Page 8 - Bulletin 20 2016

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perils they had endured in doubling it, called it the Stormy Cape, but on their return to
the kingdom, the King Dom João gave it another more illustrious name, calling it the
Cape of Good Hope, because it gave promise of the discovery of India, so long
(4)
desired and sought for so many years” .

Barros also records that Dias erected one of his remaining padrão, “on the great and famous
Cape of Good Hope”. Dias customarily dedicated this landmark to the saint on whose feast
day it was erected - São Filipe (Saint Philip) and thus it is established that this took place on
th
June 6 , 1488.
Lastly, Barros’ narrative also records that on the return leg of his voyage Dias rescued a
fellow Portuguese captain, Duarte Pacheco Pereira who had been shipwrecked on the West
(5)
African island of Principe and returned with Dias to Portugal .

The lost padrão de São Filipe

What we know of João de Barros displays him to have been a well educated, faithful and
honest civil servant as well as one of the most conscientious and respected historians of his
day. Still, many of the tales that surround these early Portuguese voyages of maritime
exploration and are recorded in his Decades of Asia (first published in 1552) recounted events
that had occurred more than half a century before. Thus there had been plenty of time for
memories to have grown dim or embellishments to have taken root and come to be accepted
as fact. For example, it would appear that it was not King João II but Bartolomeu Dias,
himself, who gave the Cape of Good Hope its name. Evidence for this comes from a rutter or
pilot-book, Esmeraldo de Sito Orbis, written sometime between 1505 and 1508 by the
before-mentioned Duarte Pacheco Periera. Being a trusted Portuguese captain and explorer in
his own right, it can be expected that Dias and his crew would have had no hesitation in
sharing with him the news of their recent discoveries on their return voyage to Portugal in
1488. Of the actual discovery of the Cape of Good Hope, Pacheco Periera later records in his
guide book:
”It was with good reason that this promontory received the name Cabo de Boa
Esperanca because Bartolomeu Dias, who discovered it at the command of the late

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