Dias Rounds the Cape of Good Hope

Portugal’s Bartolomeu Dias sailed round the southern tip of Africa into the Indian Ocean, opening the way to India around Africa.

Leaving Lisbon in 1487 on the orders of John II, Dias sailed down the West African coast and early in 1488 was driven far south by storms. Turning east and finding no land, he headed north and struck the south coast of Africa at Mossel Bay — he had already rounded the continent. His crew forced him to turn back, and on the way home he sighted the cape; Dias is said to have called it the Cape of Storms and John II renamed it the Cape of Good Hope.