Bartolomeu Dias

Bartolomeu Dias (c. 1450–1500) was a Portuguese mariner who in 1481 helped build the fort of São Jorge da Mina in the Gulf of Guinea.

Sent by John II to probe the southern African coast, he rounded the Cape of Good Hope in February 1488, becoming the first European known to sail from the Atlantic into the Indian Ocean.

He later helped design the ships used by Vasco da Gama in 1497. In 1500 he captained a vessel in Cabral's fleet, which reached Brazil, and drowned in a storm off the Cape on 29 May 1500.