Biography : Bartholomeu Diaz

Bartholomeu Diaz as born in 1450 in Portugal. He was a Portuguese navigator first round the Cape of Good Hope, Africa. In 1481 he commanded a vessel in a flotilla that King John of Portugal sent to the Gold Coast of Africa. Five years later, the King commanded Diaz to continue the exploration of the Western coast of Africa. Diaz set sail from Lisbon in August 1487; in February 1488 he rounded the Southern end of the African continent as far as the estuary of what was later named "The Great Fish River". Diaz thus opened a sea route fro Europe. Vasco da Gama was able to pioneer the whole route to India, of which rounding the Cape of Good Hope was the key, thus completing the project begun by Henry the Navigator in the early 15th Century.