Dinis Dias was a 15th-century Portuguese explorer who sailed down the coast of West Africa, passing the Senegal River and reaching the

Cape Verde Peninsula Cap-Vert, or the Cape Verde Peninsula, is a peninsula in Senegal and the westernmost point of the continent of Africa and of the Afro-Eurasia mainland. Portuguese explorers called it Cabo Verde or "Green Cape". The Cape Verde islands, further ...

for the first time. In 1445, as Dias was beginning to enter old age and made the decision to take up exploring because "he was unwilling to let himself grow soft in the well being of repose", left Portugal and sailed down the West African coast, setting a new record by reaching a point about 800 kilometres south of Cap Blanc. This, the most westerly part of the African continent, he named Cap-Vert (Dias named it ''Cabo Verde'', "verde" being Portuguese for "green", a reference to the lush vegetation in the area). Note that Dias did not discover the

Cape Verde Islands , national_anthem = () , official_languages = Portuguese , national_languages = Cape Verdean Creole , capital = Praia , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , demonym ...

, but rather the actual cape. The success of this expedition has been attributed to his lack of interest in taking slaves, a pursuit most Portuguese mariners in Africa focused on. Later that year, Dias sailed with the explorer Lançarote de Freitas in a large scale slaving expedition to

Arguim Arguin ( ar, أرغين, pt, Arguim) is an island off the western coast of Mauritania in the Bay of Arguin. It is approximately in size, with extensive and dangerous reefs around it. The island is now part of the Banc d'Arguin National Park. ...

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References

*Castlereagh, Duncan. ''Encyclopedia of Discovery and Exploration - The Great Age of Exploration''. Aldus Books London, 1971. * Portuguese explorers 15th-century explorers of Africa Maritime history of Portugal 15th-century Portuguese people 15th-century deaths Year of birth unknown {{portugal-explorer-stub

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