Bartolomeu Dias

Hello. My name is Bartolomeu Dias, and I was a sailor. I came from a sunny country called Portugal. I loved the big, blue ocean very much. I always dreamed of sailing to faraway places. I loved to feel the salty spray from the waves on my face. It was so much fun to watch the dolphins jump and play in the water.

One day, the king of Portugal, King John the 2nd, asked me to go on a very important trip. This was in the year 1487. The king wanted me to take my big wooden ships and find a new way to sail to a special place called India. My job was to sail all the way down the coast of a big land called Africa. It was a very long and mysterious trip that no one from my home had ever finished before.

My crew and I sailed on our ships for a very long time. We sailed south and south and south. After many weeks, we reached the very bottom tip of Africa. But then, a giant storm surprised us. The wind howled loudly and the big waves crashed over our ships for many days. It was a little scary, but we were all very brave. When the storm finally stopped in 1488, we saw that we had done it. We had sailed all the way around the bottom of Africa.

We first named that place the 'Cape of Storms' because of the big storm we sailed through. But the king changed the name to the 'Cape of Good Hope.' He said our trip gave everyone hope that we could find a new path to other lands. I lived to be about 50 years old and I kept exploring the seas. People remember me because my journey helped create a new map of the world. It helped other sailors find their way on their own amazing adventures, too.