s due to the Ottoman Empire’s conquest of the remnants of the Byzantine Empire.

A major maritime victory for Portugal, Dias’ breakthrough opened the door to increased trade with India and other Asian powers. It also prompted Genoan explorer Christopher Columbus (1451-1506), then living in Portugal, to seek a new royal patron for a mission to establish his own sea route to the Far East. Google An Ambitious Plan Almost nothing is known about the life of Bartolomeu de Novaes Dias before 1487, except that he was at the court of João II, king of Portugal (1455-1495), and was a superintendent of the royal warehouses. He likely had much more sailing experience than his one recorded stint aboard the warship São Cristóvão. Dias was probably in his mid- to late 30s in 1486 when João appointed him to head an expedition in search of a sea route to India. Did You Know? According to Greek historian Herodotus of Halicarnassus (c. 484-c. 425 B.C.), Egyptian pharaoh Necho II (d. 595 B.C.) sent Phoenician sailors out from the Arabian Gulf to sail around the African continent.

Their journey took three years. João was entranced by the legend of Prester John, a mysterious and probably apocryphal 12th-century leader of a nation of Christians somewhere in Africa. João sent out a pair of explorers, Afonso de Paiva (c. 1460-c. 1490) and Pêro da Covilhã (c. 1450-c. 1526), to search overland for the Christian kingdom in Ethiopia. João also wanted to find a way around the southernmost point of Africa’s coastline, so just a few months after dispatching the overland explorers, he sponsored Dias in an African expedition. In August 1487, Dias’ trio of ships departed from the port of Lisbon, Portugal. Dias followed the route of 15th-century Portuguese explorer Diogo Cão (c. 1450-c. 1486), who had followed the coast of Africa as far as present-day Cape Cross, Namibia. Dias’ cargo included the standard “padrões,” the limestone markers used to stake Portuguese claims on the continent.

Padrões were planted at the shoreline and served as guideposts to previous Portuguese explorations of the coast. Dias’ expedition party included six Africans who had been brought to Portugal by earlier explorers. Dias dropped off the Africans at different ports along the coastline of Africa with supplies of gold and silver and messages of goodwill from the Portuguese to the indigenous people. The last two Africans were left at a place the Portuguese sailors called Angra do Salto, probably in modern Angola, and the expedition’s supply ship was left there under guard of nine men. The Expedition Around South Africa In early January 1488, as Dias’ two ships sailed off the coast of South Africa, storms blew them away from the coast. Dias is thought to have ordered a turn to the south of about 28 degrees, probably because he had prior knowledge of southeasterly winds that would take him around the tip of Africa and keep his ships from being dashed on the notoriously rocky shoreline. João and his predecessors had obtained navigational intelligence, including a 1460 map from Venice that showed the Indian Ocean on the other side of Africa. Dias’ decision was risky, but it worked.

The crew spotted landfall on February 3, 1488, about 300 miles east of present-day Cape of Good Hope. They found a bay they called São Bras (present-day Mossel Bay) and the much warmer waters of the Indian Ocean. From the shoreline, indigenous Khoikhoi pelted Dias’ ships with stones until an arrow fired by either Dias or one of his men felled a tribesman. Dias ventured further along the coastline, but his crew was nervous about the dwindling food supplies and urged him to turn back. As mutiny loomed, Dias appointed a council to decide the matter. The members came to the agreement that they would permit him to sail another three days, then turn back. At Kwaaihoek, in present-day Eastern Cape province, they planted a padrão on March 12, 1488, which marked the easternmost point of Portuguese exploration. On the journey back, Dias observed the southernmost point of Africa, later called Cabo das Agulhas, or Cape of Needles.

Dias named the rocky second cape Cabo das Tormentas (Cape of Storms) for the tempestuous storms and strong Atlantic-Antarctic currents that made ship travel so perilous. Back in Angra do Salto, Dias and his crew were aghast to find that only three of the nine men left guarding the food ship had survived repeated attacks by locals; a seventh man died on the journey home. In Lisbon, after 15 months at sea and a journey of nearly 16,000 miles, the returning mariners were met by triumphant crowds. In a private meeting with the king, however, Dias was forced to explain his failure to meet up with Paiva and Covilhã. Despite his immense achievement, Dias was never again put in a position of authority. João ordered that henceforth, maps would show the new name for Cabo das Tormentas–Cabo da Boa Esperança, or Cape of Good Hope. Advisor to Vasco da Gama Following his expedition, Dias settled for a time in Guinea in West Africa, where Portugal had established a gold-trading site.

