Diogo Afonso | |
|---|---|
 Statue of Diogo Afonso facing Porto Grande Bay in Mindelo | |
| Captain of Santiago, Cape Verde | |
| In office 1462–1473 | |
| Succeeded by | Rodrigo Afonso |
| Personal details | |
| Nationality | Portuguese |
Diogo Afonso (fl. 15th century) was a Portuguese explorer.
He took part in several explorations in the northwest and west coast of Africa which were made byPrince Henry.
In 1444, he commanded a ship which had other explorers includingAntão Gonçalves andGomes Pires and explored theRio de Oro (most of the areas that now belong to Mauritania). In his second year, he took park in an expedition in the island ofArguin (now in Mauritania) with Antão Gonçalves andGarcia Homem. His ship passed by a frontier coast of the island, discovered its cape, in that region had a large number of captives, which were returned to Lisbon, where they were sold. Prince Henry. brought a fifth expedition which includedDuarte Pacheco Pereira. He later explored the remainder of theCape Verdean islands mainly in the northwestern part.
On a royal map ofAlphonso V dated 29 September 1462, the king brought it for Infante Don Fernando, his brother, of an island "Northwest of the Canary Islands andMadeira", it said:
(...) asi e pela guisa que lhe temos dada a outras sete ilhas que Diego Affomsso seu escudeiro achou através do Cabo Verde
— D. Afonso V (1462)
Secondly on the same map, Diogo Afonso discovered five islands more west in Cape Verde includingBrava,São Nicolau,São Vicente andSanto Antão and the islets ofBranco andRazo.[1]
Diogo Afonso later settled in the island ofSantiago and inhabitedRibeira Grande and was one of the first settlers of the island, there on 29 January 1462, he became the first of two captains of the island of Santiago which was governed in the then colonial capital of Ribeira Grande, he remained captain until 1473, from 19 September 1462, as captain of Southern Santiago which he was succeeded by his brother or sonRodrigo Afonso. The remainder of his life is unknown.
A statue is erected at the shores of its beach inMindelo in the historic city center in the island of São Vicente, an island that he discovered, it is located west ofAvenida Marginal, also a street is named after him further east, it is located a street east of Rua João Cleofas Martins, it intersects one street named Rua Camões named after the greatest Portuguese poet, the only one named in Barlavento.
| Preceded by new post created | Captain of Santiago Island, Cape Verde 1462-73 | Succeeded by |
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