Bartolomeu Dias

Challenges Throughout his Life

Unknown Territory

Bartolomeu Dias took on the ambitious challenge of finding a sea route to India. Obviously, this meant that he would have to chart unknown territory which is always a hard task.

Being Leader

Bartolomeu Dias was appointed the leader of the expedition to find a route to Asia. Along with doing the impossible at that time, he also had to take care of his crew. Together making a near impossible feat to achieve.

Stormy Seas

Every sailor's biggest challenge is the uncertainty of the weather and sea tides, and it was no different for Bartolomeu Dias. The Cape of Good was a sea patch that was known for its bad weather, and in fact, it is the cause of his death.

Navigation Difficulty

At that time Navigation was still mostly, guesswork and applying knowledge from maps already existing. Modern navigation techniques had just started developing at that time or didn't even exist, making it really hard to make sure you are on the right track.

Physical, Emotion and Mental Health

While on ship, taking care of your health is a harder task. Sailors could spend 2 years on ship without even sight of land and Bartolomeu is no exception, it is usually this mental thought that have made sailors turn back. 

Also, since Bartolomeu was away from family for so long it required extreme willpower to stay focused on the task.

Since the food on ships has to be preserved they may be less tasteful and more importantly may be less nutritious than other meals. This is a huge problem for sailors and many of them return with diseases such as scurvy.