Elliot Steifel, age 11, of Highland Park, New Jersey, for his question:

How did the Cape of Good Hope get its name?

Through most of the Middle Ages, Europe's valuable trade with India was toted along wearisome, treacherous, overland routes. Kings and merchants dreamed of finding an easier sea route to the Far East, and many explorers voyaged hopefully down the east coast of Af¬rica to find it. In 1488, the Portuguese mariner Bartolomeu Dias reached the southern tip of the African continent. He realized that the curved coattiine formed a cape, possibly leading farther east. But the seas tossed his fragile sailing ship. He named the place the Cape of Storms and returned home.

But King John II of Portugal had his heart set on a sea route to India and he also knew the value of a name. He knew that the Cape of Storms was a discouraging name, even to his hardy explorers. So the king changed it to the Cape of Good Hope. His inspired salesmanship succeeded. Nine years later the Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama sailed on around the Cape and northeastward to Calcutta. He proved that the hope for a far eastern route did indeed lead around the Cape of Good Hope.