Dias, Bartolomeu (1450?-1500), also spelled Diaz, was a Portuguese sea captain and explorer. His discovery of a sailing route around Africa helped establish travel between western Europe and Asia.
Little is known about Dias’s early life. In 1481 and 1482, he commanded one of the ships in an expedition to the Gold Coast in Africa. This region now makes up the nation of Ghana.
In 1487, King John II of Portugal ordered Dias to try to sail to the southern end of Africa. The king wanted to know if ships could reach Asia by sailing around Africa. He had earlier ordered land and sea expeditions to travel to Asia, but those attempts at the journey failed.
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 continue on to India. However, the sailors were exhausted by their long voyage, and their food 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. According to tradition, he named it that because he believed his discovery might lead to a sea route to India. The expedition reached Portugal in December 1488.
In 1494, Dias directed the construction of two ships for what became the first successful expedition around Africa to India. Vasco da Gama, another Portuguese explorer, led the voyage in 1497. In 1500, Dias commanded four ships in an expedition led by Pedro Álvares Cabral, also a Portuguese adventurer. Cabral’s expedition consisted of 13 ships. 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 on May 29, 1500.
See also Da Gama, Vasco ; Exploration (Reaching the tip of Africa) .
