Voyage to the Cape

Bartolomeu Dias · 1487 CE – 1488 CE · Earth

Find the southern end of Africa.

Historical context

Portugal had crept down the African coast for decades, seeking the ocean route to the spice trade. Dias's rounding of the continent's tip opened the way for da Gama a decade later.

The voyage, step by step

1. Down the African coast

   1487 CE

   Dias sails south with orders to find the end of Africa.

2. Past Cape Verde

   1487 CE

   Storm drives the fleet far from the coast before it turns east again.

3. Past São Jorge da Mina

   1487 CE

   The ships pass the gold fortress that pays for the whole programme of discovery.

4. A pillar at Angra Pequena

   December 1487

   In December he raises a padrão on a bare bay beyond anything Europe had charted.

5. Rounding the Cape

   1488 CE

   He rounds the Cape of Storms, renamed the Cape of Good Hope by the king.

6. Landfall in the Bay of Cowherds

   1488 CE

   Steering north to find the coast again, the ships come ashore east of the cape they never saw.

7. The crews turn back

   1488 CE

   At the Great Fish River the coast is running north-east at last — and the men refuse to go on.

Outcome

Rounded the Cape of Good Hope.

Bartolomeu Dias

Portuguese navigator who became the first European to round the southern tip of Africa.

Read on Wikipedia

Sources

• Bartolomeu Dias — Wikipedia

Continue exploring

• First Atlantic crossingChristopher Columbus · 1492 CE – 1493 CE
• The voyage of the MatthewJohn Cabot · 1497 CE
• First voyage to IndiaVasco da Gama · 1497 CE – 1499 CE
• Indian Ocean pilotageAhmad ibn Mājid · 1498 CE