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as Cape S. Catherine. Lopo Goncalves had been the
first to cross the fine; Fernao Pd is credited with having
discovered in 1372 the Ilha formosa, which now bears his
name ; whilst Ruy de Sequeira " about the same time,"
according to Galvao,1 followed the coast as far as Cabo de
S. Catharina (November 25), and also discovered the
islands of S. Thome (December 21) and S. Antonio
(January 17). The latter subsequently became known as
Ilha do Principe, that is, the island of Prince John, the
future King John II., who had enjoyed the revenues of
the Guinea trade ever since 1473. This trade had become
of importance, but nothing had been done to expand it
since 1475, in which year the monopoly granted to Fernao
Gomez came to an end, nor had steps been taken
to render effective the claims to sovereignty put forth
by Portugal. Hence foreign interlopers made their
appearance upon the coast, and during the unfortunate
wars with Castile (1475-80) entire fleets sailed
from Spanish ports to share2 in the profits of the trade
there.

One of the first measures taken by King John was to
put a stop to these irregularities. Royal ships were sent
out to protect Portuguese interests, and on January 20,
1482, Diogo D'Azambuja laid the foundations of the
famous Castella de S. Jorge da Mina, which was the first
permanent European settlement on the Gold Coast, and
the centre of Portuguese activity up to 1637, when it was
captured by the Dutch.

King John, having thus attended to what he conceived
to be his more immediate duty as a king and ruler, took
up the long-neglected work of his uncle Henry the
Navigator, for, as Ruy de Pina tells us, he was not only
"a good Catholic, anxious for the propagation of the
faith, but also a man of an inquiring mind, desirous of
investigating the secrets of nature."3

Diogo Cad's First Voyage of Discovery, 1482-84.

The King appointed Diogo Cao to the command of
the first expedition despatched from Portugal to take up
the exploration of the African coast beyond the Cabo de
S. Catharina. Cao left Lisbon about June 1482, called at
S. Jorge da Mina for supplies, and then followed the coast
until a body of fresh water, five leagues out at sea, revealed
the existence of a mighty river (rio poderoso) which had
poured it forth. This river was the Congo. He there
entered into friendly relations with the natives, and having

I Antonio Galvao was born at Lisbon in 1503, spent 1527—47 in India,
and died 1557 in hospital. His 'Tratado'was published at Lisbon in
1563, and again, with a translation, by the Hakluyt Society ('The
Discoveries of the World'), 1862.

II D. Cao, in 1483, captured three Spanish vessels on the Guinea coast.
For an account of this capture by Eustache de la Fosse of Doornick,
see C. Fernandez Duro, ' Boletin,' Geographical Society of Madrid, 1897,
pp. 193-5.

s Ruy de Pina, ' Chronica d'El Rey Joao EL,' c. 57.

despatched messengers with gifts to the king of the
country, and set up a stone pillar at the river's mouth, he
continued his voyage to the south. When he reached
the Cabo do lobo, in 13° 26' S., now known as Cape
St. Mary, he erected his second pillar or padrao.4 This
pillar, fortunately, has been recovered intact. An inscription
upon it, in Portuguese, tells us that in the year 6681
of the world or in that of 1482 since the birth of Christ
the King ordered this land to be discovered by his esquire

The Arms op Portugal, 1484. The Arms op Portugal since 1485.

(escudeiro) Diogo Cao. The coat of arms is that in
use up to 1485, when King John ordered the green
cross of the order of Aviz to be removed from it, the
number of castles to be reduced to seven, and the
position of the "quinas," or five escutcheons, to be
changed.6

When Cao came back to the Congo he was annoyed
to find that his messengers had not yet returned, and
being naturally anxious to hasten home with a report of
his important discovery, he seized four native visitors to
his ship as hostages. He gave their friends to understand
that they should be brought back in the course of time to
be exchanged for his own men who were still with the
king.

Cao came back to Lisbon in the beginning of 1484,
and certainly before April of that year, for on the 8th of
that month he was granted an annuity " in consideration
of his services," and a few days afterwards was given a
coat of arms charged with the two padroes he had erected
on the coast of Africa.

Diogo Cad's Second Voyage of Discovery, 1485-86.

Cao's departure on his second expedition was delayed
until the latter part of 1485, and the padroes which he
took with him were ornamented with the new coat of
arms, recently adopted and dated 1485 a.d. and 6185 of
the creation, the latter year beginning with September 1,

4 Illustrated descriptions of these padroes are given by Luciano Cordeiro,
' Boletim da Soc. Geogr. de Lisboa,' 1892 and 1895.

* This change probably was ordered in June 1485 when a similar change
took place in the coinage. (Teixera de Aragao, ' Descr. geral e hist, das
moedas,' Lisbon, 1874-83, I., p. 240; J. Pedro Ribeira, ' Dissert, chronol.
e criticas,' t. TTT. App. VI. and plates.)