1480s

• 12 March 1488 - Bartholomew Diaz, a Portugal|Portuguese navigator, lands at what is to become Mossel Bay
  Mossel Bay
  Mossel Bay is a harbour town of about 130,000 people on the Southern Cape of South Africa. It is an important tourism and farming region of the Western Cape Province...
  
   in the Western Cape Province and erects the first padrão (stone cross) on the South African coast
• 6 June 1488 - Bartolomeu Diaz erects the second padrão (stone cross), that's north-east of St. Philip, in Cape Maclear, south of Cape Point
  Cape Point
  Cape Point is a promontory at the southeast corner of the Cape Peninsula, which is a mountainous and scenic landform that runs north-south for about thirty kilometres at the extreme southwestern tip of the African continent in the Republic of South Africa. Table Mountain and the city of Cape Town...
  
  , on his return journey to Portugal

1490s

• 22 November 1497 - Vasco da Gama,who's a Portuguese navigator, discovers the sea route to India around the Cape of Good Hope
  Cape of Good Hope
  The Cape of Good Hope is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula, South Africa.There is a misconception that the Cape of Good Hope is the southern tip of Africa, because it was once believed to be the dividing point between the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. In fact, the...
  
  
• 25 December 1497 - Vasco da Gama anchored at present day Durban
  Durban
  Durban is the largest city in the South African province of KwaZulu-Natal and the third largest city in South Africa. It forms part of the eThekwini metropolitan municipality. Durban is famous for being the busiest port in South Africa. It is also seen as one of the major centres of tourism...
  
  and named it Rio De Natal