bartolomeu dias journey map

• History Classics
• Your Profile
• Find History on Facebook (Opens in a new window)
• Find History on Twitter (Opens in a new window)
• Find History on YouTube (Opens in a new window)
• Find History on Instagram (Opens in a new window)
• Find History on TikTok (Opens in a new window)
• This Day In History
• History Podcasts
• History Vault

Bartolomeu Dias

By: History.com Editors

Updated: June 6, 2023 | Original: November 9, 2009

In 1488, Portuguese explorer Bartolomeu Dias (c. 1450-1500) became the first European mariner to round the southern tip of Africa, opening the way for a sea route from Europe to Asia. Dias’ ships rounded the perilous Cape of Good Hope and then sailed around Africa’s southernmost point, Cabo das Agulhas, to enter the waters of the Indian Ocean. 

Portugal and other European nations already had long-established trade ties to Asia, but the arduous overland route had been closed in the 1450s due to the Ottoman Empire’s conquest of the remnants of the Byzantine Empire. A major maritime victory for Portugal, Dias’ breakthrough opened the door to increased trade with India and other Asian powers. It also prompted Genoan explorer Christopher Columbus (1451-1506), then living in Portugal, to seek a new royal patron for a mission to establish his own sea route to the Far East.

An Ambitious Plan

Almost nothing is known about the life of Bartolomeu de Novaes Dias before 1487, except that he was at the court of João II, or King John II of Portugal (1455-1495), and was a superintendent of the royal warehouses. He likely had much more sailing experience than his one recorded stint aboard the warship São Cristóvão. Dias was probably in his mid- to late-30s in 1486 when King João II appointed him to head an expedition in search of a sea route to India.

Did you know? According to Greek historian Herodotus of Halicarnassus (c. 484-c. 425 B.C.), Egyptian pharaoh Necho II (d. 595 B.C.) sent Phoenician sailors out from the Arabian Gulf to sail around the African continent. Their journey took three years.

King João II was entranced by the legend of Prester John, a mysterious and probably apocryphal 12th-century leader of a nation of Christians somewhere in Africa whose kingdom included the Fountain of Youth . King João II sent out a pair of explorers, Afonso de Paiva (c. 1460-c. 1490) and Pêro da Covilhã (c. 1450-c. 1526), to search overland for the Christian kingdom in Ethiopia. King João II also wanted to find a way around the southernmost point of Africa’s coastline, so just a few months after dispatching the overland explorers, he sponsored Dias in an African expedition.

In August 1487, Dias’ trio of ships departed from the port of Lisbon, Portugal. Dias followed the route of 15th-century Portuguese explorer Diogo Cão (c. 1450-c. 1486), who had followed the coast of Africa as far as present-day Cape Cross, Namibia. Dias’ cargo included the standard “padrões,” the limestone markers used to stake Portuguese claims on the continent. Padrões were planted at the shoreline and served as guideposts to previous Portuguese explorations of the coast.

Dias’ expedition party included six Africans who had been brought to Portugal by earlier explorers. Dias dropped off the Africans at different ports along the coastline of Africa with supplies of gold and silver and messages of goodwill from the Portuguese to the indigenous people. The last two Africans were left at a place the Portuguese sailors called Angra do Salto, probably in modern Angola, and the expedition’s supply ship was left there under guard of nine men.

Dias' Expedition Around South Africa

In early January 1488, as Dias’ two ships sailed off the coast of South Africa, storms blew them away from the coast. Dias is thought to have ordered a turn to the south of about 28 degrees, probably because he had prior knowledge of southeasterly winds that would take him around the tip of Africa and keep his ships from being dashed on the notoriously rocky shoreline. João and his predecessors had obtained navigational intelligence, including a 1460 map from Venice that showed the Indian Ocean on the other side of Africa.

Dias’ decision was risky, but it worked. The crew spotted landfall on February 3, 1488, about 300 miles east of present-day Cape of Good Hope. They found a bay they called São Bras (present-day Mossel Bay) and the much warmer waters of the Indian Ocean. From the shoreline, indigenous Khoikhoi pelted Dias’ ships with stones until an arrow fired by either Dias or one of his men felled a tribesman. 

Dias ventured further along the coastline, but his crew was nervous about the dwindling food supplies and urged him to turn back. As mutiny loomed, Dias appointed a council to decide the matter. The members came to the agreement that they would permit him to sail another three days, then turn back. At Kwaaihoek, in present-day Eastern Cape province, they planted a padrão on March 12, 1488, which marked the easternmost point of Portuguese exploration.

On the journey back, Dias observed the southernmost point of Africa, later called Cabo das Agulhas, or Cape of Needles. Dias named the rocky second cape Cabo das Tormentas (Cape of Storms) for the tempestuous storms and strong Atlantic-Antarctic currents that made ship travel so perilous.

Back in Angra do Salto, Dias and his crew were aghast to find that only three of the nine men left guarding the food ship had survived repeated attacks by locals; a seventh man died on the journey home. In Lisbon, after 15 months at sea and a journey of nearly 16,000 miles, the returning mariners were met by triumphant crowds. 

In a private meeting with the king, however, Dias was forced to explain his failure to meet up with Paiva and Covilhã. Despite his immense achievement, Dias was never again put in a position of authority. King João II ordered that henceforth, maps would show the new name for Cabo das Tormentas: Cabo da Boa Esperança, or Cape of Good Hope.

Dias was an Advisor to Vasco da Gama

Following his expedition, Dias settled for a time in Guinea in West Africa, where Portugal had established a gold-trading site. João’s successor, Manuel I (1469-1521), ordered Dias to serve as a shipbuilding consultant for the expedition of Vasco da Gama (c. 1460-1524). Dias sailed with the da Gama expedition as far as the Cape Verde Islands, and then returned to Guinea. Da Gama’s ships reached their goal of India in May 1498, nearly a decade after Dias’ historic trip around the tip of Africa. 

Afterward, Manuel sent out a massive fleet to India under Pedro Álvares Cabral (c. 1467-c. 1520), and Dias captained four of the ships. They reached Brazil in March 1500, then headed across the Atlantic toward South Africa and, further ahead, the Indian subcontinent. At the feared Cabo das Tormentas, storms struck the fleet of 13 ships. 

In May 1500, four of the ships were wrecked, including Dias’, with all crew lost at sea. Bartolomeu Dias died on May 29, 1500 off the Cape of Good Hope. He is remembered as a pioneering explorer during the Age of Exploration who opened the sea route to Asia via the Atlantic Ocean and Indian Ocean.

