Bartolomeu Dias

Bartolomeu Dias, who died on 29 May 1500, was a Portuguese mariner and explorer who, in February 1488, became the first European navigator to round the southern tip of Africa. His voyage demonstrated that the most effective southward route for ships bound around the continent was to sail diagonally southwest into the open ocean, well to the west of the African coastline, rather than hugging the shore, a technique that took advantage of prevailing winds and currents. Dias' discoveries and the route he charted were later used by Vasco da Gama to establish the first all-sea trading route between Europe and Asia, opening the passage that would define Portugal's maritime empire in the Indian Ocean for the following century.