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Diogo Cäo Portuguese
Explorer Mariner
January 1486 the crew erected a Padrão (stone
cross) at Cape Cross Namibia
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Diogo Cão
History has left us scant information about Diogo Cão, sometimes
referred to as Diogo Cam. It is known that his family lived in the far north of
Portugal in the province of Tres os Montes. The family was respected, and
Diogo's grandfather had distinguished himself in the wars against the Castilians
(Spanish) which brought the freedom and sovereignty of Portugal.
Diogo Cão was reared and trained to be a
warrior both on land and sea, and he first comes to notice in 1480 following a
daring exploit. Records show that in 1479 the Flemish trader Eustace de la Foss
sailed from Bruges in Flanders with a ship full of goods to Seville. Having
concluded this business he involved himself with a group of Spanish merchants who
were about to embark on a daring voyage to seek the rich trade of the West
African Coast. A venture that meant the entering far into waters that
the Portuguese considered theirs, as they had explored and established trade
agreements with the tribal kings. Waters the Portuguese guarded jealously.
The small Spanish fleet made its way secretly along the coast of Africa
and on the night of 5 January 1480, anchored off the Aldeia dos Duas Paaies on
the Guinea Coast. But, they had been spotted and tracked by a Portuguese
naval patrol, of which one of the vessels was commanded by Diogo Cão. During
the early hours of 6 January and taking advantage of cover of the
morning fog, the Portuguese took the Spanish by surprise and confiscated
both their trading goods and ships, one the latter of which Diogo Cão
claimed as his personal prize. But, first a little background to the
Portuguese explorations
Henry The Navigator:
The main instigator of Portuguese naval exploration
had been Prince Henry (1394-1460) the third son of King John 1 (1357- 1433) of
Portugal. Henry was fascinated with the challenge of sea travel. He made his
residence at Sagres near Cape Saint Vincent, and there he built an observatory
and established Europe's first school for navigators. His passion to establish
the Portuguese as the masters of the sea was continued by King Joao II and the
innovations in navigation techniques, cartography and ship design along with an
understanding of the ocean currents and winds gave the Portuguese the advantage
over other nations in seafaring matters.
Henry The Navigator
With Alfonso V |
Mid 15th Century
Lateen rig Caravel |
Portuguese Flag
Mid15th Century |
Astrolabe
late 1400's |
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Erongo Region
21º77'S
- 13º95'E
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The Caravel, A
Revolution In Ship Design:
The Portuguese also develop a new class of ship
that became known as the caravel (Portuguese - Caravel, from the Greek -
Karabos, or Arabic - Qarib). They were small vessels in relationship to
the lumbering galleys that for over two millennium had plied the Mediterranean.
Approximately 16m in length and having two or three short masts that carried
lateen sails. They looked more like an Arab Dhow than a product of Western
Europe, but the craft were seaworthy and were capable of sailing close to the
wind. It was in these fast, robust little ships that the Portuguese began to
explore the West Coast of Africa, and by 1446 they had reached as far South as
the Gambia River.
The Portuguese continued to push further along the African coast and in
1482 established a fortified trading station, Sao Jorge de Mina, on the Gold
Coast, present day Ghana. In the meantime, Diogo Cão must have established
for himself a solid reputation at the Court of King Joao II, for he was
chosen to command a voyage of exploration that would expand Portuguese
influence along the Coast of Africa even further.
Diogo Cão the first voyage
The fleet consisted of two lateen rigged caravels, and
it is known that Pero Dias, the brother of Bartolomeu Dias, sailed on this voyage as one
of Diogo Cão's lieutenants. The ships were the first to carry Padròes, stone
crosses that were to be used as markers that would indicate the new lands
had been claimed in the name of Christ and Portugal. The fleet took on
supplies at São Jorge de Mina and sailed
into previously uncharted territories. They would have carefully
recorded the changing night sky and were the first Europeans to cross the
equator and see the Southern Cross. Diogo Cão
charted at latitude 1º 52' S Cabo da Santa
Catarina. Following their discovery of a great river known to the local as
the Zaira, they named it the Rio Poderosa (Congo) and it is thought they
explored the river as far asthe Yellala Falls (110 miles inland). Sailing to
the south side of the mouth of the Congo River, they erected their first
Padrão, which they dedicated to St. George, on a high point they called São
Antonio de Zaira (now known as Shark Point).