Sign up for Inside History

Get HISTORY’s most fascinating stories delivered to your inbox three times a week.

By submitting your information, you agree to receive emails from HISTORY and A+E Networks. You can opt out at any time. You must be 16 years or older and a resident of the United States.

More details : Privacy Notice | Terms of Use | Contact Us

Bartolomeu Dias

Portuguese explorer Bartolomeu Dias led the first European expedition round the Cape of Good Hope in 1488.

(1450-1500)

Who Was Bartolomeu Dias?

Born in 1450, Portuguese explorer Bartolomeu Dias was sent by Portuguese King John II to explore the coast of Africa and find a way to the Indian Ocean. Dias departed circa August 1487, rounding the southernmost tip of Africa in January 1488. The Portuguese (possibly Dias himself) named this point of land the Cape of Good Hope. Dias was lost at sea during another expedition around the Cape in 1500.

Early Life and African Expedition

Almost nothing is known about the life of Bartolomeu de Novaes Dias before 1487, except that he was at the court of João II, king of Portugal (1455-1495), and was a superintendent of the royal warehouses. He likely had much more sailing experience than his one recorded stint aboard the warship São Cristóvão. Dias was probably in his mid- to late 30s in 1486 when João appointed him to head an expedition in search of a sea route to India.

João was entranced by the legend of Prester John, a mysterious and probably apocryphal 12th-century leader of a nation of Christians somewhere in Africa. João sent out a pair of explorers, Afonso de Paiva and Pêro da Covilhã, to search overland for the Christian kingdom in Ethiopia. João also wanted to find a way around the southernmost point of Africa's coastline, so just a few months after dispatching the overland explorers, he sponsored Dias in an African expedition.

In August 1487, Dias' trio of ships departed from the port of Lisbon, Portugal. Dias followed the route of 15th-century Portuguese explorer Diogo Cão, who had followed the coast of Africa as far as present-day Cape Cross, Namibia. Dias' cargo included the standard "padrões," the limestone markers used to stake Portuguese claims on the continent. Padrões were planted at the shoreline and served as guideposts to previous Portuguese explorations of the coast.

Dias' expedition party included six Africans who had been brought to Portugal by earlier explorers. Dias dropped off the Africans at different ports along the coastline of Africa with supplies of gold and silver and messages of goodwill from the Portuguese to the Indigenous peoples. The last two Africans were left at a place the Portuguese sailors called Angra do Salto, probably in modern Angola, and the expedition's supply ship was left there under the guard of nine men.

Routes, Voyages and Expedition Around South Africa

In January 1488, as Dias' two ships sailed off the coast of South Africa, storms blew them away from the coast. Dias is thought to have ordered a turn to the south of about 28 degrees, probably because he had prior knowledge of southeasterly winds that would take him around the tip of Africa and keep his ships from being dashed on the notoriously rocky shoreline. João and his predecessors had obtained navigational intelligence, including a 1460 map from Venice that showed the Indian Ocean on the other side of Africa.

Dias' decision was risky, but it worked. The crew spotted landfall on February 3, 1488, about 300 miles east of present-day Cape of Good Hope. They found a bay they called São Bras (present-day Mossel Bay) and the much warmer waters of the Indian Ocean. From the shoreline, Indigenous Khoikhoi pelted Dias' ships with stones until an arrow fired by either Dias or one of his men felled a tribesman. Dias ventured further along the coastline, but his crew was nervous about the dwindling food supplies and urged him to turn back. As mutiny loomed, Dias appointed a council to decide the matter. The members came to the agreement that they would permit him to sail another three days, then turn back. At Kwaaihoek, in present-day Eastern Cape province, they planted a padrão on March 12, 1488, which marked the easternmost point of Portuguese exploration.

On the journey back, Dias observed the southernmost point of Africa, later called Cabo das Agulhas, or Cape of Needles. Dias named the rocky second cape Cabo das Tormentas (Cape of Storms) for the tempestuous storms and strong Atlantic-Antarctic currents that made ship travel so perilous.

Back in Angra do Salto, Dias and his crew were aghast to find that only three of the nine men left guarding the food ship had survived repeated attacks by locals; a seventh man died on the journey home. In Lisbon, after 15 months at sea and a journey of nearly 16,000 miles, the returning mariners were met by triumphant crowds. In a private meeting with the king, however, Dias was forced to explain his failure to meet up with Paiva and Covilhã. Despite his immense achievement, Dias was never again put in a position of authority. João ordered that henceforth, maps would show the new name for Cabo das Tormentas--Cabo da Boa Esperança, or Cape of Good Hope.

Advisor to Vasco da Gama

Following his expedition, Dias settled for a time in Guinea in West Africa, where Portugal had established a gold-trading site. João's successor, Manuel I, ordered Dias to serve as a shipbuilding consultant for the expedition of Vasco da Gama.

Afterward, Manuel I sent out a massive fleet to India under Pedro Álvares Cabral, and Dias captained four of the ships. They reached Brazil in March 1500, then headed across the Atlantic toward South Africa and, further ahead, the Indian subcontinent. At the feared Cabo das Tormentas, storms struck the fleet of 13 ships. In May 1500, four of the ships were wrecked, including Dias', with all crew lost at sea.

QUICK FACTS

• Name: Bartolomeu Dias
• Birth Year: 1450
• Birth Country: Portugal
• Gender: Male
• Best Known For: Portuguese explorer Bartolomeu Dias led the first European expedition round the Cape of Good Hope in 1488.
• Nacionalities
• Death Year: 1500
• Death date: May 29, 1500
• Death Country: South Africa

We strive for accuracy and fairness. If you see something that doesn't look right, contact us !

European Explorers

Christopher Columbus

10 Famous Explorers Who Connected the World

Sir Walter Raleigh

Ferdinand Magellan

Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo

Leif Eriksson

Vasco da Gama

Giovanni da Verrazzano

Jacques Marquette

René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle

• Society and Politics
• Art and Culture
• Biographies
• Publications

Bartolomeu Dias

Bartolomeu Dias, also spelt: Bartholomew Diaz. He was a Portuguese navigator whose discovery in 1488 of the Cape of Good Hope showed Europeans there was a feasible route to India around the storm-driven southern tip of Africa. He also discovered for Europe the south-east trade winds and the westerlies to the west and south of South Africa, thus establishing the wind system for those who sailed after him. King João II of Portugal financed Dias’s expedition. Dias took part in Cabral's expedition that discovered Brazil, but Dias’s ship sank during a storm. It is very unlikely that Dias was, in fact, the first mariner to round the Cape. The great merchant traders of antiquity ¾ the Phoenicians, Egyptians, Greeks, Arabs, Chinese and Indians ”” all made journeys down the west and east African coasts, and one expedition went right around the continent.

