Cape of Good Hope

The Cape of Good Hope is at the southern tip of Africa. It was named by Portugese explorer Bartholomew Diaz when he discovered it in the 1400s. Before the Suez canal was built, rounding the Cape of Good Hope was the quickest way to travel from Europe to India and the far east. Vasco da Gama followed up on Diaz, completing a voyage to India a few years later.