Bartolomeu Dias (d. 29 May 1500) was a Portuguese mariner and explorer. In February 1488, he became the first European navigator to round the southern tip of Africa and to demonstrate that the most effective southward route for ships is in the open ocean, well to the west of the African coast. His discoveries were later used by Vasco da Gama to establish a sea route between Europe and Asia.
Early life
Dias's family had a maritime background. One of his ancestors, Dinis Dias e Fernandes, explored the African coast in the 1440s and discovered the Cap-Vert peninsula in today's Senegal in 1445. Tracing his biography is complicated by the existence of several contemporary Portuguese seafarers with the same name.
In 1481, Dias accompanied an expedition, led by Diogo de Azambuja, to construct a fortress and trading post called São Jorge da Mina in the Gulf of Guinea.
Indirect evidence also points to his possible participation in Diogo Cão's first expedition (1482–1484), down the African coast to the Congo River.
Voyage around Africa
In 1486 he seems to have been a cavalier of the king's household and superintendent of the royal warehouses. On 10 October 1486, he received an annuity of 6,000 reis from King John II of Portugal for "services to come". Sometime after this, probably about July or August 1487, rather than July 1486, the traditional date, he left Lisbon with three ships to carry on the work of African exploration so significantly advanced by Diogo Cão.
Dias was also charged with searching for Prester John, a legendary figure believed to be the powerful Christian ruler of a realm somewhere beyond Europe, possibly in the African interior. Dias was provided with two caravels of about 50 tons each, São Cristóvão and São Pantaleão, and a square-rigged supply ship captained by his brother Diogo. He recruited some of the leading pilots of the day, including Pero de Alenquer and João de Santiago, who had previously sailed with Cão.