Nevertheless, the voyage of Dias was fraught with consequences, for at the time the search for a passage to the Indies was a move in the great struggle between the Moslem world and Christendom. The epoch-making voyage of Dias not only opened up the sea route to the Indies; it paved the way for contact between Europe, Africa, and the East, greatly extending the Portuguese sphere of influence. Early information about Dias's voyage is limited because all the actual records of his voyage perished when the castle of São Jorge, in which they were housed, burnt down after the Lisbon earthquake of 1755.

However, historians have reconstructed story from chronicles written in the sixteenth century, from near-contemporary maps, and from the stone pillars or padroes which the explorers raised on headlands along the African coast during their voyages, and from old rutters (sailing instructions). The route-book of Duarte Pacheco Pereira has been particularly useful. Pereira wrote the Esmeraldo de Sito Orbis, in which he records his own adventures on the Guinea coast. He wrote from direct experience because Dias rescued him in 1488 on his return voyage after the discovery of the Cape of Good Hope.

Dias's squadron of three ships departed from the River Tagus below Lisbon in August 1487. The name of the flagship has not survived, but we do know that Dias’s pilot was Pero de Alenquer. The second caravel was the São Pantaleao, commanded by João Infante and piloted by Alvaro Martins. Diogo Dias, Bartolomeu’s brother, commanded the storeship, a square-rigger. Her pilot was João de Santiago, who had previously accompanied Diogo Cão up the Congo River. (See Cão, D.) They also carried with them six African hostages who had been taken to Portugal earlier, some by Diogo Cão. They were to be landed at various places on the coast to praise the greatness of the Portuguese and to explain to local chiefs that the Portuguese king wished to establish friendly relations and make contact with Prester John, the legendary Christian king of Ethiopia. The Portuguese king wished them to know that they were seeking a way to India in order to trade.

To replenish provisions before voyaging beyond the Congo, the squadron called at São Jorge de Mina, the Portuguese fortress on the Gold Coast. They touched on the barren Namibian coast in December, and on the coast of Angola, they transferred provisions and supplies from the storeship and left it at anchor with a caretaker crew of nine men. Beyond Cape Cross, they sailed close to the coast. It is thought that they reached Golfo da Conceicão (Walvis Bay) on 8 December, where it is likely that they anchored. Sailing southward along the Namaqualand coast, they named the Gulf of St Thomas (Spencer Bay) and the Angra das Voltas (Luderitz). Continuing along an inhospitable coast, they sailed into Golfo de Santo Estevão (Elizabeth Bay). On 6 January, Dias named a range of mountains Serra dos Reis (the northern Cedarberg). Beyond this point, tradition has it that they encountered adverse winds. Beating on for some days without sighting land, they unwittingly rounded the Cape of Good Hope in late January 1488. While coasting along the southern shores, they came to the Gourits estuary where they saw Khoikhoi tending their wide-horned cattle. They named this river, Rio dos Vacqueiros (River of the Cowherds).

Much worn by wind and weather, in early February 1488 they pressed on eastwards along the coast and, realizing they must have rounded the continent of Africa, they anchored in a broad bay to replenish their water casks. They named this bay Golfo de São Bras (Mossel Bay). Here, the local inhabitants accepted their trinkets and the sailors were able to buy by barter cattle and sheep. But the Khoikhoi later grew distrustful of the interlopers and attacked them. Snatching up a crossbow, Dias shot one of them dead causing the people to flee in terror. The sailors immediately withdrew to their ships, and the expedition sailed on eastward as far as Bahia da Roca (Algoa Bay) where they anchored in the lee of the largest of three rocky islets crowded with sea birds and sea-lions. On the summit, they raised a wooden cross and celebrated mass. They named the islet ilhéu da Cruz. A few days after leaving Algoa Bay, they came to a river mouth, which Dias called Rio de Infante after João Infante, the captain of the second ship. Here, his men compelled him to return them to Portugal because they were exhausted and frightened and their provisions were running out. Historians first assumed his turning point to be the mouth of the Great Fish, but it is now thought to have been the Keiskamma River at Hamburg, 50 km south-west of East London. On 12 March 1488, a little west of Bushman's River mouth, they dropped anchor at a headland, formerly called False Islet, now known as Kwaaihoek. Here, Dias erected his farthest stone pillar, the padrão de São Gregorio and then resumed his homeward journey. Eric Axelson excavated fragments of this padrão in 1938.

Again, Dias's caravels sailed into Algoa Bay. They anchored at Struisbaai Bay on 23 April, naming it Aguada de San Jorgy. They probably stayed here for some time renewing their supplies of fresh food. They saw Cape Agulhas on 16 May, but were unaware that this unimpressive point was the southern extremity of Africa, as all later maps indicate the Cape of Good Hope as being the tip of the continent. The caravels then sailed into Walker Bay, beyond which lies modern Hermanus. Sailing on past a backdrop of mountain ranges, they rounded Cape Hangklip, and entering False Bay, naming it Golfo dentro das Serras (the bay between the mountains). Dias sailed for some days in False Bay and it is very likely that he saw Table Mountain from here, as the side of the mountain is clearly seen fro this position. On 6 June, Dias erected a second padrão somewhere on the Cape Peninsula. Legend has it, Dias called Cabo Tormentosa ””Cape of Storms ””, and the Portuguese king supposedly renamed it Cabo da Boa Esperanca. Professor Axelson scotches this with reference to Pacheco Pereira's statement:

It was not without good reason that this promontory received the name Cabo da Boa Esperanca because Bartolomeu Dias, who discovered it at the command of the late King João in the year 1488, saw that the coast here turned northwards and north-eastwards towards Ethiopia-under-Egypt and on to the gulf of Arabia, which gave indication and expectation of the discovery of India, and for this reason gave it the name of Cabo da Boa Esperanca.

