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
Expedition Around South 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. King
João II ordered that henceforth, maps would show the new name for Cabo das
Tormentas: Cabo da Boa Esperança, or Cape of Good Hope.
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, and 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. Bartolomeu Dias died on May 29, 1500 off the
Cape of Good Hope. He is remembered as a pioneering explorer during the Age of
Exploration who opened the sea route to Asia via the Atlantic Ocean and Indian
Ocean.
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Article Title:
Bartolomeu
Dias
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