The Geographical Journal (Journal of the Royal Geographical Society): Volume XVI, No. 6 [‎350v] (53/232)

626 THE VOYAGES OF DIOGO CAO AND BARTHOLOMEU DIAS, 1482-83.
became known as Ilha do Principe, that is the island of Prince John,
the future King John II., who had enjoyed the revenues of the Guinea
trade ever since 1473.*
The Guinea trade by this time had become of importance, but
since the termination in 1475 of the monopoly granted to Diogo Gomes
nothing had been done to expand it ; nor had steps been taken ta
render effective the claims to sovereignty put forth by Portugal. Hence
foreign interlopers made their appearance on the coast, and during the
unfortunate wars with Castile (1475-80) entire fleets sailed from
Spanish ports to share in the profits of the trade there.
One of the first measures taken by King John was to put a stop to
these irregularities. Koyal ships were sent out to protect Portuguese
interests, and on January 20, 1482, Diogo d’Azambuja f laid the founda
tions of the famous Gastello de S. Jorge da Mina, which was the first
Kuropean settlement on the Gold Coast, and the centre of Portuguese
activity up to 1637, when it was captured by the Dutch.
The First Voyage of Diogo Cao, 1482-84.
V hen King John had thus attended to what he conceived to be his
more immediate duty as a king and ruler, he took up the long-neglected
work of his uncle Henry, for he was both “ a good Catholic, anxious for
the propagation of the faith, and a man of an inquiring spirit, desirous
of investigating the secrets of nature.” +
Diogo Cao, whom the king selected to initiate this work of explora
tion, was a “ man of the people.” Genealogists have provided him with
a noble pedigree, but he was in truth the descendant of one Pedro
Affonso Cao, or Cam, who, in the days of King Diniz (1279-1324) had
been one of the bailiffs of Villa Real in Traz os Montes, and of his wife,
Briolanja da Nobrega.§ In the patent of nobility of 1484,| by which
the king “separated him from the common herd,” the past services of
Statis 1C a das Possessoes Portuguezas ’ (Lisbon, 1844), ii. p. v.) makes him at the same
time the discoverer of the Guinea islands, including Annobom, or New Year’s island
ns is and however, was only discovered at a much later period, and independently of
the other islands, for it is absent from Soligo’s chart (1485), and is shown on early charts
as lying o the south or even south-east of St. Thome, when it really lies to the south-
west The island was no doubt discovered by a ship attempting a “short cut” across
PereSTlISO d^loSsTLF r 7 ^ eqUat ° rial CUrrent If Duarte Pacheco
S. Antiio “t - dSl ( ,ed™ b, Kint ’ P ' ^ ,e “ S “ «“• S - Th »^
.hi. -discovery ” toot p„ce rvheAing J„|, n w ’ 09 t0 a58U ' M that
For documents proving this, see ‘ Annaes mar. e col.,’v„ 1845 n 38
t Luciano Cordeiro, ‘ Diogo d’Azambuja.’ Lisbon 189?
t Ruy de Pina,‘Chronica d’El-Rei D. Jotlo (Lisboa 1792) ii t 5 ' n m
( Tsce sL a e and l G r ia n de ^ eSeUdeWereCaValierSOfKiDgJolin ’ 8 ^ ouseh oW0
II See this patent in full in L. Cordeiro’s ‘Diogo Cao’ (1892), p. 75 .