Moreover, a note in a book of Christopher Columbus records that Dias gave an account to King João of how he navigated `to the promontory called by him Cabo da Boa Esperanca'. (Axelson, 1972: 149). Dias's chroniclers record that a padrão dedicated to São Filipe was placed on a prominence of the Cape of Good Hope on 6 June 1488 (Saint Philip's Day). But no trace of it has ever been found. From the Cape of Good Hope, Dias sailed northward. On St Christopher's Day, 34 July, he rejoined the storeship they had left behind at Luderitz Bay. Of the nine men who had remained, six had been killed in attacks by Khoikhoi hostile to their presence, and the three survivors were so weak that the purser, Fernão Colaco, apparently died with joy at the sight of the returning ships. After setting fire to the store-ship, Dias erected his last padrão to the west of the bay that he called Golfo de São Cristovão. By the 1820s, the limestone pillar had been overthrown.

Professor Axelson identified the original site on the foghorn knoll in 1953 and he recovered many fragments of the padrão at the foot of the hill and in the adjacent channel and shallows. Dias probably put in at the mouth of the Congo. He certainly anchored at Principe Island in the Gulf of Guinea, where he rescued Pacheco Pereira and the survivors of an expedition, which had been sent to explore the waterways entering the Bight of Biafra. These explorers had fallen ill with fever and had lost their vessel after a fruitless search for a navigable route to the land of Prester John.

Dias dropped anchor at the river Tagus in December 1488 after a voyage of sixteen months and seventeen days, and having discovered 350 leagues of coastline unknown to Europeans. According to Christopher Columbus, who said he was present at the time, Dias sketched and wrote in a chart for the king, league by league, the voyage he had just completed. This chart has since vanished.

In the same decade that Dias had reached the Cape of Good Hope, Christopher Columbus had sailed across the Atlantic, also looking for a sea route to the Indies. To settle conflicts between Spain and Portugal arising out of Columbus's first voyage, Pope Alexander VI drew up the Treaty of Tordesillas of 1494 to demarcate the boundaries of the spheres of influence of the Spanish and Portuguese kings.

Nine years were to elapse before the next Portuguese fleet under Vasco da Gama sailed around Africa in search of India. During that time, João II died (1495) and was succeeded by his cousin and brother-in-law, Manuel, who took a keen interest in exploration. Dias accompanied Da Gama's fleet as far as the Cape Verde islands where he left it to command the fort at Mina. Dias gained experience in trading at Mina and brought back with him a cargo of gold and slaves, which were sold to provide finances for further expeditions.

When Da Gama returned to Portugal in 1499 with news about the extent of Muslim gold trading on the east African coast, King Manuel became determined to send a strong armada to take advantage of these discoveries. The fleet, under the command of Admiral Pedro Alvares Cabral, included a squadron of four caravels under Dias, who had been selected to found a fortress-factory at the gold-exporting port of Sofala on the east coast. On 9 March 1500, the armada set out on the Atlantic and turned south-westward to take advantage of the south-east trade winds. Cabral may well have been secretly instructed to explore the western area allotted to Portugal under the Treaty of Tordesillas of 1494. Sailing westward, the fleet came upon the bulge of South America. Dias thus became an active participant in the first discovery of Brazil. In order to test the mood of the local inhabitants Dias was ordered to land a longboat at an anchorage they named Porto Seguro (the present Baia Cabralia). As the natives proved friendly and attractive, the Portuguese went ashore and danced and made merry with them, visited their village, and afterwards celebrated mass on the beach.

Cabral and his fleet sailed from Brazil on 2 May 1500. On 24 May, while re-crossing the South Atlantic, a cyclone suddenly overwhelmed the fleet. Four ships were swallowed up, including the caravel of Bartolomeu Dias.

Cabral secures the sea route to India for Portugal. Cabral eventually found himself off Sofala with only six battered ships, all stripped of sail. Realizing it was now impossible to establish a fortress at Sofala, he pressed on to Cochin and other ports where he traded for spices and formed alliances with the local rajas, finally securing the Portuguese sea route to India that Dias had done so much to establish.

Sources differ on the spelling of Dias's first name Bartolomeu/Bartholomew.

Howcroft, P. (undated)

Bartholomew Dias : esd.k12.ca.us Bartholomew Dias: elizabethan-era.org.uk

https://www.google.com/search?sca_esv=132d1e92a740df08&rlz=1C1CHBF_enZA979ZA979&q=what+is+the+spelling+of+bartolomeu+dias+in+portuguese&spell=1&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj-lcyr2MiEAxXyZEEAHefMA-sQBSgAegQICRAC&biw=1600&bih=765&dpr=1#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:d7a72652,vid:-obcHCCDmKE,st:0

Collections in the Archives

Know something about this topic.

Towards a people's history

Bartolomeu Dias and Vasco da Gama

The Rounding of the Cape

Bartolomeu Dias arrives at the cape

The flurry of Portuguese maritime activity orchestrated by Prince Henry the Navigator in the 14th and 15th centuries culminated in the Holy Grail of seafaring achievements when an unknown sea captain bravely steered his wooden caravel around one of the world’s most fearsome and nautically challenging promontories.

Portuguese expansion into the Atlantic reached new heights in 1488 by the great expedition to the Cape of Good Hope, which was commanded by Bartolomeu Dias (c 1450–29 May 1500). His mission was commissioned during the reign of King João II, who paid Dias an annuity of 6,000 reais  for his services.

Not much is known of the mariner’s experience in tropical waters; in fact, very little is known of Dias’ early life at all. But in August 1487 he set out with two exploring caravels (both light enough to be beached) and a bulkier store ship carrying provisions and a tempting selection of trading goods.

He also transported three large (and very heavy) stone crosses (known as padrões ) with which to claim yet more territory on the African mainland for the Portuguese crown.

His primary target was the vast desert coastline of Namibia beyond the waters of Angola, which had previously been charted by Diego Cão, another of Portugal’s ground-breaking navigators during the Age of Discovery .

Dias sailed on towards the greener coast around the southern tip of Africa, which suddenly turned eastward and at Bushman’s River, some 800 kilometres east of the Cape of Good Hope, the pioneering explorer decided to turn for home after planting his first stone cross ( padrão ) on the 12th of March, 1488.

On the homeward journey, Bartolomeu Dias anchored his ship on the 6th of June (St Philip’s Day) and planted his second stone cross (arguably the most famous landmark of his voyage) right on the Cape of Good Hope itself. He mounted the third and final stone pillar in the Namibian bay of Luderitz.

The success of the mission secured Dias his place in the history books and he finally arrived back in Lisbon in December 1488 after an epic, pioneering voyage covering 6,000 leagues and lasting almost a year and a half.

