Cadamosto, Luigi da

Cadamosto, Luigi da (lOOē'jē dä kädämô'stō) [key], 1432?–1488, Venetian navigator in the service of Prince Henry the Navigator of Portugal. He seems to have entered Portuguese service in 1454, and he left a record of a voyage in 1455 that is valuable for the information it gives concerning Portuguese activity in the Canary Islands. He and a Genoese, Antonio de Nola, also in Prince Henry's service, went down the African coast to the Gambia River. In 1456 or 1457, Cadamosto reached the Cape Verde Islands, but the question of discovery of the islands is not settled. They may have been sighted by the Portuguese years before; they may have been discovered just a year before; they may have been first visited by Cadamosto. His name also appears as Alvise da Cadamosto.

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2007, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.

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