DIAS, BARTOLOMEU
Dias, Bartolomeu: translation
(ca. 1450-1500)
Portuguese explorer, the first European captain to round the Cape of Good Hope (1487-1488) and to realize that he had reached the southernmost point of Africa. His accurate reports facilitated the voyage by Vasco da Gama that reached India in 1498. Dias also supervised the construction of the four ships specially built for the later expedition, though he did not receive command of the undertaking. In 1500 he accompanied the second Portuguese expedition destined for India, commanded by Pedro Alvares Cabral, which swept so far to the west that it found the coast of Brazil. Dias drowned in a storm off that coast before the fleet continued to India.