Bartolomeu Dias - Age of Discovery

foreign December of 1487 two caravels were making their way through the vast uncharted waters along the coast of Africa no European had ever been this way they were pushing the final frontier back but were truly sailing into the unknown suddenly a powerful storm hit the ships pushing them from the relative safety of coastal Waters and far out into the open ocean it was at this point when the storms began to Abate that the commander of the ships a nobleman by the name of Bartholomew Diaz made a very fateful decision instead of immediately heading due east to reclaim the site of land he instead allowed the Westerly winds and the ocean currents to guide his vessels nature moved the ships further to the west and then to the South eventually their course would turn them Northeast for 30 extremely tense days as supplies and morale dwindled there was no side of land whatsoever had this been a massive mistake head Bartholomew Diaz condemned his men to his low death on the ocean then suddenly on February 3rd 1488 emerging from the distant Horizon land was finally spotted the two ships quickly made their way to disembark but once they made landfall the real question remained where exactly had they arrived at was this just another Bay on the seemingly endless Coastline of Africa was the ptolemaic principle which stated that the Indian Ocean was a closed off inaccessible body of water correct or had this Portuguese explorer just discovered the tip of Africa and in so doing had uncovered The fabled Passage to India with all the wealth that it held [Music] [Music] in the early part of the 1400s Portugal had taken a commanding lead on exploration Prince Henry known as Henry the Navigator had been a massive proponent and Patron of exploration and technological development he had set the standard that his countrymen would adopt and eagerly follow by the time of his death in 1460 Portuguese ships had discovered and colonized The Madeira Islands the Azores and the Cape Verde archipelago the western coast of Africa had been explored to the sub-Saharan regions but Portugal was only getting warmed up in 1471 for now Gomez arrived in what is now modern-day Ghana to discover a flourishing gold trade which gave rise to the name the Gold Coast by 1482 the mouths of the mighty Congo River had been discovered by Diogo cow this Portuguese explorer would continue South and by 1486 he had reached Cape cross in present-day Namibia as the Portuguese made their way down the coast of Africa Forts and trading posts were established harbors and ports were constructed and Pedros which were Stone pillars crowned with a cross that served as markers were erected nearly to the Tropic of Capricorn however despite these successes for the king of Portugal this was simply not enough the great grandson of John the first who had founded the house of aviz the ruling dynasty of Portugal at that time was the man named John II when his father died in 1481 he became king of Portugal and proved to be a very capable ruler John II was a renaissance man alongside his father he had conquered lands in North Africa taking the city of Tangier and had distinguished himself at the Battle of Toro against Castile in 1474 but aside from Simply Leading Men into combat John had a very talented mind for exploration and commerce this Portuguese King was renowned for having two major obsessions first they wanted to find a way to get to India and second he wanted to reach the legendary pressner John India made complete economic sense it was the source the spice trade after all and therefore it would be the source of immense wealth Pastor John was the epitome of the crusading desire to Vanquish Islam this fabled Christian King was said to have an incredible Treasury and vast armies under his command now theoretically speaking if only the Christians of the West could reach him then he could unleash his forces and perhaps the caliphate could be crushed by the 15th century it was determined that prester John was no longer in Asia but now someplace in Africa Roger Crowley in the book conquerors explains just how devoted King John was to accomplishing these goals quote the king had gathered around him a loyal generation a highly talented pilot Sailors and adventurers chosen for their talents rather than their social status in 1486 he energetically planned a three-pronged approach to solving the India problem and locating prester John first and foremost a focused Expedition would attempt to sail around Africa second along the way it would drop off portuguese-speaking native Africans to seek information about the legendary Christian King in the interior of the continent and third an Overland expedition to the east would be conducted using Arabic speakers who could penetrate the heartlands the Indies to learn about spices Christian Kings and the possibility of sailing routes to the Indian Ocean John appointed a knight of his household by the name of Bartholomew Diaz to command the next Expedition down the African Coast for the Overland Expedition the king recruited pero de coviha koviha was about 40 years old a quick-witted multi-talented