Diogo Afonso ( fl. 15th century) was a Portuguese explorer.

Biography

He took part in several explorations in the northwest and west coast of Africa which were made by

Prince Henry Prince Henry (or Prince Harry) may refer to: People *Henry the Young King (1155–1183), son of Henry II of England, who was crowned king but predeceased his father *Prince Henry the Navigator of Portugal (1394–1460) *Henry, Duke of Cornwall (Ja ...

. In 1444, he commanded a ship which had other explorers including

Antão Gonçalves Antão Gonçalves was a 15th-century Portuguese explorer who was the first European to capture Africans in the Rio do Ouro region. Biography In 1441, Gonçalves was sent by Henry the Navigator to explore the West African coast in an expedition ...

and Gomes Pires and explored the

Rio de Oro Rio or Río is the Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, and Maltese word for "river". When spoken on its own, the word often means Rio de Janeiro, a major city in Brazil. Rio or Río may also refer to: Geography Brazil * Rio de Janeiro * Rio do Sul, a ...

(most of the areas that are now belong to Mauritania). In his second year, he took park in an expedition in the island of

Arguin Arguin ( ar, أرغين, pt, Arguim) is an island off the western coast of Mauritania in the Bay of Arguin. It is approximately in size, with extensive and dangerous reefs around it. The island is now part of the Banc d'Arguin National Park. H ...

(now in Mauritania) with Antão Gonçalves and Garcia Homem. His ship passed by a frontier coast of the island, discovered its cape, in that region had a large number of captives, which were returned to Lisbon, where they were sold. Prince Henry. brought a fifth expedition which included

Duarte Pacheco Pereira Duarte Pacheco Pereira (; c. 1460 – 1533), called the Portuguese Achilles (''Aquiles Lusitano'') by the poet Camões, was a Portuguese sea captain, soldier, explorer and cartographer. He travelled particularly in the central Atlantic Ocean wes ...

. He later explored the remainder of the

Cape Verde , national_anthem = () , official_languages = Portuguese , national_languages = Cape Verdean Creole , capital = Praia , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , demonym ...

an islands mainly in the northwestern part. On a royal map of Alphonso V dated in September 29, 1462, the king brought it for Infante Don Fernando, his brother, of an island "Northwest of the Canary Islands and

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", it said: Secondly on the same map, Diogo Afonso discovered five islands more west in Cape Verde including

Brava Brava or La Brava may refer to: Geography *Brava, Cape Verde, a volcanic island * Brava, Costa Rica, an island of Costa Rica (Isla Brava) *Costa Brava, a coastal area Mediterranean of northeast Spain *Barawa, a town in Somalia commonly known as ' ...

, São Nicolau, São Vicente and Santo Antão and the islets of Branco and

Razo A ''razo'' (, literally "cause", "reason") was a short piece of Occitan prose detailing the circumstances of a troubadour composition. A ''razo'' normally introduced an individual poem, acting as a prose preface and explanation; it might, however, ...

. Diogo Afonso later settled in the island of

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, whose ...

and inhabited

Ribeira Grande Ribeira Grande may refer to the following places: Cape Verde *Ribeira Grande (stream), a stream on the island of Santo Antão *Ribeira Grande, Cape Verde, a town on the island of Santo Antão *Ribeira Grande, Cape Verde (municipality), a municipali ...

and was one of the first settlers of the island, there on January 29, 1462, he became the first of two captains of the island of Santiago which was governed in the then colonial capital of Ribeira Grande, he remained captain until 1473, from September 19, 1462, as captain of Southern Santiago which he was succeeded by his brother or son Rodrigo Afonso. The remainder of his life is unknown.

Legacy

A statue is erected at the shores of its beach in

Mindelo Mindelo is a port cityCabo Verde, Statistical Yearbook ...

in the historic city center in the island of São Vicente, an island that he discovered, it is located west of Avenida Marginal, also a street is named after him further east, it is located a street east of Rua João Cleofas Martins, it intersects one street named Rua Camões named after the greatest Portuguese poet, the only one named in Barlavento.

Biography

Legacy

See also

References

Further reading