Historical Sketches.
The exploring expeditions which Dom Henrique never ceased to encourage, but which the greed of those who were in his service had turned into slave-hunting voyages, were resumed after his death. In 1461, Pedro de Cinta, who was sent out by Affonso V, reached the coast of the present republic of Liberia, and in 1471 Fernando Po crossed the equator.
King João II was as resolute as his grand-uncle the Navigator in endeavouring to discover an ocean road to India. He had not indeed any idea of the great consequences that would follow, his object being simply to divert the eastern trade from Venice to Lisbon, which would be effected if an unbroken sea route could be found. In 1484 he sent out a ship under Diogo Cam, which reached the mouth of the Congo, and in the following year the same officer made a greater advance than any previous explorer could boast of, for he pushed on southward as far as Cape Cross, latitude 22°, on the coast of what is now German South-West Africa, where the marble pillar which he set up to mark the extent of his voyage remained standing more than four hundred years.
Expedition under Bartholomeu Dias.
The next expedition sent in the same direction solved the secret concerning the meridional extent of the African continent. It was under the chief command of an officer named Bartholomeu Dias, of whose previous career unfortunately nothing can now be ascertained except that he was a gentleman of the king’s household and receiver of customs at Lisbon when the appointment was conferred upon him, and that he had at some former time taken part in exploring the coast. The historian João de Barros states that at the end of August 1486[6] he sailed from the Tagus with two vessels of about fifty tons each, according to the Portuguese measurement of the time, though they would probably be rated much higher now. He had also a small storeship with him, for previous expeditions had often been obliged to turn back from want of food.
Historical Sketches.
The officers who were to serve under him were carefully selected, and were skilful in their professions. They were: Leitão (probably a nickname) sailing master, and Pedro d’Alanquer pilot of the flag ship; João Infante captain, João Grego sailing master, and Alvaro Martins pilot of the São Pantaleão; and Pedro Dias, brother of the commodore, captain, João Alves sailing master, and João de Santiago pilot of the storeship. On board the squadron were four negresses—convicts—from the coast of Guinea, who were to be set ashore at different places to make discoveries and report to the next white men they should see. This was a common practice at the time, the persons selected being criminals under sentence of death, who were glad to escape immediate execution by risking anything that might befall them in an unknown and barbarous country. In this instance women were chosen, as it was considered likely they would be protected by the natives. It was hoped that through their means a powerful Christian prince called Prester John,[7] who was believed to reside in the interior, might come to learn of the greatness of the Portuguese monarchy and that efforts were being made to reach him, so that he might send messengers to the coast to communicate with the explorers. King João and his courtiers believed that if this mythical Prester John could be found, he would point out the way to India.
Dias, like all preceding explorers, kept close to the coast on his way southward. Somewhere near the equator he left the storeship with nine men to look after her, and then continued his course until he reached an inlet or small harbour with a group of islets at its entrance, the one now called Angra Pequena or Little Bay by the English, Luderitzbucht by the Germans, in whose possession it is at present, but which he named Angra dos Ilheos, the bay of the Islets. The latitude was believed to be 24° south, but in reality it was 26½°, so imperfect were the means then known for determining it. There he cast anchor, and for the first time Christian men trod the soil of Africa south of the tropic.
Visit to Angra Pequena.
A more desolate place than that on which the weary seamen landed could hardly be, and no mention is made by the early Portuguese historians of any sign of human life being observed as far as the explorers wandered. Unfortunately the original journal or log-book of the expedition has long since disappeared, so that much that would be intensely interesting now can never be known. But this is certain, that refreshment there could have been none, except fish, the flesh of sea-fowl that made their nests on the islets, and possibly eggs if the breeding season was not far advanced, though even that would be welcomed by men long accustomed only to salted food. There was no fresh water, so it was no place in which to tarry long. Before he left, Dias set up a marble cross some two metres or so in height, on an eminence that he named Serra Parda, the Grey Mountain, as a token that he had taken possession of the country for his king. For more than three hundred years that cross stood there above the dreary waste just as the brave Portuguese explorer erected it.[8] The place where it stood so long is called Pedestal Point. Here one of the negresses was left, almost certainly to perish, when the expedition moved onward.