Paulo Dias de Novais

Paulo Dias de Novais (c. 1510 – 9 May 1589), a fidalgo of the Royal Household, was a Portuguese colonizer of Africa in the 16th century and the first Captain-Governor of Portuguese Angola.^[1] He was the grandson of the explorer Bartolomeu Dias.^[2]

Paulo Dias de Novais
1st Captain-Governor of Portuguese Angola
In office 1575–1589
Monarchs	Sebastian of Portugal Henry of Portugal Philip I of Portugal
Preceded by	Office created
Succeeded by	Luís Serrão
Personal details
Born	c. 1510 Kingdom of Portugal
Died	9 May 1589 Massangano, Portuguese Angola
Military service
Allegiance	Portuguese Empire

Dias arrived in what is now Angola on 11 February 1575.^[3] Attracted by the prospect of the famous silver mines of Cambambe, he founded the settlement of São Paulo de Luanda, near the island of Luanda.^[4] He became the first governor of Angola on 19 September 1575.^[5]

As governor of the new land, Dias sought to extract the land of its natural resources.^[2][6] This included copper, ivory, cattle hides, salt, sugar, and most importantly slaves.^[7] He helped to send around 1.3 million slaves to the Americas and Brazil through the Transatlantic slave trade.^[8]

He died in 1589 during a mining exploration.^[2]