Bartolomeu Dias, sometimes Bartolomeu Dias de Novais (
pron. IPA []; 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.
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