Who Led The Portuguese In Exploring Africa

Portugal used african slaves as early as 1497 in the sugarcane fields on the islands it took over off the african coast.

Who led the portuguese in exploring africa. Access to commodities such as fabrics spices and gold motivated a european quest for a faster means to reach south asia. Portuguese sailors were at the vanguard of european overseas exploration discovering and mapping the coasts of africa canada asia and brazil in what became known. Portuguese explorer who in 1488 led the first expedition to sail around the southern tip of africa from the atlantic and sight the indian ocean. By 1488 the portuguese had charted a way around the south african cape and in 1498 vasco da gama.

The portuguese were interested in slaves as well as gold. Due to several technological and cultural advantages portugal dominated world trade for nearly 200 years from the fifteenth to the sixteenth century. The kingdom of portugal in the 15th century was the first european power to begin building a colonial empire the portuguese renaissance was a period of exploration during which portuguese sailors discovered several atlantic archipelagos like the azores madeira and cape verde explored and colonized the african coast discovered an eastern route to india that rounded the cape of good hope. Seeing the value of this source of labor in growing the profitable crop of sugar on their atlantic islands the portuguese soon began exporting african slaves along with african ivory and gold.

It was this search that led the portuguese down the coast of west africa to sierra leone in 1460. Arab merchants had bought slaves in west africa as early as the eighth century and they continued to act as middlemen when the europeans arrived.