The fleet sailed further along the coast until they reached
the present day Cape Santa Maria which lays
about 180km south of Lobito, in Angola. Here they erected the second Padrão
at 13º29'S and named the place Cabo do Lobo
and dedicated this Padrão to São Agostinho. It was from about this point
that Diogo Cão turned and made his way back to Portugal to report his findings. On 8 April 1484 King Joao II knighted Diogo Cão and
awarded him an annuity. The heraldry sign of Diogo Cão depicts the sea and
Padròes.
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Coat of Arms of Diogo Cão
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The Second Voyage Of Diogo Cão:
In 1485 Diogo Cão was commissioned again to command
a second expedition along the west coast of Africa. Thought to comprise of two
ships, the mission was two-fold. Explore further south and find the trade route
to the East, and the Church's added request to find the land of the fabled
Prester John. The date of the commencement of the voyage is unknown, but by the
closing of the year the ships were n early January 1486 Diogo Cão erected a
third Padrão at Cape Negro on the Angolan coast. The explorers then pushed
further South and soon encountered the forbidding and often mist shrouded
Namibian desert coastline. They eventually laid anchor in a bay where thousand
of seals had made their settlement. The tired and hungry mariners would have
caught some provisions, and it was here that Diogo Cão decided to erect his last Padrão on a rocky outcrop that
he named Cabo da Padrão and declared this sparse and empty land for
Christ and Portugal. It bore the inscription,
"in the year
6685 of the creation of the Earth and 1485 after the
birth of Christ the most excellent and most serene King Dom Jao II
of Portugal ordered this land to be discovered and his Padrão to be
placed by Diogo Cão, gentleman (or knight) of his house."
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There is no exact record of the events
that followed the landing at Cape Cross. Diogo Cão died while on
this voyage. It is possible the ship sailed south for a day or so and then with the demise of the captain
about-turned and sailed home to Portugal. Other thoughts are that Diogo Cão may have died later during the voyage while making a
further
exploratory journey up the Congo River.
Early charts beginning with
the Germanus map of 1489 and Cantino map of 1502 do show the place as
being named Cabo da Padrão, but exactly when and by whom Cape Cross was named is
unknown. By the early nineteenth century several European maps had the area
marked as being Cape Cross.
Cabo da Padrão is marked about halfway on the map section to the left
The Padròes (Stone Crosses):
The discoveries being made along the West-African coast were the most impressive of the times
and Pope Sixtus V proclaimed Prince Henry's nephew King John II
(1455-1495) as being the "Lord of all of the African Possessions". The
king ordered that Padròes commemorative pillars of limestone depicting
the coat of arms of Portugal and surmounted with a Cross to be carved.
These were to be erected at prominent places to serve as landmarks and
also to proclaim sovereignty for Christianity and Portugal. The Padròes
were about 3,5m in height and weighed 360kg
Acknowledgements and further reading: H1, H2, H12, H15, H16, P1
The Cape Cross Site is Managed by the Namibia Ministry
of Environment and Tourism. Permits to visit the Cape Cross site are available
at the office on-site. Opening hours are: 10h00 to 17h00
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Portuguese Erecting
Padrão at Cape Cross
Section of Cantino Map
Replica Padrão
at Cape Cross |
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Of Interest: Martin Behaim (of Nuremberg) Served King John II of
Portugal from 1480 as a Member of the Council to Further Navigation. This
Astronomer, Cartographer, Geographer and Navigator introduced several important
improvements to early navigational equipment and tables and could have been involved in the
planning of the Voyages of Diogo Cão. It is proposed, though highly unlikely, that Martin Behaim
may have sailed on the second voyage of Diogo Cäo (1485-1486)
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Diogo Cão at Cape Cross
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