Diogo Dias

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Diogo Dias, also known as Diogo Gomes, was a 15th century Portuguese explorer. He discovered some of the Cape Verde islands together with António Noli. Accompanied Pedro Álvares Cabral in the discovery of Brazil, being one of the captains of the fleet. On August 10, 1500, his ship, separated by weather, discovered an island they named after St Lawrence after the saint on whose feast day they had first sighted the island later known as Madagascar. Diogo Dias was a Portuguese navigator (and brother of Bartolomeu Dias) who was the first European to sail to Madagascar, an island off the southeastern coast of Africa. Diogo Dias landed in Madagascar in 1500, and named it the Isle of St. Lawrence. His ship had been on an expedition with Pedro Álvares Cabral and Bartolomeu Dias, but Diogo Dias' ship became separated from the others at the Cape of Good Hope, and then came upon Madagasacar. He then returned to Portugal.