It was nine years before the new Portuguese king, Manuel I , managed to raise sufficient resources of men and ships to attempt another rounding of the cape. This time it was Vasco da Gama who completed the task begun by Bartolomeu Dias by opening up the first sea route to the East when he arrived in Calicut, India, on the 20th of May, 1498.

Dias contributed to the design and construction of two of the ships used by Vasco da Gama – the São Gabriel and its sister ship, the São Rafael – to sail around the cape and continue on to India.

Dias himself was called back to royal service and appointed to open a gold trading factory at Sofala, a province of Mozambique in south-eastern Africa. 

He was then chosen as one of the captains of the second Indian expedition headed by Pedro Álvares Cabral, the first European to reach Brazil on the 22nd of April, 1500.

Sadly, during a bout of terrible weather, Bartolomeu Dias perished when captaining his ship near the Cape of Good Hope (which, somewhat ironically, he had previously named the ‘Cape of Storms’) on the 29th of May that same year.

Standing proud in the Kwaaihoek Bushman’s River Mouth, the Dias Cross Memorial is a piece of maritime history and a magnet for tourists (particularly those of Portuguese descent) visiting the Cape of Good Hope and other parts of South Africa’s enchanting southern shoreline.

Need more inspiration for your next visit? Why not listen to or download the Portugal Travel Show, the podcast for people planning a trip to sunny Portugal…

Bartolomeu Dias Voyage

This is a map of bartolomeu dias's journey looked like, and three main points..

Bartolomeu Dias

Portuguese explorer.

Bartolomeu Dias was born in 1450, and died at sea, near Cape of Good Hope on May 29th, 1500.  He was a Portuguese  navigator and explorer who led the first European  expedition  to round the  Cape of Good Hope  (1488), opening the sea route to  Asia  via the  Atlantic  and  Indian  oceans. He is usually considered to be the greatest of the Portuguese pioneers who explored the Atlantic during the 15th century.

Dias’s exploration of the Cape of Good Hope had profound implications for trade and navigation. By proving the existence of a viable sea route to the Indian Ocean, he paved the way for subsequent Portuguese expeditions and the establishment of trade networks in Asia. Dias’s achievements were instrumental in solidifying Portugal’s position as a major maritime power and contributed to the expansion of European influence and trade in the East.

The legacy of Bartolomeu Dias as an explorer and navigator is celebrated for his pioneering journey around the Cape of Good Hope. His courage, determination, and seafaring skills opened new possibilities for trade and exploration, shaping the course of maritime history. Dias’s accomplishments continue to be honored, serving as a testament to the spirit of exploration and the quest for knowledge that characterized the Age of Discovery.

• Documentary
• Entertainment
• Building Big
• How It’s Made
• Monarchs and Rulers
• Travel & Exploration

Bartolomeu Dias: Navigating the Cape of Good Hope

Bartolomeu Dias, a pioneering Portuguese navigator and explorer, is an iconic figure in the annals of maritime history. As an explorer, Dias was the first European mariner to round the southern tip of Africa. In 1488 he proved that the Atlantic Ocean connected with the Indian Ocean, opening up the lucrative sea route between Europe and Asia.

The fifteenth century was the beginning of the Age of Discovery and some of the greatest maritime explorers in history – such as John Cabot, Vasco da Gama, Piri Reis, Zheng He, Christopher Columbus, Amerigo Vespucci and Pedro Álvares Cabral – sailed the world’s oceans in search of new worlds. One of the lesser known of the great fifteenth century explorers was Bartolomeu Dias, but his achievements were no less extraordinary.

Portugal and other European countries had had trade ties with Asia for centuries, but the overland route, including the famed Silk Road, was arduous and fraught with peril in the form of hostile terrain, bandits, and political instability. In contrast, the sea route around the Cape of Good Hope, despite its own challenges and risks, offered a more direct and potentially faster way to reach Asia from Europe.

Dias’s successful navigation of this route was a critical turning point, paving the way for Europe’s naval expansion and enhanced trade with Asia. This significant achievement in global exploration also laid the foundation for future expeditions to uncover new territories and prospects.

This is the remarkable story of the voyage of Bartolomeu Dias.

The Early Life of Bartolomeu Dias

Bartholomew Diaz on his voyage to South Africa, 1878. (Credit: Fine Art Images/Heritage Images via Getty Images)

Unlike most of the well-known fifteenth and sixteenth century explorers whose biographies are often well detailed, almost nothing is known about the early life of Bartolomeu Dias, sometimes written as Bartholomew Diaz. It’s likely he was born somewhere between 1450 and 1455, possibly into a family with a maritime background.

One of the issues surrounding the accuracy of information concerning his early life was that there were a number of Portuguese mariners also called Bartolomeu Dias, or similar variations of the same spelling. However maritime historians are broadly agreed that he came from a family with a strong seafaring tradition, and probably served at the court of King João II in a minor capacity.

For Bartolomeu Dias, discovery was in his blood and there’s evidence to suggest he may have been trading ivory along the coast of Guinea in West Africa as early as the late 1470s.

In 1481, it’s likely Dias joined an expedition led by Portuguese explorer Diogo de Azambuja to build a trading post and fortress called Castelo de São Jorge da Mina, known today as Elmina Castle, on the Gulf of Guinea in present-day Ghana. In fact it remains to this day the oldest European-built building south of the Sahara desert.

He also may have been part of the 1482-1484 expedition led by Diogo Cão, another of Portugal’s eminent adventurers, down the west-central African coast and up the Congo River, the second-longest river in Africa.

Cão was also tasked by João II to locate the southern tip of the west coast of Africa but the two expeditions he led ended in failure. In 1486, the king asked Bartholomew Diaz to take on the challenge.

The Remarkable Voyage of Bartolomeu Dias

King John II of Portugal (1455-1495) (Credit: © CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images)

Commissioned by the king in 1486, Bartolomeu Dias’s historic voyage began in July or August 1487, when he set sail from Lisbon with the ambitious goal of finding a sea route to India. A bizarre side note to this astonishing adventure was that the king also charged the explorer Dias and his crew to find a figure known as ‘Prester John’.

Prester John was a legendary Christian king rooted in mediaeval European folklore who was said to reign over a vast kingdom in Asia or Africa. The origins of the myth likely emerged from various historical and mythical sources, including tales of distant Christian kingdoms, such as the Ethiopian Empire, and accounts of the Mongol Empire’s conquests. This mythical king was thought to possess immense wealth and wield considerable military might, making him an attractive figure for European Christians during the Crusades and the subsequent periods of religious and geopolitical conflict.

