Alvise Cadamosto
Alvise Cadamosto or Alvide da Ca' da Mosto, also known in Portuguese as Luís Cadamosto (Venice, ca. 1432 - Venice, July 18 1488), pron. IPA: [aɫ'viz(ɨ) kɐða'moʃtu], was a Venetian sea captain and explorer, who was hired by the Portuguese prince Henry the Navigator.
He was born at the Ca' da Mosto, a palace on the Grand Canal to which he gave his name.
He was hired by Prince Henry after strong winds kept him near Portuguese territory during a voyage from Venice to Flanders in 1454
In the service of the Portuguese crown, Cadamosto explored the Atlantic coast of Africa and discovered several islands of the Cape Verde archipelago between 1455 and 1456. In his first voyage, which started on March 22 1455, he visited the Madeira Islands and the Canary Islands. On the second voyage, in 1456, Cadamosto became the first European to reach the Cape Verde Islands. He also explored the Gambia River, but returned to Portugal after finding that the people were hostile.
Cadamosto documents his voyages in accounts written in the 1460s, which were printed in Milan, 1507/8 with Antonio Montalboddo Fracanzano's Itinerarium Portugallensium e Lusitania in Indiam et Inde in Occidentem et Demum ad Aquilonem[1]
Books
- "The Voyages of Cadamosto." Series II Vol. LXXX, 1937, edited by G.R. Crone.