Dias Lands at Mossel Bay

Date: February 4, 1488 • Location: Mossel Bay, South Africa

Bartolomeu Dias landed in Mossel Bay, becoming the first European known to have sailed around the Cape of Good Hope, the southern tip of Africa, beginning Portuguese influence and trade in the Indian Ocean.

Bartolomeu Dias was a Portuguese mariner and explorer. In February 1488, he became the first European navigator to round the southern tip of Africa and to demonstrate that the most effective southward route for ships is to go diagonally southwest in the open ocean, well to the west of the African coast. His discoveries were later used by Vasco da Gama to establish a sea route between Europe and Asia.