Dias named the rocky second cape Cabo das Tormentas (Cape of Storms) for the tempestuous storms and strong Atlantic-Antarctic currents that made ship travel so perilous.īack in Angra do Salto, Dias and his crew were aghast to find that only three of the nine men left guarding the food ship had survived repeated attacks by locals a seventh man died on the journey home. On the journey back, Dias observed the southernmost point of Africa, later called Cabo das Agulhas, or Cape of Needles. At Kwaaihoek, in present-day Eastern Cape province, they planted a padrão on March 12, 1488, which marked the easternmost point of Portuguese exploration. The members came to the agreement that they would permit him to sail another three days, then turn back. As mutiny loomed, Dias appointed a council to decide the matter. From the shoreline, indigenous Khoikhoi pelted Dias’ ships with stones until an arrow fired by either Dias or one of his men felled a tribesman.ĭias ventured further along the coastline, but his crew was nervous about the dwindling food supplies and urged him to turn back. They found a bay they called São Bras (present-day Mossel Bay) and the much warmer waters of the Indian Ocean.
The crew spotted landfall on February 3, 1488, about 300 miles east of present-day Cape of Good Hope. João and his predecessors had obtained navigational intelligence, including a 1460 map from Venice that showed the Indian Ocean on the other side of Africa.ġ987 NCAA suspends SMU football program for 1987 seasonĭias’ decision was risky, but it worked.
Dias is thought to have ordered a turn to the south of about 28 degrees, probably because he had prior knowledge of southeasterly winds that would take him around the tip of Africa and keep his ships from being dashed on the notoriously rocky shoreline. In early January 1488, as Dias’ two ships sailed off the coast of South Africa, storms blew them away from the coast. The last two Africans were left at a place the Portuguese sailors called Angra do Salto, probably in modern Angola, and the expedition’s supply ship was left there under guard of nine men.
Dias dropped off the Africans at different ports along the coastline of Africa with supplies of gold and silver and messages of goodwill from the Portuguese to the indigenous people. He was not a pirate, but he looted and killed many men only to take revenge.Dias’ expedition party included six Africans who had been brought to Portugal by earlier explorers. He died soon after he got there on Christmas Eve. Vasco da Gama went on one last trip in 1524 to be the viceroy (governor) of Calicut, which was by that time a Portuguese colony. Then, he went on to Calicut and took over that city, capturing a lot of wealth, pleasing the King of Portugal. During this trip, he attacked and stole from all the Arab and Indian ships he found in the Indian Ocean. He found out that the people of Calicut killed the Portuguese he had left behind. Vasco da Gama went on his next trip in 1502. A few of his Portuguese sailors stayed in Calicut. However, he escaped and returned to Portugal in September 1499. Vasco da Gama was in danger because of a conflict with the ruler of Calicut. The pilot brought the Portuguese men to the city of Calicut on the southwest coast of India on May 20, 1498. There, at Malindi, da Gama hired a pilot from India. An angry crowd discovered that da Gama's men were not Muslims, so the crew continued north to Kenya. Mozambique was controlled by Arabs because it was part of the Indian Ocean's network of trade. The coast is still called Natal.īy January, da Gama's crew reached modern-day Mozambique, on the East African coast. They did this because they sailed by it at Christmas. Da Gama's crew gave the South African coast they were passing the name Natal, which means " Christmas" in Portuguese. Vasco da Gama sailed around the bottom of the African continent. No European explorer before him had sailed further than the place that is now called South Africa.
On the 4th of July 1497 da Gama left Lisbon with four ships: the São Gabriel, the São Rafael, the Berrio, and a storage ship of unknown name. According to some people's accounts, he was a knight in the 1490s in Sines. He went to India three times by ship.ĭa Gama was born in Sines, Portugal. He was the first European who went to India through the Cape of Good Hope at the southern end of Africa. Vasco da Gama ( 1460 or 1469 - December 24th, 1524) was a Portuguese sailor.
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