Alvise Cadamosto, Italian explorer (b. 1432)
Alvise Cadamosto or Alvide da Ca' da Mosto (Portuguese pronunciation: [alˈvis kɐðaˈmoʃtu, alˈvizɨ -], also known in Portuguese as Luís Cadamosto; c. 1432 – July 18, 1488) was a Venetian explorer and slave trader, who was hired by the Portuguese prince Henry the Navigator and undertook two known journeys to West Africa in 1455 and 1456, accompanied by the Genoese captain Antoniotto Usodimare. Cadamosto and his companions are credited with the discovery of the Cape Verde Islands and the points along the Guinea coast, from the Gambia River to the Geba River (in Guinea-Bissau), the greatest leap in the Henrican discoveries since 1446. Cadamosto's accounts of his journeys, including his detailed observations of West African societies, have proven invaluable to historians.