This discovery made it possible for Europeans to trade with Asia and India via water instead of across land, which was very expensive at the time. Bartolomeu Dias was born in in Algarve, Portugal, but not much else is known about his early life.
It is believed that his father was from a noble Portuguese family. Interesting Bartolomeu Dias Facts: Bartolomeu Dias was a member of the royal Portuguese court when he was chosen to head the expedition to find the trade route to India. Bartolomeu was also supposed to be searching for a man named Prester John, a supposed Christian King of Ethiopia. The king wished to establish a friendship to enable trade to India. Bartolomeu Dias was the sailing master of the man-of-war warship San Christovao.
The expedition to the south of Africa began in the summer of and lasted for 16 months. 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 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 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. 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. 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 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 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. 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. 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 , a little west of Bushman's River mouth, they dropped anchor at a headland, formerly called False Islet, now known as Kwaaihoek.
Again, Dias's caravels sailed into Algoa Bay. They probably stayed here for some time renewing their supplies of fresh food. The resting place of the Bartolomeu Dias of the coast of South Africa was never found. Modern researchers and sea divers pinpointed the shipwreck of the Portuguese ships from that period confirmed by historical coins and items.
Still, historians agreed that this was not the exact ship that carried Dias. Before his untimely death at sea, Bartolomeu Dias married and had two sons. The brother of Bartolomeu Dias, Diogo Dias , was also an accomplished explorer and navigator. Diogo, however, did not reach India, being forced to return home after the storm that killed his brother separated him from the rest of the fleet.
Today, Bartolomeu Dias is remembered as one of the most important explorers of the early age of European expansion. While he never discovered a naval route to India or even personally managed to sail there, he proved that Africa could be circumvented.
Dias brought back to the Portugal navigational charts and information used on the following exploratory trips, including the famous journey of Vasco da Gama to India. Discovery of the Cape of Good Hope originally named as Cape of Storms changed the known world map, enabling rapid expansion of European trade to Asia. The news of his discovery also directly impacted the exploits of other explorers who were trying to find a reliable trade route to India. Most notably, his news of the discovery of the Cape of Good Hope played a role in the formation of the first fleet of Christopher Columbus that was funded by the Spanish crown.
After his influential journey, Bartolomeu Dias and the Portuguese court did not immediately jump into action and tried to rush to India. Instead, Dias settled on Guinea in West Africa, helping to establish Portugal's gold trading operation and new colonized city. The new bearer of the Portuguese crown, King Manuel I, ordered Dias to become personally involved in creating a new exploratory fleet helmed by seasoned sea navigator and explorer Vasco da Gama.
Dias oversaw the shipbuilding process of da Gamma's flagship and personally accompanied Vasco da Gamma up to Cape Verde Islands. Home European Explorers Bartolomeu Dias. Bartolomeu Dias Biography Bartolomeu Dias c.
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