How far did Bartolomeu Dias get?

Answer 1

Portuguese navigator Bartolomeu Dias [c. 1450-May 29, 1500] led an expedition of 1487-1488 around the southern tip of Africa, and back to Portugal. He had intended to follow the sea route all the way to India. But Dias only got as far as the Great Fish River, which is in the eastern Cape province of South Africa. The 400 mile/644 kilometer long river spills into the Indian ocean. At that point, however, his crew insisted upon turning back home. Two years later, Dias was one of the fleet captains to the expedition that was being led by Pedro Alvares Cabral [1467/1468/1469? - c. 1520] to India. Cabral had his 13 ships follow a southwesterly course to avoid the calms off the African coast at the Gulf of Guinea. The expedition ended up going so far to the southwest that, on April 21, 1500, they became the first Europeans known to discover Brazil, which Cabral had called the Island of the True Cross. On May 3, the expedition left, to get back on the sea route to India. Some three weeks later, the expedition reached the southern tip of Africa. But a storm arose as the ships rounded the Cape of Good Hope, which Dias had discovered two years before. Four ships were lost, and Dias was on one of them.