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 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, 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.
See also
*
Portugal in the period of discoveries
*
Portuguese empire
The Portuguese Empire was a colonial empire that existed between 1415 and 1999. In conjunction with the Spanish Empire, it ushered in the European Age of Discovery. It achieved a global scale, controlling vast portions of the Americas, Africa ...
Notes
References
*Castlereagh, Duncan. ''Encyclopedia of Discovery and Exploration - The Great Age of Exploration''. Aldus Books London, 1971.
*
15th-century explorers of Africa
Portuguese explorers of Africa
15th-century Portuguese explorers
Maritime history of Portugal
15th-century deaths
Year of birth unknown
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