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eventREF E-0010797Revised

Event record

Bartolomeu Dias enters Luderitz Bay

Updated
30 Sep 2019
Bartolomeu Dias enters Luderitz Bay

Luderitz Bay: travelnewsnamibia.com

Portuguese seafarer Bartolomeu Dias enters the wide bay now known as Luderitz Bay after sailing for three weeks along the arid Namibia coast of south west Africa. On the same day exactly 10 years later, on 25 December 1497, Dias's compatriot Vasco da Gama gave the name Terra do Natal to the coast around the Kei River. The name was later extended to cover the coast up to Durban. To read more about Da Gama's voyage of 'discovery' around the Cape of Good Hope, see our This Week in History entry for 4 November 1497.

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How we know this

  1. 01Wallis, F. (2000). Nuusdagboek: feite en fratse oor 1000 jaar, Kaapstad: Human & Rousseau;
  2. 02Muller, C.F.J. (ed)(1981). Five Hundred years: a history of South Africa; 3rd rev. ed., Pretoria: Academica, pp. 6, 10.)

Last updated · 30 Sep 2019

Cite this entry

South African History Online. (2011, March 16). Bartolomeu Dias enters Luderitz Bay . South African History Online. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0010797

South African History Online (2011) 'Bartolomeu Dias enters Luderitz Bay ', South African History Online, 16 March. Available at: https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0010797 (Accessed: 1 August 2026).

South African History Online, Bartolomeu Dias enters Luderitz Bay [website], https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0010797, (accessed 1 August 2026).

"Bartolomeu Dias enters Luderitz Bay ." South African History Online, 16 Mar. 2011, https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0010797. Accessed 1 Aug. 2026.

South African History Online. "Bartolomeu Dias enters Luderitz Bay ." South African History Online. March 16, 2011. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0010797.

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