1432-1488

Venetian trader who discovered the Cape Verde Islands and explored coastal West Africa. Cadamosto (sometimes rendered as Ca' da Mosto), sailed under the Portuguese flag at the behest of Prince Henry the Navigator (1394-1460). In his first significant voyage (1455), he landed on the Madeira and Canary islands, then traversed the African coastline to a point just south of the Senegal River delta. He attempted to sail up the Gambia River, but when he ran into trouble with the native peoples there, he turned his craft around. On a voyage during the following year, he visited two of the Cape Verde Islands, which were uninhabited.