Portuguese mariners explore the west coast of Africa throughout the latter half of the fifteenth century.

Two ships under Bartholomeu Dias eventually round the Cape of Good Hope in 1488 and travel more than six hundred kilometers along the southwestern coast.

An expedition under Vasco da Gama rounds the Cape in 1497, sails up the east African coast to the
Arab port of Malindi (in present-day Kenya), then crosses the Indian Ocean to India, thereby opening up a way for Europeans to gain direct access to the spices of the East without having to go through Arab middlemen.

The Portuguese dominate this trade route throughout the sixteenth century.

They build forts and supply stations along the west and east African coasts, but they do not build south of present-day Angola and Mozambique because of the treacherous currents along the southern coast.