Bartolomeu Dias Rounds the Cape of Good Hope
A storm blows a Portuguese fleet around the tip of Africa and proves a sea route to India is possible
Quick facts
- Captain
- Bartolomeu Dias
- Sponsor
- King John II of Portugal
- Original name
- Cape of Storms
- Renamed
- Cape of Good Hope
What happened
Bartolomeu Dias left Lisbon in August 1487 with two caravels and a supply ship, commanding the Sao Cristovao himself. Sailing down the African coast, his fleet was driven far out to sea by storms; when Dias turned east expecting to find land, there was none, so he turned north and made landfall past the continent's southern tip without realizing he had rounded it. Dias named the point the Cape of Storms for the weather that nearly wrecked his ships. King John II later renamed it the Cape of Good Hope, since it opened the prospect of a sea route to India. Dias got back to Lisbon in December 1488 and reported to the king.
Why it matters
Dias proved that the Indian Ocean connected to the Atlantic around Africa's southern tip, settling a question Portuguese captains had been working toward for seven decades since Ceuta. Vasco da Gama used Dias's route a decade later to sail all the way to India.
How we know
The Mariners' Museum's Ages of Exploration entry on Dias describes the fleet's composition, the storm that pushed the ships past the cape, and the renaming from Cape of Storms to Cape of Good Hope, based on period Portuguese accounts.
Sources
- The Mariners' Museum, Ages of Exploration. Bartolomeu Dias · Reputable sourceexploration.marinersmuseum.org · The domain "exploration.marinersmuseum.org" is on our Reputable source registry. · Link is live and its text matches the event's key terms (Jul 2026)
- EBSCO Research Starters. Bartolomeu Dias Rounds the Cape of Good Hope · General sourceebsco.com · Cited as a "reference" source (no stronger domain match). · Link is live and its text matches the event's key terms (Jul 2026)
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