Henry the Navigator
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Henrique, Duke of Viseu (March 4, 1394–November 13, 1460), was an infante (prince) of the Portuguese House of Aviz and an important figure in the early days of the Portuguese Empire. He is known in English as Prince Henry the Navigator (Portuguese: o Navegador).
Henry the Navigator was the third son of John I of Portugal, the founder of the Aviz dynasty; and of Philippa of Lancaster, the daughter of John of Gaunt. Henry reportedly inspired his father's successful conquest (1414-1415) of the Muslim port of Ceuta, on the North African coast across the Straits of Gibraltar from the Iberian peninsula, with profound consequences on Henry's worldview: Henry saw the fruits of the Saharan trade routes that terminated there and became fascinated with Africa in general, with the legend of Prester John, and with expanding Portuguese trade.
To this end, at his Vila do Infante ("Prince's Town") at Sagres, Henry gathered around him a school of navigators and map-makers and became the patron of the Portuguese voyages of discovery, which commenced soon after the capture of Ceuta. The school at Sagres achieved several advances in the art of navigation, and their discoveries provided the groundwork for Portugal's colonial expansion in the reign of King John II of Portugal, Henry's great-nephew, in 1481. Thus, Henry had a considerable impact on the course of history, arguably having sparked European interest in colonial exploration—and given Portugal and significant advantage against other nations—that would so transform the world for the next four centuries.
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Early Life
Resources and income
On May 25, 1420, Henry gained appointment as the governor of the very rich Order of Christ, the Portuguese successor to the Knights Templar, which had set up its headquarters in 1413 at Sagres, near Cape St Vincent at the extreme southwestern tip of Portugal (Braudel 1985). Henry would hold this position for the remainder of his life, and as time passed he became more and more devoted to Christianity. For the purposes of his interest in exploration, however, the appointment proved important as a source of funds through the 1440s.
Henry also had other resources. When John I died in 1433, Henry's eldest brother Duarte became king, and granted Henry a "royal fifth" of all profits from trading within the areas discovered as well as the sole right to authorize expeditions beyond Cape Bojador (in present-day Western Sahara). When Duarte died five years later, Henry supported his brother Pedro for the regency during Alphonso V of Portugal's minority, and in return received a confirmation of this tax. Henry also arranged for the colonization of the Azores during Pedro's regency (1439–1448).
Vila do Infante, patron of Portuguese exploration
At his Vila do Infante ("Prince's Town") at Sagres, Henry gathered around him a school of navigators and map-makers and became the patron of the Portuguese voyages of discovery, which commenced soon after the capture of Ceuta. Henry's court rapidly grew into the technological base for exploration, with a naval arsenal, an observatory, and a school for the study of geography and navigation added over time. Jehuda Cresques, a noted cartographer, received an invitation to come to Sagres and compile geographic knowledge for Henry, a position he accepted.
The nearby port of Lagos provided a convenient harbor, and became a center for ship-building. The development of the caravel, a light and maneuverable vessel that combined square-rigging with the lateen sail of the Arabs, made possible the complicated upwind return voyages of Portuguese expeditions — without it, the brothers Ugolino and Guido Vivaldo would have sailed into oblivion.
Early results of Henry's explorers
Until Henry's coastal explorations, Cape Bojador remained the most southerly point known to Europeans on the unpromising desert coast of Africa, although the Periplus of the Carthaginian Hanno the Navigator described a journey further south about 2,000 years earlier.
As a first fruit of this work João Gonçalves Zarco and Tristão Vaz Teixeira re-discovered the Madeira Islands in 1420, and at Henry's instigation Portuguese settlers colonized the islands.
In 1427, one of Henry's navigators discovered the Azores — possibly Gonçalo Velho. Portuguese soon colonized these islands too, in 1430.
Gil Eanes, the commander of one of Henry's expeditions, became the first European known to pass Cape Bojador in 1434.
Henry also continued his involvement in events closer to home. He functioned as a primary organizer of the Portuguese expedition to Tangier in 1437. This proved a disastrous failure: the Moroccans captured Henry's younger brother Fernando and held him captive until his death eleven years later. Henry's military reputation suffered as a result, and for most of his last twenty-three years he concentrated on his exploration activities, or on Portuguese court politics.
Using the new ship type, the expeditions then pushed onwards. Nuno Tristão and Antão Gonçalves reached Cape Blanco in 1441. The Portuguese sighted the Bay of Arguin in 1443 and built an important fort there in about 1448. Dinis Dias soon came across the Senegal River and rounded the peninsula of Cap-Vert (in modern-day Senegal) in 1444. By this stage the explorers had passed the southern boundary of the desert, and from then on Henry had one of his wishes fulfilled: the Portuguese had circumvented the Muslim land-based trade routes across the western Sahara Desert, and slaves and gold began pouring into Portugal. By 1452, the influx of gold sufficed for the minting of the first gold cruzado ("crusade") coins. From 1444 to 1446 as many as forty vessels sailed from Lagos on Henry's behalf, and the first private mercantile expeditions began. At some time in the 1450s mariners discovered the Cape Verde Islands (António Noli claimed the credit). By 1460 the Portuguese had explored the coast of Africa as far as present-day Sierra Leone.
Portuguese vessels encountered the Cape Verde islands in 1455.
Reference
- Braudel, Fernand, The Perspective of the World, ISBN 0060912960, 1985