Henry Navigator.Portuguese discovery of Africa.

[Anatol]

The kingdom of Portugal in the 15th century was one of the first European powers to begin building a colonial empire . The Portuguese Renaissance was a period of exploration , during which Portuguese sailors discovered several Atlantic archipelagos like the Azores , Madeira , or Cape Verde , explored and colonized the African coast , discovered an eastern route to India that rounded the Cape of Good Hope , discovered Brazil , explored the Indian Ocean and established trading routes throughout most of southern Asia , and sent the first direct European maritime trade and diplomatic missions to Ming China and to Japan .Portugal is a country that has no coast along the Mediterranean Sea so the country's advances in worldwide exploration centuries ago comes at no surprise. However, it was the passion and goals of one man who truly moved Portuguese exploration forward. Prince Henry founded his Institute at Sagres on the southwestern-most point of Portugal, Cape Saint Vincent - a place ancient geographers referred to as the western edge of the earth. The institute, best described as a fifteenth century research and development facility, included libraries, an astronomical observatory, ship-building facilities, a chapel, and housing for staff. The institute was designed to teach navigational techniques to Portuguese sailors, to collect and disseminate geographical information about the world, to invent and improve navigational and seafaring equipment, to sponsor expeditions, and to spread Christianity around the world - and perhaps even to find Prester John . Prince Henry's school of navigation resulted in a breakthrough for Portuguese navigation. Before Prince Henry, sailors and navigators refused to sail toward Africa. They were scared of sea monsters and boiling water near the equator. In fact, no sailor had ever sailed into the “Sea of Darkness”, which the Portuguese considered to be any part of the ocean south of 27 degrees north latitude (about Cape Bojador). Prince Henry's school sent 14 expeditions into “The Sea of Darkness”. Prince Henry himself even convinced some explorers to go further south. Prince Henry's influence was the first step in finding the vaunted sea route to the Indies.
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. http://geography.about.com/od/historyof ... ehenry.htm. http://mrnussbaum.com/explorers/princehenry/