By Michael Ngo
www.henryisthenavigator.synthesite.com
Early life
Henry the navigator was born on March 4, 1394 in Oporto, Portugal and died on November 13, 1460. He was the son of King John I of Portrugal and Philippa of Lancaster. In those days, Henry was an important figure because he was the prince of the Portuguese House of Aviz. Prince Henry was responsible for the beginning of the European worldwide explorations.
Henry wanted his father to conquer Ceuta, so when Henry was at the age of 21, he, his brothers, and father successfully conquered the Moorish port of Ceuta located in northern Morocco. After the successful attack, Henry was inspired to explore more of the coast of Africa. His goals were to seek the source of the West African gold trade, find the Christian kingdom of Prester John, and to stop Portuguese coast from being attacked by pirates.
The Caravel
Unfortunately, the ships that sailed the Mediterranean were to slow and heavy to make these voyages, so a new, lighter ship was developed called the caravel, which let sailors travel a lot faster with more efficiency.
*Picture of caravel above
*Map of African coast below
Discovering the West African coast
In 1416, Henry created an exploration base at Sagres in south west Portugal with a naval arsenal, an observatory, and a school for geography and navigation.
The Madeira islands were rediscovered by one of Henry's navigators and the west coast of Africa was soon explored. Henry had trouble persuading his captains to sailing beyond Cape Bojador. This was because of a legend where if you go beyond that point and into the "Great Sea of Darkness", your skin would burn, the sea would boil, ships would catch on fire, and monsters would wait to crush ships and ingest sailors since the "Great Sea of Darkness" was thought to be so close to the sun. Cape Bojador was reached in 1434 while Cape Blanco was in 1441 and the Bay of Arguim was in 1443. The African exploration became very popular after Henry's captains returned with gold and slaves. 30 to 40 vessels sailed for the West African coast from 1444 through 1446 under the power of Prince Henry. The Senegal river was discovered and Cape Verde was rounded by Henry's navigators in 1444. They also reached the present Sierra Leone in 1460.
Soon, Henry saw the abuses of slave trade, so he banned the kidnapping of blacks in 1455
Henry was the grand master of the wealthy and powerful Order of Christ which increased his influence. He also had a reputation in the military and was offered to be in charge of foreign armies. Although Henry had a lot of success throughout his life, what was most important about him was that he contributed to the art of navigation and to the development of exploration.
