# Bartolomeu Dias

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Canonical page: https://mytuur.com/en/city/cape-town/spot/bartolomeu-dias/

Content updated: 2026-06-22

Bartolomeu Dias is a historic spot in Cape Town, connected with one of maritime exploration’s defining voyages. The setting brings Portugal’s fifteenth-century seafaring history into a city shaped by many cultures. Here, the story centres on the first European mariner to round Africa’s southern tip in 1488. That passage reached the waters beyond the Cape of Good Hope.

The expedition began in Lisbon in August 1487 with three ships and followed Africa’s coastline southward. Limestone markers called padrões recorded Portuguese claims along the route. Fierce storms pushed the fleet into difficult waters, while dwindling supplies and the threat of mutiny tested its crew. Reaching Kwaaihoek, the sailors turned back, carrying news of a sea route towards Asia and future trade with India. The voyage also encouraged later explorers, including Vasco da Gama, to continue by sea. One detail remains especially vivid: the cape first carried the name Cabo das Tormentas, or Cape of Storms, because of its dangerous waters.

- City: [Cape Town](https://mytuur.com/en/city/cape-town/)

## Photos

- ![](https://mytuur-bucket.s3.amazonaws.com/image_BartolomeuDias_672e61df3b5f521d3642e524_0.jpg) — [Image: wikimedia](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Roundabout_Bartolomeu_Dias_jeh.jpg)

Spots like this one are the stops myTuur strings into tours through Cape Town. In the app, each story begins where you stand: walk up to a spot and it starts, read it on screen or listen as you go, then follow the route to the next one.

## What is myTuur?

myTuur is a free city-guide app. Its tours are built from spots, and each spot carries a story that starts when you get there, to read or to listen to as you like.