Why would Portugal include the image of Vasco Da Gama and Luis de Cameos on the same banknote,and what has this to do with Africa? By mapping the early voyages of Portuguese explorers around Africa a fascinating insight into Portugal's history can be obtained .Portugal's banknotes display images of early Portuguese explorers;they provide a graphic record of a time when Portugal's navigators led the world.

                                                          PORTUGAL TWENTY THOUSAND REIS

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     The twenty thousand reis with images of Vasco Da Gama  and Luis de Cameos records Vasco Da Gamas voyage in 1497 when as a poor nobleman Luis de Cameos tried his luck overseas.He returned home penniless and in poor health,but accompanied by what has become one of Portugal's national treasures,the poem Os Lusiades .His voyage with Vasco Da Gama gave him the insight to praise the Portuguese leaders of the past and by implication the entire nation.                            

    IMAGES OF VASCO DA GAMA AND LUIS DE CAMEO                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

            PORTUGAL 1000 ESCUDOS ANGOLA 100 ESCUDOS IMAGES OF THE POET LUIS DE CAMEO

                                  MAP OF AFRICA SHOWING EARLY PORTUGUESE  BASES

        Paper money traditionally displays images of the heads of state,Portugal celebrates its unique past by displaying the heads of some of its great explorers.Henry the Navigator was the one who masterminded navigation, and who initiated the conquest of Africa.Motivated by religious zeal and the desire to avenge the Muslim conquest of Portugal and Spain he established himself at Sagres on the southwestern tip of Europe.There he assembled several important cartographers and instrument makers.New more precise maps were developed,new ships with better manoeuverability,sea worthiness and cargo handling capability.From these advances ships were developed which were ideal for exploring and the "Golden Age" of discovery was about to begin.

    One of the first of the explorers was Nuno Tristao who sailed around the coast of Africa as far as the Gambia river in 1446.He discovered  present day Guinea Bissau( formerly Portuguese Guinea) which was to become one of the first trading posts set up for the export of slaves.

      PORTUGUESE GUINEA ONE HUNDRED ESCUDOS SHOWING THE PORTRAIT OF NUNO TRISTAO

        How do we appreciate the enormity of these voyages ?Between 1424 and 1434 Henry the Navigator sent a series of ships southwards along the West Coast of Africa.With primitive navigation aids none of these ships dared venture further than Cape Bojader just south of the Canaries for fear of the strong currents and burning hot sun on the land.At the time of Henry's death in 1460 the Portuguese had only reached Cape Palmas (in modern day Liberia).In 1482 King Joao11 revived interest in the quest for a sea route around Africa to India, and Diogo Cao  sailed from Portugal in 1482 around the West Coast of Africa as far as Elmina (present day Ghana).

                           PORTUGAL 50000 REIS                                         ANGOLA ONE ANGOLAR                 

   But Cao never returned from his second voyage carried out around 1485.It was Bartolomeu Dias who continued his exploration rounding the Cape of Good Hope in 1488.He had left Lisbon In 1487 accompanied by Pero D'Alemquer who wrote the description of Vasco Da Gama's first voyage. Dias returned to Lisbon in 1488 after an absence of sixteen months.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          IMAGES OF BARTOLOMEU DIAS   

                            PORTUGAL 2000 ESCUDOS                                               CAPE VERDE TEN ESCUDOS

                                                                                                                                                                                                  Dais's trip had shown the route to the Indies for Vasco Da Gama to follow .Dias accompanied him as far as the Cape Verde Islands in 1497 as he began his historic voyage to the Indies.It was Vasco Da Gama's discovery of the sea route to the India and the East Indies that brought Portuguese explorers in direct contact with the riches of the East.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     IMAGES OF VASCO DA GAMA  ON THE PAPER MONEY OF PORTUGAL AND COLONIES

             PORTUGAL 500 ESCUDOS PICK 130                   ANGOLA 20000 REIS PICK 35   

                 MOZAMBIQUE 2500 REIS PICK 35                        CAPE VERDE 2500 REIS PICK 5A

    In 1500 Dias was also to command a ship in the expedition of Cabral .His vessel was one of those wrecked not far from the Cape of Good Hope which he had discovered some thirteen years earlier.

                      IMAGES OF PEDRO ALVARES CABRAL ON THE PAPER MONEY OF PORTUGAL

  PORTUGAL 100000 REIS  PICK 111                              PORTUGAL 100 ESCUDOS PICK 116                                     

             Cabral was sent by King Manuel to complete the job in India that Vasco Da Gama had set out to do of setting up a trading post in Calicut.On his way there he sailed a few hundred miles west of Vasco Da Gama's course and in so doing landed first in Brazil ! Proceeding onwards he reached Madagascar and Mozambique, before sailing to the Indian coast.