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Statue of Dias at the High Commission of South Africa in London.

Statue of Dias in Cape Town, South Africa

Bartolomeu Dias, sometimes Bartolomeu Dias de Novais (pronounced [baɾtuluˈmeu ˈdiɐʃ]; Anglicized: Bartholomew Diaz) (c. 1450 – May 29, 1500), a Nobleman of the Royal Household, was a Portuguese explorer who sailed around the western tip of Africa in 1488, the first European known to have done so.

In 1481 Dias accompanied Diogo de Azambuja on an expedition to the Gold Coast. Dias was a cavalier of the royal court, superintendent of the royal warehouses and sailing-master of the man-of-war São Cristóvão (Saint Christopher). King John II of Portugal and had appointed him on 10 October 1486 as the head of an expedition that was to endeavor to sail around the southern end of Africa in the hope of finding a trade route leading to Asia. Another important purpose of the expedition was to try to find the country of which recent reports had arrived through João Afonso de Aveiro and with which the Portuguese wished to enter into friendly relations.

Dias sailed, at first, towards the mouth of the Congo River, discovered the year before by Diogo Cão and Martin Behaim, then, following the African coast, he entered Walvis Bay. From 29° south latitude (Port Nolloth), he lost sight of the coast and was sailing south by a violent storm, which had lasted thirteen days. He did not know that he had sailed well beyond the tip of the continent. When calm weather returned he sailed in an easterly direction and, when no land appeared, turned northward, landing at the "Bahia dos Vaqueiros" (Mossel Bay) on February 3 1488. Dias had rounded both the Cape of Good Hope and Cape Agulhas, the southernmost point of Africa without laying eyes on them.

Continuing east, he sailed as far as the Great Fish River. Once it had become clear that India could be reached by sailing north up the coast, he turned back. It was only on the return voyage that he discovered the Cape of Good Hope in May 1488. Dias returned to Lisbon in December 1488 after an absence of sixteen months and seventeen days. He had explored a total of about 2,030 km of unknown African coast.

He originally named the Cape of Good Hope the "Cape of Storms" (Cabo das Tormentas). It was later renamed by John II as the Cape of Good Hope (Cabo da Boa Esperança) because of the opening of a route to the east. The discovery of the passage around Africa was significant because for the first time Europeans could trade directly with India and the other parts of Asia, bypassing the overland route through of the Middle East, with its expensive middle men.

In 1497 Dias accompanied Vasco da Gama's expedition to India but in a subordinate position. He followed de Gama with one ship to Cape Verde. He also accompanied Pedro Álvares Cabral on the voyage that resulted in the discovery of Brazil in 1500. He died off the shore at the Cape of Good Hope when his vessel was wrecked in a storm.

The official report of the expedition to the Cape of Good Hope has been lost.

Married, he had two children:

• Simão Dias de Novais, who died unmarried and without issue
• António Dias de Novais, a Knight of the Order of Christ, married to (apparently his relative, since the surname de Novais was transmitted through her brother's offspring) Joana Fernandes, daughter of Fernão Pires and wife Guiomar Montês (and sister of Brites Fernandes and Fernão Pires, married to Inês Nogueira, daughter of Jorge Nogueira and wife, and had issue), and had issue.

Dias' grandson Paulo Dias de Novais was a Portuguese colonizer of Africa in the 16th century. Dias' granddaughter, Guiomar de Novais married twice, as his second wife to Dom Rodrigo de Castro, son of Dom Nuno de Castro and wife Joana da Silveira, by whom she had Dona Paula de Novais and Dona Violante de Castro, both died unmarried and without issue, and to Pedro Correia da Silva, natural son of Cristóvão Correia da Silva, without issue.

Bartolomeu Dias Voyage (1487-88)

See also

• Vasco da Gama
• Pedro Álvares Cabral
• List of explorers

External links

• Catholic Encyclopedia
• Bartholomew Diaz - includes present placenames

References

• This article incorporates text from the public-domain Catholic Encyclopedia of 1913.