Our Research on Prince Henry

the Navigator
Who is Prince Henry the Navigator?
Dom Henrique of Portugal, Duke of Viseu, better known as Prince Henry the Navigator, was
a central figure in the early days of the Portuguese Empire and in the 15th-century
European maritime discoveries and maritime expansion.

Henry the Navigator was born in 1394 in Porto, Portugal. He was the third surviving son of
King John I and Philippa of Lancaster.

Prince Henry the Navigator (aka Infante Dom Henrique, 1394-1460) was a Portuguese
prince who famously helped capture the North African city of Ceuta, sponsored voyages of
exploration with the aim of building colonies in the North Atlantic and West Africa, and
began the Portuguese involvement in the African slave trade.

In 1415, Henry, his father and his older brothers led an attack on Ceuta, a town in
Morocco along the Strait of Gibraltar. The attack succeeded, and Ceuta fell under
Portuguese control. Henry became fascinated with Africa, a continent about which the
Portuguese knew little. He developed a desire to learn about the Muslims who lived there,
primarily in hopes of conquering them and spreading Christianity. And he became aware of
Africa’s many resources, which he hoped to exploit for Portugal’s gain.

Henry is often credited with beginning the Age of Discovery, the period during which
European nations expanded their reach to Africa, Asia and the Americas. Henry himself
was neither a sailor nor a navigator, his name notwithstanding. He did, however, sponsor
many exploratory sea voyages. In 1415, his ships reached the Canary Islands, which had
already been claimed by Spain. In 1418, the Portuguese came upon the Madeira Islands and
established a colony at Porto Santo.

When these expeditions began, Europeans knew virtually nothing about the area past Cape
Bojador on the west coast of Africa. Superstition had kept them from going farther. But
under Henry’s orders, Portuguese sailors moved beyond Bojador. By 1436, they had
traveled as far as the Rio de Oro.

In addition to sponsoring exploratory voyages, Henry is also credited with furthering

knowledge of geography, mapmaking and navigation. He started a school for navigation in
Sagres, at the southwestern tip of Portugal, where he employed cartographers,

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shipbuilders and instrument makers. It was from Lagos, near Sagres, that many of his
sponsored trips began.

Which Part Does He Play in Enslaved People Trade?

Henry has the dubious distinction of being a founder of the Atlantic enslaved people
trade. He sponsored Nuno Tristao’s exploration of the African coast, and Antao
Goncalves’s hunting expedition there in 1441. The two men captured several Africans and
brought them back to Portugal. One of the captured men, a chief, negotiated his own
return to Africa, promising in exchange to provide the Portuguese with more Africans.
Within a few years, Portugal was deeply involved in the enslaved people trade.

What is Prince Henry the Navigator known for?

For good and for ill, Henry the Navigator helped set the stage for the modern world.
Besides finding new trade routes and connecting various peoples, Henry's expeditions
began the process of European colonization and the transatlantic slave trade.

What Did Henry Invent?

Traditional biographies of Henry have credited him with other revolutionary achievements
such as the invention of the oceangoing caravel ship and the perfection of the critical
navigational instrument called the astrolabe.

Short and Essential Information on Price Henry;

Born: March 4, 1394, Porto, Portugal
Died: November 13, 1460, Sagres, Portugal
Nationality: Portuguese
Place of burial: Batalha Monastery, Batalha, Portugal
Awards: Military Order of Christ
Siblings: Edward, King of Portugal, Peter, Duke of Coimbra,

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Full name: Infante Henrique of Portugal

Collated Information;
Dom Henrique of Portugal, Duke of Viseu (4 March 1394 – 13 November 1460), better
known as Prince Henry the Navigator (Portuguese: Infante Dom Henrique, o Navegador),
was a central figure in the early days of the Portuguese Empire and in the 15th-century
European maritime discoveries and maritime expansion. Henry was the third surviving son
of King John I and his wife Philippa, sister of King Henry IV of England. He was baptized in
Porto, and may have been born there, probably when the royal couple was living in the
city's old mint, now called Casa do Infante (Prince's House), or in the region nearby. On 25
May 1420, Henry gained appointment as the Grand Master of the Military Order of Christ,
the Portuguese successor to the Knights Templar, which had its headquarters at Tomar in
central Portugal. Henry held this position for the remainder of his life, and the Order was
an important source of funds for Henry's ambitious plans, especially his persistent
attempts to conquer the Canary Islands, which the Portuguese had claimed to have
discovered before the year 134. According to João de Barros, in Algarve, Prince Henry the
Navigator repopulated a village that he called Terçanabal (from terça nabal or tercena
nabal). This village was situated in a strategic position for his maritime enterprises and
was later called Vila do Infante ("Estate or Town of the Prince"). Henry sponsored
voyages, collecting a 20% tax (o quinto) on profits, the usual practice in the Iberian states
at the time. The nearby port of Lagos provided a convenient home port for these
expeditions. The voyages were made in very small ships, mostly the caravel, a light and
maneuverable vessel equipped by lateen sail. No one used the nickname "Henry the
Navigator" to refer to prince Henry during his lifetime or in the following three centuries.
The term was coined by two nineteenth-century German historians: Heinrich Schaefer and
Gustave de Veer. Later on it was made popular by two British authors who included it in
the titles of their biographies of the prince: Henry Major in 1868 and Raymond Beazley in
1895.

Picture of Prince Henry the Navigator;

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