Bartholomew Diaz

AKA Bartolomeu Dias de Novaes

Born: c. 1450
Died: 29-May-1500
Location of death: Cape of Good Hope
Cause of death: Accident - Drowning
Remains: Missing, (lost at sea)

Gender: Male
Religion: Roman Catholic
Race or Ethnicity: White
Occupation: Explorer

Nationality: Portugal
Executive summary: Found the Cape of Good Hope

Portuguese explorer, discoverer of the Cape of Good Hope, was probably a kinsman of Joo Diaz, one of the first
Portuguese to round Cape Bojador (1434), and of Diniz Diaz, the discoverer of Cape Verde (1445). In 1478 a
Bartholomeu Diaz, probably identical with the discoverer, was exempted from certain customary payments on
ivory brought from the Guinea coast. In 1481 he commanded one of the vessels sent by King Joo II. under Diogo
d'Azambuja to the Gold Coast. In 1486 he seems to have been a cavalier of the king's household, and
superintendent of the royal warehouses; on the 10th of October in this year he received an annuity of 6000 reis
from Joo for "services to come"; and some time 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 greatly
advanced by Diogo Co (1482-86). Passing Co's farthest point near Cape Cross, he erected a pillar on what is now
known as Diaz Point, south of Angra Pequena or Lderitz Bay; of this fragments still exist. From this point
(according to De Barros) Diaz ran thirteen days southwards before strong winds, which freshened to dangerous
stormy weather, in a comparatively high southern latitude, considerably south of the Cape. When the storm
subsided the Portuguese stood east; and failing, after several days search, to find land, turned north, and so struck
the south coast of Cape Colony at Mossel Bay (Diaz' Bahia dos Vaqueiros), halfway between the Cape of Good Hope
and Port Elizabeth (February 3, 1488). From there they coasted eastward, passing Algoa Bay (Diaz' Bahia da Roca),
erecting pillars or perhaps wooden crosses, it is said, on one of the islands in this bay and at or near Cape Padrone
farther east; of these no traces remain. The officers and men now began to insist on return, and Diaz could only
persuade them to go as far as the estuary of the Great Fish River (Diaz' Rio do Iffante, so named from his colleague,
Captain Joo Iffante). Here, however, halfway between Port Elizabeth and East London (and indeed from Cape
Padrone), the north-easterly trend of the coast became unmistakable; the way around Africa had been laid open.
On his return Diaz perhaps named Cape Agulhas after St Brandan; while on the southernmost projection of the
modern Cape peninsula, whole remarkable highlands (Table Mountain, etc.) doubtless impressed him as the
practical termination of the continent, he bestowed, says De Barros, the name of Cape of Storms (Cabo
Tormentoso) in memory of the storms he had experienced in these far southern waters; this name was changed by
King Joo to that of Good Hope (Cabo da Boa Esperana). Some excellent authorities, however, make Diaz himself
give the Cape its present name. Hard by this "so many ages unknown promontory" the explorer probably erected
his last pillar. After touching at the Ilha do Principe (Prince's Island, southwest of the Cameroons) as well as at the
Gold Coast, he appeared at Lisbon in December 1488. He had discovered 1260 miles of hitherto unknown coast;
and his voyage, taken with the letters soon afterwards received from Pero de Covilho (who by way of Cairo and
Aden had reached Malabar on one side and the "Zanzibar coast" on the other as far south as Sofala, in 1487-88)
was rightly considered to have solved the question of an ocean route around Africa to the Indies and other lands of
South and East Asia.

No record has yet been found of any adequate reward for Diaz; on the contrary, when the great Indian expedition
was being prepared (for Vasco da Gama's future leadership) Bartolomeu only superintended the building and outfit
of the ships; when the fleet sailed in 1497, he only accompanied da Gama to the Cape Verde Islands, and after this
was ordered to El Mina on the Gold Coast. On Cabral's voyage of 1500 he was indeed permitted to take part in the
discovery of Brazil (April 22), and thence should have helped to guide the fleet to India; but he perished in a great
storm off his own Cabo Tormentoso. Like Moses, as Galvano says, he was allowed to see the Promised Land, but
not to enter in.