Early Explorers
In 1487, Bartolomeu Dias set sail from Portugal to explore and seek out a sea route for them to the treasures in the East. With his fleet of three ships he sailed down the western coast of Africa, before reaching the Cape of Good Hope he was caught in bad weather and driven from the shoreline. When the storm calmed the fleet sailed east sure that they would again sight the west coast, after sailing for several days and not finding land they turned north. The fleet made landfall at the Gouritz River on the east coast of South Africa in February 1488.
They had rounded the Cape of Good Hope - the first Europeans on record to do so - and knew nothing of it! Rounding the Cape provided hope of a sea route to the East.
It was a decade later that Vasco da Gama left Portugal with his fleet and rounded the Cape reaching India . This made him the first person to navigate the sea route from Europe to the East. Rounding the Cape of Good Hope did indeed provide hope of getting the treasures of the East.
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