THE GREAT ATLAS OF DISCOVERY AZORES

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to chart the African

HE GREAT AGE of European exploration
I I with 4 ships and g$tt i
coast, June H85.
+ about 150 men. f" f ^J/'
began in the 15th century, when sailors set out for the first time bound for India. D Z?V°
on long ocean voyages. The Portuguese led the way In 1415, July 1497. SS/ %
afterhaving spent centuries chasing the Muslims out of Portugal, BOJ IDOR

the Portuguese began pushing their way into Muslim territory,

reaching as North Africa. In North Africa they heard stories
far as f.

of gold mines hidden deep in West Africa. These stories inspired

Prince Henry of Portugal, known as "the Navi gator," to send his CAPE
VERDE *
captains out on the first voyages of discovery down the African
:

ISLANDS
coast. In 1453 another Muslim people, the powerful Ottoman
Turks, blocked the overland trade route between Europe and the Da Gama
&
stops for a
Far East. Now the Portuguese had an even greater incentive for week in the
Zao stops |i>
the Portuguese

sailing south into unknown seas: the need to find a sea route to apt Verde ^4 "
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noJing fortress
Islands.
oj tlmina
the riches of India. The first expeditions were slow and cautious. k. ("the mil

As Portuguese captains edged their way farther down the coast,

they set up stone pillars, called padroes, on the shore to mark
their progress. By the end of the century, Vasco da Gama had Da Gama sets a course
through the South Atlantic
opened up the first sea route between Europe and India. sailing far from land in
order to avoid the winds
nea\ the coast.
Mapping the unknown
World maps in the 1 5ih century were
based on the work of Claudius
Picis leaves Elmina
Ptolemaeus, known as Ptolemy, an ancient
and crosses the
geographer who had been dead For more
Gulf oj Guinea
than 1,200 years! This Ptolemy map shows
to the Congo.
Europe and the Mediterranean region
fairly accurately, but it shows only the top '£
half of Africa because Ptolemy had no idea
how far south the continent stretched, nor
4>
if it even ended at all. Therefore, the
Portuguese sailors who first rounded the DlOGO CAO \
tip of Africa kept the reports of their In 1485 Diogo Cao reached Cape Cross
voyages secret from other European and set up this padrao, which bears the
nations, who also wanted to find a sea
coat-of-arms of the Portuguese King
route to the trade goods of the Far East.
Joao II. It was a great achievement for
Cao - he had reached farther south down
Portuguese caravels
the coast of Africa than any Portuguese
The daring Portuguese sea voyages of the 15th
captain before him. Earlier captains had
century were made possible by the development
of the caravel. This was a very small ship, about traveled a short distance down the coast in
65 ft long, with a crew of about 25. The first order to make a quick profit and return
caravels were made for coastal sailing and were home safely, but Cao was the first of the
lateen-rigged (w ith triangular
:
sails), like this
more professional explorers.
one; but for ocean voyaging, square-rigged
ships proved belter- they were less
nimble narrow waters, but faster
in
on the open sea.
Portuguese compass
One of the few instruments
that Portuguese sailors had
to help them find their way
was a magnetic compass - a
simpler version of this 18th-
century model. It contained a

magnetized iron needle. If allowed

to swing freely, the needle pointed
roughly north and south to show in
which direction a ship was sailing.

Bartolomeu DlAS
Dias was sent out to continue the work
of Diogo Cao and find a sea route to India.
Throughout the voyage he set up padroes, such as
this one, along the coast. He sailed farther south
than Cao, becoming the first Portuguese explorer to
sailaround Africa and enter the Indian Ocean in 1488.
Dias wanted to sail on and try to reach India, but his
scared and weary crew forced him to turn back.