Adventurer of lowly birth he was also an Adept swordsman a loyal servant to the Portuguese king and a spy it was kovija and another Arabic speaker Alfonso de paiva to whom the king now entrusted this daring Overland operation end quote in the spring of 1487 koviha and paiva set out from Barcelona and sailed across the Mediterranean to arrive in roads in the city of Rhodes they purchased an entire ship's hold worth a honey so they could pass as Merchants they then promptly made their way South arriving at the Port of Alexandria and Egypt the two Blended in and immediately got to work Gathering intelligence spying on the incoming Merchants to discover any hint of the trade routes to the east but shortly after they arrived both of the King's Men were bedridden with fever meanwhile far to the West Bartholomew Diaz Was preparing a journey of his own at the time he would know it but this Voyage he was about to undertake would have a dramatic effect on world history Bartholomew Diaz was born about 1450 into the aristocracy he had the favor at King John II and was a member of his court he came from a line of sailors and had gained a considerable amount of experience on other Expeditions along the African Coast in 1482 he joined an expedition to present-day Ghana to establish the Fortress of el Mina on the Gold Coast which by the way gave Portugal a very firm hand on the gold trade it has been suggested that Diaz was also a part of cow's discovery of the Congo River sadly very little is known of Diaz's exploits in early life as the Portuguese kept his records as state Secrets likely to keep that information from falling into the hands of Rivals and later an earthquake in 1755 destroyed those archives in July or August the 1487 Diaz was given three ships by the crown two were caravels the Sao pantalio and his Flagship which he personally commanded the Sao cristavo the third was a square rig support ship which Diaz placed his brother pero in charge of on board the ship's Diaz had brought several padraos that he would embed his markers and six African slaves four women and two men the Africans had been taught Portuguese had been adorned in fine clothing and were given offerings of silver and gold they would be dropped off at various spots in Africa to serve as ambassadors to proclaim the glory of the Portuguese than to inquire about prester John their fate however is lost to history and it would seem that little was gained by this endeavor Diaz set out from Lisbon he stopped in Ghana at The almina Fortress to take on more supplies and then continued further south eventually he passed the last bedrao placed at Cape Cross by Diogo Cal the year before on December 8 1487 he arrived at walvis Bay in present-day Namibia where the supply ship and nine men were parked most of the supplies were transferred to the caravels and the voyage would continue on it was near New Year's day that the two caravels sailed into a storm which pushed them from the coast into open Waters at which time a Monumental Choice was made Roger Crowley explains quote the pilots took a startling decision at about 29 degrees south they gave up the attritional battle with the adverse winds and currents instead they turned their ships away from the shore lowered their sails to half-mast and flung themselves out into the void of the Westerly ocean with the counter-intuitive aim of sailing East eventually no one knows exactly why this happened it may have been a maneuver work down in advance or it may have been a moment of genius and intuition a gut feeling about the Atlantic winds based on previous experiences whatever the logic this was a decisive moment in the history of the world end quote for 30 days Bartholomew Diaz and his men were alone on an endless ocean the winds and the currents carried them to the west and then to the South the weather became colder and colder as they traversed into the southernmost latitudes eventually the currents and the wind began to push them to the Northeast on February 3rd 1488 after being a month at Sea the exhausted and frightened Crews saw Land once again they came ashore at a place that would be called the Bay of the cowherds later to be known as mosul Bay the question on everybody's mind was well where were they no European had ever ventured this far there simply was no other points of reference undaunted Diaz ordered his men to sail due east they traversed for another 200 miles along the coast then irrefutably the coast began to turn to the Northeast and the weather began to get warmer Diaz knew then and there that he had made it around Africa on March 12 1488 Diaz anchored at a bay near a rocky Headland named kwaiihoek where he placed his furthest bedrao his supplies were now critical and his men's morale was ready to break into open Mutiny however he and his men agreed to travel for three more days they arrived at a river they would call The Rio Infante for Bartholomew Diaz this was as far as his voyage would take him as he sailed back he saw his last bedrao the historian Joelle de Barros would later say of him quote when he departed from the pillar he was overcome by great sadness and deep emotion as if he was