Dinis Dias was a 15th century Portuguese

Portugal

Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...

 explorer.

In 1445, as Dias was beginning to enter old age and made the decision to take up exploring because "he was unwilling to let himself grow soft in the well being of repose", left Portugal and sailed down the West Africa

West Africa

West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of the African continent. Geopolitically, the UN definition of Western Africa includes the following 16 countries and an area of approximately 5 million square km:-Flags of West Africa:...

n coast, setting a new record by reaching a point about 800 kilometres south of Cap Blanc

Cap Blanc

Cap Blanc may refer to:* Ras Nouadhibou, a place in Mauritania and the Western Sahara.* Ras al-Abyad, the northernmost point on the African continent near Bizerte.* Cap Blanc , a place in Southwest France....

. This, the most westerly part of the Africa

Africa

Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...

n continent, he named Cap-Vert

Cap-Vert

Cap-Vert is a peninsula in Senegal, and the westernmost point of the continent of Africa and of the Old World mainland. Originally called Cabo Verde or "Cape Green" by Portuguese explorers, it is not to be confused with the Cape Verde islands, which are some further west...

 (Dias named it Cabo Verde, "verde" being Portuguese

Portuguese language

Portuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...

 for "green", a reference to the lush vegetation

Vegetation

Vegetation is a general term for the plant life of a region; it refers to the ground cover provided by plants. It is a general term, without specific reference to particular taxa, life forms, structure, spatial extent, or any other specific botanical or geographic characteristics. It is broader...

 in the area

Guinea (region)

Guinea is a traditional name for the region of Africa that lies along the Gulf of Guinea. It stretches north through the forested tropical regions and ends at the Sahel.-History:...

). Note that Dias did not discover the Cape Verde Islands, but rather the actual cape.

The success of this expedition was probably because Dias concentrated on exploration, rather than taking slave

Slavery

Slavery is a system under which people are treated as property to be bought and sold, and are forced to work. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to demand compensation...

s, a pursuit most Portuguese mariners in Africa at the time focused on. Whereas some expeditions would return to Portugal with dozens of slaves, Dias only took four captives.

Later that year, Dias sailed with the explorer known as Lançarote in a large scale slaving expedition to Arguim.