João’s successor, Manuel I (1469-1521), ordered Dias to serve as a shipbuilding consultant for the expedition of Vasco da Gama (c. 1460-1524). Dias sailed with the da Gama expedition as far as the Cape Verde Islands, then returned to Guinea. Da Gama’s ships reached their goal of India in May 1498, nearly a decade after Dias’ historic trip around the tip of Africa. Afterward, Manuel sent out a massive fleet to India under Pedro Álvares Cabral (c. 1467-c. 1520), and Dias captained four of the ships. They reached Brazil in March 1500, then headed across the Atlantic toward South Africa and, further ahead, the Indian subcontinent. At the feared Cabo das Tormentas, storms struck the fleet of 13 ships. In May 1500, four of the ships were wrecked, including Dias’, with all crew lost at sea. Tags Bartholomeus Dias - YouTube Bartholomeus Dias Want to watch this again later? Sign in to add this video to a playlist. Need to report the video?

Sign in to report inappropriate content. Rating is available when the video has been rented. This feature is not available right now. Please try again later. Published on Sep 27, 2014 Bartolommeu Dias (1450?-1500), also spelled Diaz, was a Portuguese sea captain and explorer. His discovery of a sailing route around Africa helped establish travel between Europe and Asia. Famous as the first European to lead a 1487 voyage around the Cape of Good Hope on the Southern most tip of South Africa; The voyage of exploration lasted sixteen months; January 1488 he sailed through a terrible storm around the Cape of Good Hope which Diaz called called Cabo Tormentosa - the Cape of Storms. In 1487, King John II of Portugal ordered Dias to sail to the southern end of Africa. The king wanted to know if ships could reach Asia by sailing around Africa. Dias commanded a fleet of three ships that left Portugal in the summer of 1487. After reaching the mouth of the Orange River in southern Africa, a storm blew the ships out to sea. Dias and his crews did not see land for 13 days.

When the storm ended, he realized that the ships had been blown around the southern tip of Africa. He sailed along the southeast shore of the continent, hoping to reach India. However, the men were exhausted by their long voyage, and their food supply was running low. They persuaded Dias to return to Portugal. As the expedition sailed around the tip of Africa toward Portugal Dias sighted what is now called the Cape of Good Hope. He named it the Cape of Storms. However, King John later renamed it the Cape of Good Hope because its discovery indicated that a sea route to India would soon be found. In 1494, Dias directed the construction of two ships (the Sao Gabriel and its sister ship, the São Rafael ) for what became the first successful expedition around Africa to India. Vasco da Gama, another Portuguese explorer led this expedition. In 1500, Dias commanded four ships in an expedition led by Pedro Alvares Cabal. He tried to follow da Gama’s route to India, but the fleet drifted off course and reached what is now Brazil. Dias died during the voyage from Brazil when a storm sank his ship.

Category Bartholomew Dias Timeline | Preceden Bartholomew Dias was Born 1450 Bartholomew Dias was born around 1450. No one really knows much about his early life and childhood, so they guess the year when he was born. Leaving for Expedition 1487 Bartholomew Dias left for his expedition to journey around the Southern tip of Africa. The Portuguese wanted to find an easier way to travel to Asia for trade. They also wanted to see if how far the southern tip of Africa extended. Rounding the Cape of Good Hope (Cape of Storms) 1487 Bartholomew Dias rounded the Cape of Good Hope. He called it the Cape of Storms though because he went around it without even knowing during a storm on his way through his journey. When he came home after his voyage King John 2 said to name is Cape of Good Hope instead of Cape of Storms because then no one would want to go there. It was named after- Bartholomew Dias's followers' rounded Cape of Storms with hope saying they were almost to their destination.

Bartholomew Dias Meets Africans 1488 Bartholomew Dias meets Africans when his team stops on shore from rounding the Cape of Good Hope when he put a pole marker there. Bartholomew Dias tried to kill the Africans and the Africans tried to attack them. Coming Home December 1488 - January 1489 Bartholomew Dias came home from his first expedition in 1488 (December) or 1489 (January). He tells King John || all the information he gathered about his trip. Bartholomew Dias Goes On Last Expedition & Dies 1500 Bartholomew Dias goes on his last expedition at sea. He rounded Cape of Good Hope again and he ran through another storm there. The storm killed him and 4 out of 13 ships in his last expedition were sunk.

Question: First sighted by Bartholomew Diaz in 1488, he named it then 'Cape of Storms'. What is it now called?
Answer: CAPE OF GOOD HOPE