saying goodbye to a son banished forever he had remembered the great danger faced by him and all his men how long they had journeyed to come only to this point then that God had not granted him the main prize he saw the land of India but could not enter it like Moses in the promised land end quote [Music] meanwhile on the very other end of Africa paiva and koviha had recovered from their illnesses and had continued on their mission for the king they traveled down the Nile to Cairo and there they took a caravan across the desert to the Red Sea they boarded ship and traveled to the city of Aden and Yemen at the end of the Arabian peninsula at Aiden the two men decided to part ways paiva would travel to Ethiopia to track down prester John koviha on the other hand found his way across the Arabian Desert he then boarded ship once again and after a week on the ocean he arrived in India at the city of Calicut in Autumn of 1487. he had accomplished his mission for the king of Portugal Calicut was a major Hub of the spice trade koviha would continue his Trek recording everything as he went from the water currents to the prevailing winds to the cities and the people that he encountered he moved along the western Seaboard of India and by Spring of 1488 he was in Goa eventually he embarked on another ship crossed the Persian Gulf and arrived at ormuz which happened to be another Hub at the spice trade it wasn't until 1491 four years after koviha had left Portugal that he arrived back in Cairo surprisingly two Portuguese Messengers that had been dispatched by the king managed to find him they would take his valuable report back to King John II however kovias travels had made him a man that was no longer capable of going home he soon discovered that His companion paiva had died while seeking prester John Roger Crowley describes koviha's amazing journey and Journey's end quote coviha seems to have been bitten by incurable wonderlust he decided to finish off paifa's business heavily disguised he took a tour the holy places of Islam Mecca and Medina before striking out for the Ethiopian Highlands here he became the first Portuguese to meet the man they would know as prester John the Christian Emperor of Ethiopia the current ruler iskender received him honorably but refused to let him leave he was discovered in the country 30 Years Later by a Portuguese expedition to whom he would tell his story he remained in Ethiopia until the day he died end quote [Music] meanwhile going back to 1488 Bartholomew Diaz was making his return Journey on his Passage West he became the first European to see the Cabo dos tormentas the Capa storms named after its incredibly unpredictable weather he then rounded the tip of Africa again making his way North he arrived at his Supply ship in Namibia in July of 1488 of the nine men he had stationed there only three remained the supply ship itself was unsalvageable the undaunted Explorer continued north passing by bays and capes that were now well known to the Portuguese he arrived back in Lisbon in December of 1488. altogether he had traveled for over a year and a half his voyage was estimated to be approximately 16 000 miles which by the way the circumference of the earth is just shy at 25 000. when he arrived back he was celebrated as being the first European to round the tip of Africa and firmly disprove the ptolemaic doctrine but King John II did not seem happy with him it's unknown exactly what was said but perhaps there was some resentment that he didn't make it to India either way Bartholomew Diaz seemed to have fallen out of favor with the Sovereign at this point he would never be the leader of an expedition again but that's not to say that the story of Diaz ends here in retrospect the king did make it a point to rename Diaz's Cabo Das tormentas the Capa storms and instead named it the Cape of Good Hope this may have seemed like a simple PR move but perhaps for the king it was the challenge to his countrymen to see who could push the limit further to the credit the Portuguese sense of exploration that challenge would soon be accepted based on the work of Diaz paiva and kovija a new round of explorers would seek out that sea Passage to India which in the end was simply too tempting and ambitious the goal to pass up folks I want to give a big shout out to the Explorers podcast by Matt Green as I've mentioned before there's not that much known about Bartholomew Diaz this podcast is extremely well done and was helpful in my research Matt was extremely kind to send me his material if you get a chance check out the Explorers podcast I will post the link in the description of the video [Music] thank you [Music] foreign

Channel: Flash Point History

Views: 147,507

Keywords: Age of Discovery, Age of exploration, Henry the Navigator, Prince Henry, Portugal, Portuguese, explorers, explore, discovery, exploration, Sagres, history, biography, naval exploration, africa, Portuguese empire, empire, colonization, plantation, padrao, Bartolomeu, Dias, Bartolomeu Dias, round the tip of africa, India, passage, documentary

Id: mGmjXN-AL3o

Length: 18min 50sec (1130 seconds)

Published: Thu Jul 13 2023