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Bartolomeu Dias was a Portugese navigator whose 1487-88 Atlantic voyage around the southern tip of Africa opened sea routes between Europe and Asia. In 1486 King João II (King John II) assigned Dias, a member of the royal court, to command a voyage with both spiritual and material aspirations: Dias was to search for the lands of Prester John -- a legendary Christian priest and African king -- and challenge the Muslim dominance of trade with Asia. By 1488 Dias had unknowingly rounded the African continent in a storm and made landfall at what is now Mossel Bay. On his return voyage he discovered what he called the Cape of Storms (Cabo Tormentoso), later re-named the Cape of Good Hope (Caboda Bõa Esperança) by João. Although Dias did not find any sign of an African Christian, his voyage established a sea route from the Atlantic Ocean to the Indian Ocean and Asia. In 1497 Dias accompanied Vasco da Gama on a voyage as far as the Cape Verde Islands, and in 1500 he joined Pedro Alvares Cabral's westward expedition. Dias's ship went down in a storm and he perished at sea sometime in late May (Cabral went on to make landfall in Brazil).

Dias's brother, Pero Dias, was also part of the 1487-88 voyage, commanding the supply ship... The Cape of Good Hope is sometimes thought to be the southernmost tip of the African continent, but that title belongs to Cape Agulhas... His name is sometimes spelled Bartholomew Diaz.Bartolomeu Dias was born in Portugal sometime around 1450. Little is known about his early life, but it is believed that he came from a long line of navigators that may have included Dinis Dias, who rounded Cape Verde in 1455, and Joao Dias, who rounded Cape Bojador in 1437. Accounts of Bartolomeu's earliest voyages are very few and far between, but it is known that he accompanied Diogo d'Azambuja on an expedition to the Gold Coast of Africa in 1481.

Dias was a cavalier of the royal court, superintendent of the royal warehouses and sailing-master of the man-of-war San Christovao when King John II appointed him on October 10, 1486, as the head of an expedition to sail around the southern end of Africa for the purpose of establishing a sea route to the rich trading grounds of India.

map of Dias' routeThe expedition left Lisbon in late July or early August, 1487, with two armed caravels of fifty tons each and one supply ship. It sailed first towards the mouth of the Congo River, then followed the African coast southward to Walfisch Bay, where Dias erected a stone column. After passing 29° south latitude he lost sight of the coast and was driven by a violent storm, which lasted thirteen days, far beyond the southernmost point of Africa. When calm returned he sailed again in an easterly direction and, when no land appeared, turned northward, finally landing at Mossel Bay (in present-day South Africa). Following the coast he reached Algoa Bay and the Great Fish River before being forced by the crew's fears to turn around and head back to Portugal. It was during the return trip that Dias spotted the southernmost point of Africa. Although some controversy surrounds who named that point the Cape of Good Hope, most historians generally give credit to Dias rather than King John II, who may have named it Cape Tormentoso (Cape of Storms). The expedition returned to Lisbon in December, 1488, after an absence of sixteen months and seventeen days.

Despite his success at sailing around the southern tip of Africa, Dias was not given credit within Portugal for locating and mapping the Cape of Good Hope -- probably because he had failed to reach India. Nevertheless, in 1494 he was appointed to oversee the construction and outfitting of a fleet of ships for an expedition to reach India by way of the Cape of Good Hope. This expedition, led by Vasco da Gama, left Portugal in 1497; Dias accompanied the voyage, but in a subordinate position and only as far as the Cape Verde Islands. Upon reaching the islands he was sent to establish trading posts in present-day Mozambique.

In 1500, Dias was given command of a caravel in Pedro Ãlvares Cabral's expedition to civilize, Christianize, and trade with India. Due to a miscalculation in longitude the expedition sailed so far to the southwest that it saw land and forests never seen before. The trees were bright red, like glowing embers, hence the name given to the new territory -- Brazil. The grand discovery came at a price, however. On May 29, the expedition was overtaken by a sudden storm that overwhelmed four vessels, one of which was that of Dias.