Dinis Dias

Dinis Dias and Diaz ( * before 1442 † after 1446 ) was a Portuguese navigator and explorer. Bartolomeu Dias said to have been one of his descendants. He came from the Portuguese nobility and lived at the Lisbon court of King John I of Portugal.

Dinis Dias two trips to the African coast are attributed, which he carried out the sailor in the service of Henry. 1442 he got together with Gonçalo de Sintra to Cabo Branco. In 1444 he reached the westernmost point of continental Africa, which in present-day Senegal located Cabo Verde, and discovered the Terra dos Guineus, areas of present-day Guinea and Senegal. In addition, he explored the island belonging to today's Senegal Goreia, but he baptized in the name of Palma. Later chroniclers ( João de Barros ) wrote his travels to a Dinis Fernandes, which is, however, likely to be the same person.

Dinis Dias was the first Portuguese navigator who deliberately went by order of Henry the Navigator to catch slaves, in order to minimize their sale in Portugal, the high cost of the Portuguese Discoveries.

On August 18, 1446 King Alfonso V appointed him as Chairman of the Supreme Court ( Casa do Civil).