(A) Bartholomew Dias:

• Bartholomew Dias was a Portuguese explorer.
• He was the first European to sail around the southern tip of Africa which the Portuguese would name as the ‘Cape of Good Hope.
• Dias and his crew departed from Lisbon, Portugal in August 1487 with three ships.
• Dias’s expedition sailed along the African coast following the route of Diogo Cao who had earlier sailed along the African coast in the 1480s.
• Near the southern tip of Africa Dias’s 3 ships sailed into a dangerous storm that pushed them away from the African coast. They sailed around the tip of Africa in January 1488 without seeing the land.
• After 30 days without seeing land, he entered what he named Aguada de Sao Bras (Bay of Saint Blaise) in February 1488.
• Dias wanted to continue to India but he was forced to turn back when his crew refused to go further and the rest of the officers favored going back home.
• It was on his return journey that he actually discovered the Cape of Good Hope in May 1488.
• Dias returned to Lisbon in December 1488 after an absence of 16 months and 17 days.

(B) Vasco da Gama:

• Vasco da Gama was a Portuguese explorer and the first European to reach India by sea.
• His initial voyage to India was the first to link Europe and Asia by an ocean route, connecting the Atlantic and Indian Oceans and therefore the West and the Orient.
• This discovery is considered to be a milestone in world history.
• Vasco da Gama’s discovery of the sea route to India opened the way for an age of imperialism in Asia.
• Vasco da Gama landed in Calicut, India on May 20, 1498.
• This boosted the economy of the Portuguese Empire.
• Vasco da Gama led the two of the India Armadas, the first and the fourth.
• In 1524, Vasco da Gama was appointed as Governor of India, with the title of Viceroy, and was ennobled as Count of Vidigueria in 1519.