Which explorer first sailed around the Cape of Good Hope in 1488?

Bartolomeu Dias was the explorer who first sailed around the southern tip of Africa in 1488. His voyage proved that the Atlantic and Indian Ocean routes could be connected around Africa, transforming European plans for reaching Asia by sea.

Dias left Portugal in 1487 with two caravels and a supply ship. While sailing south along the African coast, his expedition was driven—or possibly deliberately turned—far into the open Atlantic. This unusual route allowed the ships to round the continent’s southern cape before returning toward the African coast. Dias reached the farthest point of his voyage at Kwaaihoek in March 1488.

On the return journey, the expedition passed the cape later known as the Cape of Good Hope. Tradition says Dias originally called it the Cape of Storms, while King John II renamed it to express hope for a sea route to India. Dias did not complete that route himself; Vasco da Gama used the path a decade later, reaching India in 1498. Magellan’s famous circumnavigation came much later, beginning in 1519.