For Portugal in the late fifteenth century, finding Prester John was pivotal for its strategic and religious goals. As a burgeoning maritime power, Portugal aimed to expand Christianity and access new trade routes to Asia, especially for spices. The alliance with a powerful Christian king like Prester John was seen as a crucial counterbalance against the Muslim-dominated overland trade routes. This quest, though ultimately unfulfilled, spurred explorers like Bartolomeu Dias and Vasco da Gama to make paradigm-shifting maritime discoveries.

A Journey of (Good) Hope

Ruins of Lisbon after the earthquake and fires in 1755 (Credit: Sepia Times / Contributor via Getty Images)

Another fascinating element of the voyage of Bartolomeu Dias was that there are no contemporary records of the trip. An earthquake followed by a tsunami and uncontrollable fires in 1755 in Lisbon destroyed virtually the entire city. Due to this catastrophe, almost all the information known about the expedition comes from an historian named João de Barros who documented the trip around sixty years later.

The expedition left Lisbon in three ships – the São Cristóvão, the São Pantaleão, and a supply ship reported to have been captained by Dias’s brother Pêro (named Diogo in later sources) – and they carried with them a set of padrões. These were stone pillars left by Portuguese mariners to mark important land discoveries, serving as records of their exploration and claims of sovereignty.

They headed south along the western coast of Africa. This route was already partially known to the Portuguese due to earlier expeditions and they stopped at various padrões that had been previously planted by other Portuguese explorers. They passed the Canary Islands and the Cape Verde Islands, continuing southwards.

Crossing the Equator

Continuing south, Bartholomew Diaz crossed the Equator. This part of the journey was significant as it led the expedition into the Southern Hemisphere, where the constellations and weather patterns were unfamiliar to European sailors of the time. As an explorer, Dias was in uncharted territory.

By December 1487, they reached Golfo da Conceição, present-day Walvis Bay in Namibia. After carefully navigating their way due south down the Namibian coastline, the ships turned southwest and headed out into the open ocean of the South Atlantic.

There’s no agreed consensus as to why they made such a diversion – they may have been blown off course by storms, or Dias may have had knowledge of more favourable southeasterly winds, but whatever the reason, it worked in their favour.

The Final Push

Unknowingly, this change of course – which took them into the South Atlantic for as many as thirty days – diverted the ships on a broad arc around the southernmost tip of Africa. Eventually, the ships turned northward and rounded the Cape of Good Hope, supposedly without actually seeing it. This was a pivotal moment as it proved that the Atlantic and Indian Oceans were connected and that a sea route to India was possible.

The voyage of Bartolomeu Dias was over a thousand miles further than any previous Portuguese journey had accomplished. On March 12, 1488, they reached as far as the mouth of the Boesmans River, and planted the Padrão de São Gregório.

The Journey Back

View Of The Cape Of Good Hope In South Africa. (Credit: Heritage Art/Heritage Images via Getty Images)

The Bartolomeu Dias discovery was an astonishing accomplishment. Indeed, it’s said he wanted to push on to reach India, but his travel-weary crew, notwithstanding the fact that supplies were low, wanted to return home to Portugal.

Retracing their route, Dias and his crew finally saw the Cape of Good Hope which he named Cabo das Tormentas (Cape of Storms). After a sixteen month expedition which took in something close to 16,000 miles, they arrived back in December 1488, supposedly to a muted, if not nonexistent, reception.

The Last Hurrah of Bartholomew Diaz

Vasco Da Gama (Credit: Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

It’s believed that by 1494, Dias was back at the court of João II. In 1497, after not venturing back to the Indian Ocean for almost ten years – due in part to Portugal’s very expensive war with Morocco – Bartolomeu Dias was back on the ocean waves.

As well as assisting with the design of the two ships used by Vasco da Gama to sail to India, Dias went half the way with da Gama, stopping at Cape Verde while the rest of the expedition carried on.

What Happened to Bartholomew Diaz?

Cape Of Good Hope, South Africa. (Credit: Universal History Archive / Contributor via Getty Images)

In 1499, while part of an expedition led by Pedro Álvares Cabral, four ships, including one captained by Bartolomeu Dias, were lost in a huge storm off the Cape of Good Hope. Dias died doing what he loved, in a place that will be forever associated with his name.

Dias was married with two sons, Simão Dias de Novais and António Dias de Novais. A grandson, Paulo Dias de Novais, went on to become the governor of Portuguese Angola and founded Angola’s capital city, Luanda in 1575.

Bartolomeu Dias: Changing the Course of History

Painting of Bartolomeu Dias (Credit: DeAgostini via Getty Images)

Bartolomeu Dias’s historic expedition around the Cape of Good Hope stands as a monumental achievement in the annals of exploration. His daring voyage in 1488 not only redefined European understanding of the world’s geography but also laid the groundwork for the age of global maritime trade and exploration.

By proving the feasibility of a sea route to Asia around the southern tip of Africa, the voyage of Bartolomeu Dias significantly contributed to the decline of overland trade routes and ushered in an era of European expansion. Although his life was cut short in 1500, his legacy endures. He is remembered not just as a pathfinder who opened the seas to his compatriots, but as a pivotal figure who paved the way for the great explorers who followed, most notably Vasco da Gama, and forever changed the course of global history.

You May Also Like

Unraveling the secrets of the betz mystery sphere, the legend of aztlan: mythical origin of aztec civilisation, the beast of gevaudan: france’s legendary nightmare, the piltdown man hoax: unravelling a scientific scandal, explore more, adam’s calendar: humanity’s oldest timekeeper, olivier levasseur: the pirate’s code and buried treasure, skyquake: the mysterious sounds from the sky, who started april fools’ day, zosimos of panopolis: alchemy and the quest for knowledge, the mystery of costa rica spheres: ancient artifacts unveiled.

The Ages of Exploration

Showing all filtered by type ➤ age of discovery.

“Victoria” ship

“Victoria” (or “Nao Victoria”, as well as “Vittoria”) was a Spanish carrack and the first ship to successfully circumnavigate the world.

Abel Janszoon Tasman

Dutch explorer credited with being the first European to reach what are today known as Tasmania, Australia; New Zealand; and Fiji in the South Pacific.

