Prince Henry was born in Porto, Portugal on March 4, 1394. He was the third son of King John I and his wife Philippa of Lancaster.
Early Exploration
When Prince Henry was in his teens a crusade was planned against the Muslim port of Ceuta on the North African coast to put an end to the Barbary pirates who used the town as their base in search of loot and slaves. After Ceuta was successfully attacked and captured in August 1415 Prince Henry spent some time there and saw evidence of the riches to be gained from the caravan route across Africa. The rest of his life would be devoted to finding the source of the West African gold trade.
In 1419, King John appointed Henry governor of the province of Algarve from where turned his attention to exploration. There are conflicting accounts about Prince Henry’s school for exploration in Sagres from where his students set out to discover the world. It is said that here navigational instruments were developed and methods of determining latitude devised. The development of a new kind of ship called the caravel has also been attributed to Henry.
Expeditions to Africa
Henry was intrigued by what lay farther south along the coast of Africa. No one had ever passed the treacherous reefs of Cape Bojador and come back alive. When his father died and his brother Duarte became king Henry was given the rights to profits from trading within any areas he discovered beyond Cape Bojador the most southerly point known to Europeans.
Henry had sent 15 expeditions between 1424 and 1434, in an attempt to get around Cape Bojador. These consisted of two or three caravels that hugged the coast and anchored off shore at night. Finally, Gil Eannes succeeded in 1434 and the next year proceeded additional 250 kilometers down the coast. The next year Alfonso Baldaya sailed as far south at Rio de Ouro and returned with a hold full of seal skins.
So far, Henry had seen little profit. Year after year his expeditions set off down the coast of Africa going a little farther each time and adding greatly to the knowledge of geography but very little to his coffers.
However, Prince Henry’s expeditions were quickly gaining support. In 1444 the people of Lagos sent the first privately sponsored expedition. Six ships captured 200 natives and took them back to Portugal as slaves. Henry received his one-fifth share but gave it to the church and the slaves were converted to Christianity.
Trouble with Native Africans
Though Henry had instructed his captains to remain on friendly terms with the natives, some disobeyed. Slaving and fights with the inhabitant led to the natives becoming unfriendly and suspicious of the motives of the Portuguese. In 1446 Nuno Tristão and most of his crew, while exploring Rio Nuno, just south of Cape Verde, were attacked and killed by natives with poison arrows.
The largest expedition to date sailed from Lagos in 1447. Twenty-three caravels captained by the master mariners of Portugal sailed for Senegal to display the might of Portugal. A year later Álvaro Fernandes sailed to a point about 480 kilometers past Cape Verde. A fort was constructed on Arguim Island as a base and for protection against increasingly hostile natives.
Furthest Point South
Henry next sent the Venetian, Alvise da Cadamosto, down the coast of Africa in 1455. He sailed as far as the mouth of the Gambia River. He tried to trade with the natives but was not successful. Two years later, Diogo Gomes was to push even further south when he reached Cape Palmas. This was to be the most southerly point reached in Henry’s lifetime. (see map below).
On November 13, 1460, at Sagres, Prince Henry breathed his last. He left behind a legacy of exploration that was to change the world. Within ten years of his death Portuguese explorers had discovered the Gold Coast and before the turn of the century Vasco de Gama had reached India and Columbus had sailed to America.
Bibliography
Prince Henry the Navigator - C. Raymond Beazley – BiblioBazaar - 2007
The Golden Age of Prince Henry the Navigator - Peter Russell – Yale University Press - 2000
Prince Henry the Navigator - J.P. Oliveira Martins – Simon Publications - 2001
 |
 |
