European Heroes

[wvwvw]

Sir Alexander Fleming (6 August 1881 – 11 March 1955) was a Scottish biologist, pharmacologist and botanist. Fleming's accidental discovery and isolation of penicillin in September 1928 marks the start of modern antibiotics. His discovery of penicillin had changed the world of modern medicine by introducing the age of useful antibiotics; penicillin has saved, and is still saving, millions of people around the world.

[Lusos]

Bartolomeu Dias

"Bartolomeu Dias (Portuguese pronunciation: [baɾtuluˈmew ˈdi.ɐʃ]; Anglicized: Bartholomew Dias; c. 1451 – 29 May 1500 [1]), a nobleman of the Portuguese royal household, was a Portuguese explorer. He sailed around the southernmost tip of Africa in 1488, the first European known to have done so.

"Purposes of the Dias expedition
Bartolomeu Dias was a Knight of the royal court, superintendent of the royal warehouses, and sailing-master of the man-of-war, São Cristóvão (Saint Christopher). King John II of Portugal appointed him, on 10 October 1487, to head an expedition to sail around the southern tip of Africa in the hope of finding a trade route to India. Dias was also charged with searching for the lands ruled by Prester John, who was a fabled Christian priest and ruler.[citation needed]

The expedition
Dias' ship São Cristóvão was piloted by Pêro de Alenquer. A second caravel, the São Pantaleão, was commanded by João Infante and piloted by Álvaro Martins. Dias' brother Pêro Dias was the captain of the square-rigged support ship with João de Santiago as pilot.

The expedition sailed south along the West coast of Africa. Extra provisions were picked up on the way at the Portuguese fortress of São Jorge de Mina on the Gold Coast. After having sailed past Angola, Dias reached the Golfo da Conceicão (Walvis Bay) by December. Having rounded the Cape of Good Hope at a considerable distance, Dias continued east and entered what he named Aguada de São Brás (Bay of Saint Blaise)—later renamed Mossel Bay—on 3 February 1488. Dias's expedition reached its furthest point on 12 March 1488 when they anchored at Kwaaihoek, near the mouth of the Bushman's River, where a padrão—the Padrão de São Gregório—was erected before turning back.[2] Dias wanted to continue sailing to India, but he was forced to turn back when his crew refused to go further.[3] It was only on the return voyage that he actually discovered the Cape of Good Hope, in May 1488. Dias returned to Lisbon in December of that year, after an absence of sixteen months.[citation needed]

The discovery of the passage around southern Africa was significant because, for the first time, Europeans realized they could trade directly with India and the other parts of Asia, bypassing the overland route through the Middle East, with its expensive middlemen. The official report of the expedition has been lost.

Bartolomeu Dias originally named the Cape of Good Hope the "Cape of Storms" (Cabo das Tormentas). It was later renamed (by King John II of Portugal) the Cape of Good Hope (Cabo da Boa Esperança) because it represented the opening of a route to the east.

Follow-up voyages
After these early attempts, the Portuguese took a decade-long break from Indian Ocean exploration. During that hiatus, it is likely that they received valuable information from a secret agent, Pêro da Covilhã, who had been sent overland to India and returned with reports useful to their navigators.[4]

Using his experience with explorative travel, Dias helped in the construction of the São Gabriel and its sister ship, the São Rafael that were used by Vasco da Gama to circumnavigate the Cape of Good Hope and continue the route to India. Dias only participated in the first leg of Gama's voyage, until the Cape Verde Islands. He was then one of the captains of the second Indian expedition, headed by Pedro Álvares Cabral. This flotilla first reached the coast of Brazil, landing there in 1500, and then continued eastwards to India. Dias perished near the Cape of Good Hope that he presciently had named Cape of Storms. Four ships encountered a huge storm off the cape and were lost, including Dias', on 29 May 1500. A shipwreck found in 2008 by the Namdeb Diamond Corporation off Namibia was at first thought to be Dias' ship;[5] however, recovered coins come from a later time.[6]

Personal life
Bartolomeu Dias was married and had two children:

Simão Dias de Novais, who died unmarried and without issue
António Dias de Novais, a Knight of the Order of Christ, married to (apparently his relative, since the surname Novais was transmitted through her brother's offspring) Joana Fernandes, daughter of Fernão Pires and wife Guiomar Montês (and sister of Brites Fernandes and Fernão Pires, married to Inês Nogueira, daughter of Jorge Nogueira and wife, and had issue). Dias' grandson Paulo Dias de Novais was a Portuguese colonizer of Africa in the 16th century. Dias' granddaughter, Guiomar de Novais married twice, as his second wife to Dom Rodrigo de Castro, son of Dom Nuno de Castro and wife Joana da Silveira, by whom she had Dona Paula de Novais and Dona Violante de Castro, both died unmarried and without issue, and to Pedro Correia da Silva, natural son of Cristóvão Correia da Silva, without issue"

[Ctwentysevenj]

If you talking about European heroes, I cannot start, because there are literally thousands from throughout Europe over the centuries. The modern world today is because of the Europeans. No other people's have changed the world so much as the Europeans with their science, inventions, technology, discovering new words and modern economies development and their empires from the Romans, French, British, German, Russian, Austrian-Hungarian and many others. I take my hat off for Europe. EUROPE IS MY HERO!

[Ctwentysevenj]

Oops left out the Spanish with conquered much of the Americas. Also the Holy Roman Empire which was basically a German empire. Also the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Europe is The hero of the world. Although the northern Asian have caught up or catching up like Japan, South Korea, China and Taiwan.

[Ctwentysevenj]

Just a point, if it were up to the Africans that shaped the world now, we be still living in the trees!

[Bell Beaker]

My National Heroes are John II of Portugal, Afonso I of Portugal (of course), Afonso de Albuquerque, John I, Vasco da Gama, Henry the Navigator, Bartolomeu Dias, Viriathus....

[Hithaeglir]

Simone Lucie Ernestine Marie Bertrand de Beauvoir

[Alvar Fáñez]

Abū l-Walīd Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Rushd, one the biggest european philosofers of all times

[Damião de Góis]

My National Heroes are John II of Portugal, Afonso I of Portugal (of course), Afonso de Albuquerque, John I, Vasco da Gama, Henry the Navigator, Bartolomeu Dias, Viriathus....

Viriathus is not a national hero. More like an adopted national hero, since Portugal didn't exist when he was around fighting romans.

[StonyArabia]

Abū l-Walīd Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Rushd, one the biggest european philosofers of all times

Most will not see them as Europeans though due to being Muslim and having an Arab based culture they probably did have a good amount of Arab blood in their veins.