Abel Janszoon Tasman Interactive Map

Abel Janszoon Tasman’s explorations across the Indian Ocean and into the South Pacific helped him become the first European to discover Tasmania, and confirm Australia as an island continent.

Amerigo Vespucci

Vespucci realized the land he was exploring was a separate continent and not part of Asia, as he and many others believed at the time. The continents of North and South America are named after him.

Amerigo Vespucci Interactive Map

Amerigo Vespucci’s voyages across the Atlantic helped prove that Columbus did not reach Asia, but instead found a New World to the Europeans

Similar to a cross-staff, the backstaff uses the shadow of the sun instead of the direct view of the sun to obtain the altitude.

The earliest barques were noted in Portugal with square sails and oars but by the 18th century, the British Navy used the term bark to cover ships that did not fall in any other categories.

Bartolomeu Dias

He was the first European explorer to sail around the tip of Africa, proving the Atlantic Ocean connects to the Indian Ocean, which opened opportunities for a new trade route to India.

Bartolomeu Dias Interactive Map

Bartolomeu Dias proved for Europeans that Africa is not connected to the bottom of the world, and that the Atlantic and Indian Oceans connect; thus opening a faster trade route to India

The Caravel was slightly smaller than the Carrack and was generally used for carrying cargo and fishing. They were faster than most vessels and therefore favored by pirates.

Carrack or Nao

The Carrack or Nao (meaning ship) was developed as a fusion between Mediterranean and Northern European-style ships.

Christopher Columbus

He is credited for discovering the Americas in 1492, although we know today people were there long before him; his real achievement was that he opened the door for more exploration to a New World.

Christopher Columbus Interactive Map

Christopher Columbus sailed west across the Atlantic Ocean searching for a new sea route to the spices in India. He never made it to Asia, but instead discovered a “New World” to Europeans.

Christopher Newport

Privateer and notable explorer most remembered as the leader of the expedition to Virginia in 1606 and the establishment of the Jamestown Colony

Christopher Newport Interactive Map

Christopher Newport was among the first to the Jamestown Colony in 1607, and through his voyages, resupplied the colony to help keep it growing and sustained

Ferdinand Magellan

He led the first circumnavigation of the world, and is considered the first European to cross the Pacific Ocean

Ferdinand Magellan Interactive Map

Ferdinand Magellan is credited for making the first European voyage around the globe

Used primarily for trade, the Fluit was adept at sailing in colder climates and had a large cargo hold.

Francis Drake

He effectively ended Spanish dominance over the seas and the New World, allowing England to become a global empire.

Francisco Coronado

He explored the southwestern part of the United States, which helped claim the land for Spanish colonization

Francisco Coronado Interactive Map

Francisco Coronado was one of the first Europeans to heavily explore the southwest portion of North America for the Spanish Empire

Francisco Pizarro

Francisco Pizarro contributed to the Spanish empire gaining control over South America by conquering the great Inca Empire in Peru

Francisco Pizarro Interactive Map

Francisco Pizarro’s voyages gave Spain a strong grip in the New World by conquering the Inca Empire and claiming much of South America for the Spanish Empire

The galleon developed in the early 16th century from ships such as the caravel and the carrack.

Giovanni da Verrazzano

He explored much of the North American east coast from North Carolina up to Maine, and was the first European to reach present day New York

Giovanni da Verrazzano Interactive Map

Giovannia da Verrazzano’s voyages took him along most of the eastern coast and surrounding waterways of North America

Henry Hudson

English captain and navigator who discovered the Hudson River, Hudson Strait and Hudson Bay and sailed through parts of the Arctic on his search for a Northwest Passage to China

Henry Hudson Interactive Map

Henry Hudson made several voyages along upper North America and into the Arctic while searching for the Northwest Passage route to Asia

Hernán Cortés

Hernán Cortés was the Spanish conquistador responsible for conquering the Aztec Empire and building Mexico City which secured Spain’s position in the New World.

Hernando Cortes Interactive Map

Hernando Cortes sailed from Spain to the Caribbean and then eventually to Mexico where he went on to conquer the Aztec Empire

Hernando de Soto

Spanish explorer and conquistador who helped conquer parts of Central and South America, explored the southeastern region of the United States, and is credited as the first European to cross the Mississippi River

Hernando de Soto Interactive Map

Hernando de Soto explored and conquered parts of Central and South America, and became credited as the first European to cross the Mississippi River in North America

Jacques Cartier

French navigator and explorer credited with naming Canada, exploring the St. Lawrence River, and Canadian areas that would become French territory

Jacques Cartier Interactive Map

Jacques Cartier’s voyages across the Atlantic Ocean brought him to northern North America which he claimed for France and named “Canada, and explored much of the St. Lawrence River

Juan Ponce de Leon

He was a Spanish explorer who became the first governor of Puerto Rico, the first European known to reach the mainland of present day United States, and he gave Florida its name.

Juan Ponce de Leon Interactive Map

Juan Ponce de Leon sailed and explored the southern east coast of North America for Spain, and gave “Florida” its name

Pedro Álvares Cabral

He was the first European to discover Brazil, and also established a successful sea route to India and a leader in trade there

Pedro Álvares Cabral Interactive Map

Pedro Álvares Cabral claimed Brazil on the eastern side of South America for Portugal

Used at sea as early as the mid 1400s, the quadrant was used by sailors to measure the height of Polaris, the Pole star.

Samuel de Champlain

French explorer and cartographer best known for establishing and governing settlements in Canada, mapping the St. Lawrence River, discovering the Great Lakes, and founding the city of Quebec

Samuel de Champlain Interactive Map

Samuel de Champlain took several voyages to Canada, where he mapped the St. Lawrence River and became the first European to discover the Great Lakes

Sir Walter Raleigh

British explorer who sponsored the first attempt to found a permanent English settlement at Roanoke Island, and later sought to find the legendary city of El Dorado.

Traverse Board

The Traverse Board was used to record the direction a ship was sailing along with the corresponding speed of the ship for the same four hour period.

Vasco da Gama

Portuguese explorer and navigator who found a direct sea route from Europe to Asia, and was the first European to sail to India by going around Africa.

Vasco da Gama Interactive Map

Vasco da Gama was the first European to reach Asia by sailing around the southern tip of Africa

Vasco Nuñez de Balboa

Explorer and Conquistador who was head of the first South American settlement, and the first European to discover the Pacific Ocean

Vasco Nunez de Balboa Interactive Map

Vasco Nuñez de Balboa not only explored parts of South America, became he became the first European to reach the Pacific Ocean

Chinese explorer who commanded several treasure fleets – Chinese ships that explored and traded across Asia and Africa. His expeditions greatly expanded China’s trade.

