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Bartolomeu Dias Trivia Questions

How much do you really know about Bartolomeu Dias? Below are 8 true or false statements. Click each one to reveal the answer and explanation.

1.

Dias personally discovered the sea route to India during his first voyage.

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Easy
✗ FALSE

Dias never reached India; he only rounded the Cape. Vasco da Gama completed the route to India a decade later.

2.

Dias named the Cape of Good Hope the 'Cape of Storms' before King John II changed it.

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Medium
✓ TRUE

Dias called it Cabo das Tormentas due to rough weather; King John II renamed it Cabo da Boa Esperança for the trade route promise.

3.

Bartolomeu Dias originally planned to sail to India but turned back after rounding the Cape.

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Medium
✓ TRUE

Dias's 1488 expedition aimed for India, but his crew forced him to turn back at the Great Fish River, before India was reached.

4.

Dias's expedition was the first to map the entire African coastline.

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Medium
✗ FALSE

Dias mapped only the southern tip; earlier explorers like Prince Henry's captains had already charted West Africa.

5.

Dias later accompanied Vasco da Gama on his first voyage to India.

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Medium
✗ FALSE

Dias helped build da Gama's ships but did not sail with him; he died in 1500, years after da Gama's 1498 voyage.

6.

Dias served as a knight in the court of King John II of Portugal.

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Hard
✓ TRUE

Dias was a fidalgo (knight) of the royal household, and King John II personally approved his expedition.

7.

Dias died when his ship was wrecked in a storm off the coast of South Africa.

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Hard
✓ TRUE

In 1500, Dias perished near the Cape of Good Hope when his ship sank during a storm while part of Cabral's fleet to India.

8.

Dias was the first European to sail around the southern tip of Africa.

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Hard
✗ FALSE

Ancient Phoenicians likely circumnavigated Africa centuries earlier, though Dias was the first European in the Age of Discovery.

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