Nuno Tristão

Timeline

1. 1441Lagos · AlgarveIn 1441 he was dispatched by Henry, sailing an early caravel south along the Western Sahara coast and joining Antão Gonçalves's fleet en route. On this voyage the Portuguese captured captives along the coast and pushed the route as far as Cape Blanco with its white sandy shores, paving the way for later voyages to Arguin.
2. 1441–1442Cape Blanco · Atlantic coastHe continued south for some three hundred-odd miles, naming the cape Cape Blanco for its white sandy shores. This point became a new landmark for the Portuguese beyond Cape Bojador, proving that the route opened by Gil Eanes could be extended to the westernmost Sahara.
3. 1443–1445Arguin Island · Arguin BayIn 1443 he passed Cape Blanco and entered Arguin Bay, attacking a Sanhaja Berber village on the island and carrying off more than ten people back to Portugal. After reports that the place was easy pickings, dozens of merchant ships applied for licenses to come in 1444–1446. Arguin then became a key anchorage for Henry-licensed trade and the slave transit.
4. 1446an estuary south of Cape Verde · Atlantic coastHenry ordered him to push further south. After the fleet passed Cape Verde, he led more than twenty sailors in a small boat to explore a river, where they were surrounded by more than a dozen native canoes and he was killed by poisoned arrows; only a few escaped. Diogo Gomes separately records that the caravel was also dragged into the river and dismantled. The death of Henry's most trusted captain caused this round of West African expeditions to contract temporarily.