Zheng He Interactive Map

Zheng He took seven major voyages throughout Asia and to parts of Africa, making him one of China’s greatest explorers

• Original "EXPLORATION through the AGES" site
• The Mariners' Educational Programs

Bartolomeu Dias and his Trip into the Pacific Ocean

Bartolomeu Dias (c. 1450 – 29 May 1500)

Most likely on May 29, 1500 , Portuguese explorer Bartolomeu Dias  died by drowning in a storm near Cabo das Tormentas. Dias sailed around the southernmost tip of Africa in 1488 , reaching the Indian Ocean from the Atlantic , the first European known to have done so.

Little in known about Bartolomeu Dias’ Early Life

Not too much is known about the life and achievements of Bartolomeu Dias. He may have been a descendant of João Dias, who sailed around Cape Bojador with Gil Eanes in 1434, and of the merchant and explorer Dinis Dias, who in 1444, on behalf of Henry the Navigator ,[ 5 ] was the first European to sail to the westernmost point of continental Africa, discovering Cabo Verde and Terra dos Guineus in what is now Senegal. He was a Knight of the royal court, superintendent of the royal warehouses, and sailing-master of the man-of-war, São Cristóvão . In search of the sea route from Europe to Asia, Portuguese expeditions had been exploring the west coast of Africa since the time of Henry the Navigator in the early 15th century.

The Expedition

In October 1487, it is believed that King John II of Portugal appointed him to sail around the southern tip of Africa in the hope of finding a trade route to India. The pilot of his flagship, the caravel São Cristóvão , was Pêro de Alenquer . The second caravel of the fleet, the São Pantaleão, was commanded by João Infante . As pilot he was assisted by Alvaro Martins. A supply ship with the pilot João de Santiago was under the command of Bartolomeu Dias’ brother, Diogo Dias. There were also six Congolese on board, brought to Lisbon by Diogo Cão, with the task of advancing inland along the coast, looking for trade opportunities as well as for the  Prester John , who was a fabled Christian priest and ruler.

Along the West Coast of Africa

Dias’ expedition sailed towards the south along the West coast of Africa and After having sailed past Angola, Dias reached the Golfo da Conceicão by December. It is assumed that he discovered first Angra dos Ilheus and that he was hot by a giant storm afterwards. Dias continued to search the coast again to the east, but found only ocean. Bartolomeu Dias sailed around Cape of Good Hope at a considerable distance to the west and southwest, he turned towards the east, and taking advantage of the winds of Antarctica that blow strongly in the South Atlantic, he sailed northeast. After 30 days without seeing land, he probably entered what he named Aguada de São Brás on 4 February 1488.

An illustration of the São Cristóvão and São Pantaleão, two of the ships in Bartolomeu Dias’ expedition around Africa, from The Sea: its stirring story of adventure, peril & heroism., Volume 2 (1887)

Forced to Turn Back

It is believed that Bartolomeu Dias’ expedition reached its furthest point on 12 March 1488 when they anchored at Kwaaihoek , near the mouth of the Bushman’s River, where a padrão — the Padrão de São Gregório — was erected before turning back. Even though he intended to continue sailing to India, Dias was forced to turn back when his crew refused to go further. During the journey back, Dias observed the southernmost point of Africa, later called Cabo das Agulhas, or Cape of Needles. Dias named the rocky second cape Cabo das Tormentas for the tempestuous storms and strong Atlantic-Antarctic currents that made ship travel so perilous. Further sources of the journey differ and not much has been reported. However, in Lisbon, after 15 months at sea and a journey of nearly 16,000 miles, the returning mariners were met by triumphant crowds. The official report of the expedition has been lost.

Consulting Vasco da Gama

Following his expedition, Dias probably settled for a time in West Africa, where Portugal had established a gold-trading site. Manuel I , ordered Dias to serve as a shipbuilding consultant for the expedition of Vasco da Gama .[ 3 ] Dias sailed with the da Gama expedition as far as the Cape Verde Islands, then returned to Guinea. Da Gama’s ships reached their goal of India in May 1498. Afterward, Manuel sent out a massive fleet to India under Pedro Álvares Cabral , and Dias captained four of the ships.[ 4 ] They reached Brazil in March 1500, then headed across the Atlantic toward South Africa and, further ahead, the Indian subcontinent. At the feared Cabo das Tormentas, storms struck the fleet of 13 ships. In May 1500, four of the ships were wrecked, including Dias’, with all crew lost at sea.

References and Further Reading:

• [1]  Bartolomeu Dias at History.com
• [2]  Bartolomeu Dias at South African History
• [3]  Vasco da Gama and the Route to India , SciHi Blog
• [4]  Pedro Álvares Cabral and the Discovery of Brazil , SciHi Blog
• [5]  Henry the Navigator and the Age of Discoveries , SciHi Blog
• [6] Bartolomeu Dias at Wikidata
• [7]  “Bartolomeu Dias Biography” .  Biography.com
• [8]  Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). “ Bartolomeu Dias “.  Catholic Encyclopedia . New York: Robert Appleton Company.
• [9]  Alchin KL, from Elizabethan Era.  “Bartholomeu Dias”
• [10]  Corey Auen,  HS242: Module 1: The Age of Exploration , Corey Auen @ youtube
• [11]  Ravenstein, E. G. (1900).  “The Voyages of Diogo Cão and Bartholomeu Dias, 1482-88” .  The Geographical Journal .  16  (6): 625–655.
• [12] Timeline of Portuguese Explorers, via DBpedia and Wikidata

Tabea Tietz

Related posts, the adventures of sir richard francis burton in africa, henry the navigator and the age of discoveries, gustav nachtigal and the explorations in africa, gorillas in the mist – the life of dian fossey, leave a reply cancel reply.

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Further Projects

• February (28)
• January (30)
• December (30)
• November (29)
• October (31)
• September (30)
• August (30)
• January (31)
• December (31)
• November (30)
• August (31)
• February (29)
• February (19)
• January (18)
• October (29)
• September (29)
• February (5)
• January (5)
• December (14)
• November (9)
• October (13)
• September (6)
• August (13)
• December (3)
• November (5)
• October (1)
• September (3)
• November (2)
• September (2)
• Entries RSS
• Comments RSS
• WordPress.org

Legal Notice

• Privacy Statement