João de Santarém (15th century) was a Portuguese explorer who discovered

São Tomé São Tomé is the capital and largest city of the Central African island country of São Tomé and Príncipe. Its name is Portuguese for " Saint Thomas". Founded in the 15th century, it is one of Africa's oldest colonial cities. History Álv ...

(in December 21, 1471), Annobón (in January 1472) and

Príncipe Príncipe (; ) is the smaller, northern major island of the country of São Tomé and Príncipe lying off the west coast of Africa in the Gulf of Guinea. It has an area of (including offshore islets) and a population of 7,324 at the 2012 Cens ...

(January 17, 1472), and hence became the first known European to reach the southern hemisphere. Together with Pero Escobar, he also encountered the town of Sassandra in the

Ivory Coast Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire and officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital city of Yamoussoukro is located in the centre of the country, while its largest List of ci ...

in 1471 and 1472, explored the African land from

Ghana Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and shares borders with Côte d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to t ...

up to the

Niger Delta The Niger Delta is the delta of the Niger River sitting directly on the Gulf of Guinea on the Atlantic Ocean in Nigeria. It is located within nine coastal southern Nigerian states, which include: all six states from the South South geopolitic ...

.Albertino Francisco, Nujoma Agostinho, ''Exorcising Devils from the Throne: São Tomé and Príncipe in the Chaos of Democratization'', p. 28, (2011) From 1484 he was captain of Alcatrazes (around Santiago or Brava) in

Cape Verde Cape Verde or Cabo Verde, officially the Republic of Cabo Verde, is an island country and archipelagic state of West Africa in the central Atlantic Ocean, consisting of ten volcanic islands with a combined land area of about . These islands ...

. In January 1471, João de Santarém and Pero de Escobar discovered "the traffic of gold at the place we now call Mina" (present-day Elmina).

References

External links

Article of João de Santarém at the Historical Dictionary
Year of birth unknown Place of birth unknown Year of death unknown Place of death unknown 15th-century explorers of Africa Portuguese explorers of Africa 15th-century Portuguese explorers Maritime history of Portugal History of São Tomé and Príncipe Colonial heads of Cape Verde {{Portugal-explorer-stub

See also

References

External links