Cape of Good Hope

Cape of Good Hope, headland in south-western South Africa, in Western Cape Province, near Cape Town. Rising 256 m (840 ft) above sea level, the headland marks the transition point for vessels plying between the South Atlantic and Indian oceans. It is erroneously regarded as the southern extremity of the continent; Cape Agulhas, to the south-east, is Africa's southernmost point. The first European to round the Cape of Good Hope was the Portuguese navigator Bartolomeu Dias in 1488, opening up the sea route to the east. He named it Cabo Tormentoso (Portuguese, “Cape of Storms”); it was renamed Cabo da Boa Esperança (Portuguese, “Cape of Good Hope”) by John II of Portugal, because of the commercial importance of the new route. The cape was not rounded again by a European until 1497, when the Portuguese navigator Vasco da Gama made the first voyage from Europe to India.