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50-520: Nuno Tristão was a knight of the household of Henry the Navigator . In 1441, Tristão was dispatched by Henry in one of the first prototypes of the lateen -rigged caravel to explore the West African coast beyond Cabo Barbas , in present day Western Sahara, the furthest point reached by Henry's last captain five years earlier ( Afonso Gonçalves Baldaia , in 1436). Around Rio de Oro , Tristão met up with

100-599: A crew composed of clerk Aires Tinoco and four grumetes (' ship boys '), immediately set sail back to Portugal. (However, the account of Diogo Gomes differs here; he asserts the caravel never made it back—that the native canoes overpowered and seized it, and then dragged the caravel and dismantled it upriver.) It is uncertain how far Nuno Tristão actually sailed and where he died. Up until the 1940s, Portuguese tradition asserted Tristão died at Rio do Nuno ( Nunez River , modern Guinea ), or that he fell just short of it, and died at Rio Grande ( Geba River , Guinea-Bissau ). As

150-768: A market for Fulbe slave caravans transporting slaves from the Muslim Imamate of Futa Jallon . In 1793 Captain Samuel Gamble of the Sandown was forced to seek protection from enemy war boats and pirates in the mangrove swaps of the Rio Nunez during the French Revolutionary Wars , where vessels were threatened by French privateers along the West African coast. For unknown reasons, he travels to agricultural villages around

200-548: A misconception. He did employ some cartographers to chart the coast of Mauritania after the voyages he sent there, but there was no center of navigation science or observatory in the modern sense of the word, nor was there an organized navigational center. Referring to Sagres, sixteenth-century Portuguese mathematician and cosmographer Pedro Nunes remarked, "from it our sailors went out well taught and provided with instruments and rules which all map makers and navigators should know." The view that Henry's court rapidly grew into

250-571: A monopoly on tuna fishing in the Algarve . When Edward died eight years later, Henry supported his brother Peter, Duke of Coimbra for the regency during the minority of Edward's son Afonso V , and in return received a confirmation of this levy. Henry functioned as a primary organizer of the disastrous expedition to Tangier in 1437 against Çala Ben Çala, which ended in Henry's younger brother Ferdinand being given as hostage to guarantee Portuguese promises in

300-451: A result, Nuno Tristão was traditionally credited as the 'discoverer' of Portuguese Guinea (modern Guinea-Bissau), and even said to have been the first European to set foot on the landmass of what is now the modern city of Bissau . If true, then Nuno Tristão's last journey was an enormous leap beyond the previous Portuguese milestone ( Cabo dos Mastos , Cape Naze , Senegal). However, modern historians, drawing from larger evidence (including

350-562: A slave-trading license. Between 1444 and 1446 several dozen Portuguese ships set out for slave raids around Arguin Bay. As fishing settlements around the Arguin banks were quickly devastated by the Portuguese slave raiders, in 1445 (or possibly 1444), Nuno Tristão was sent by Henry to press further south and look for new slave-raiding grounds. Tristão reached as far south as borderlands of Senegal , where

400-440: A small Sanhaja Berber fishing camp nearby. The Portuguese attacked the fishermen, taking some ten captives, the first African slaves taken by the Portuguese back to Europe. Gonçalves returned to Portugal immediately after the slave raid, but Nuno Tristão continued south, reaching as far as Cape Blanc ( Cabo Branco ), before turning back. In 1443, Nuno Tristão was sent out by Henry again, and pressed beyond Cape Blanc to reach

450-641: A storm while making the volta do mar westward swing to return to Portugal. They found shelter at an island they named Porto Santo . Henry directed that Porto Santo be colonized. The move to claim the Madeiran islands was probably a response to Castile 's efforts to claim the Canary Islands. In 1420, settlers then moved to the nearby island of Madeira . A chart drawn by the Catalan cartographer, Gabriel de Vallseca of Mallorca , has been interpreted to indicate that

500-843: Is depicted in the Monument of the Discoveries located in Lisbon, featured in the front of the monument. In 1994, the Prince Henry Society in conjunction with the Portuguese government gifted Prince Henry the Navigator Park in New Bedford, Massachusetts. Nunez River Nunez River or Rio Nuñez (Kakandé) is a river in Guinea with its source in the Futa Jallon highlands. It is also known as

550-524: The Sargassum seaweed growing there ( sargaço / sargasso in Portuguese). In 1424 Cape Bojador was the most southerly point known to Europeans on the west coast of Africa. For centuries, superstitious seafarers held that beyond the cape lay sea monsters and the edge of the world. However, Prince Henry was determined to know the truth. He was persistent and sent 15 expeditions over a ten-year period to pass

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600-513: The Bay of Arguin in 1443 and built an important "forte-feitoria" (a fort protecting a trading post) on the island of Arguin around the year 1448. Dinis Dias soon came across the Senegal River and rounded the peninsula of Cap-Vert 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

650-447: The Bay of Arguin . On Arguin island , Tristão encountered a Sanhaja Berber village, the first permanent settlement seen by Henry's captains on the West African coast. Tristão immediately attacked it, taking some fourteen villagers captive and returned to Portugal with his captives. Tristão's report of easy and profitable slave-raiding grounds in the Arguin banks prompted numerous Portuguese merchants and adventurers to apply to Henry for

700-611: The House of Aviz . After procuring the new caravel ship, Henry was responsible for the early development of Portuguese exploration and maritime trade with other continents through the systematic exploration of Western Africa, the islands of the Atlantic Ocean , and the search for new routes. He encouraged his father to conquer Ceuta (1415), the Muslim port on the North African coast across

750-458: The Nalu and Baga people . About 40 miles (64 km) inland is the city of Boké ; the largest on the river and the chief commercial center of Guinea. Here the river is 100m wide and 1m deep. Upstream from Boké, the shallow river winds through low hills with many series of rapids and small islet clusters to its source, a confluence of several small streams. Prior to 1840, this river served as

800-694: The Sahara desert ends and forest begins, and the coastal population changed from 'tawny' Sanhaja Berbers to 'black' Wolofs . Tristão is believed to have reached as far as the Ponta da Berberia ( Langue de Barbarie ), just short of the entrance to the Senegal River . Bad weather prevented his entering the river or landing there, so he set sail back. On the way home, Tristão stopped by the Arguin banks and took another 21 Berbers captive. Nuno Tristão arrived in Portugal declaring he had finally discovered sub-Saharan Africa , or in

850-575: The Saloum River ( Rio de Barbacins , 13°57′47″N 16°45′10″W  /  13.96306°N 16.75278°W  / 13.96306; -16.75278 ) then sent his launch up the Diombos River ( Rio de Lago , 13°47′57″N 16°36′19″W  /  13.79917°N 16.60528°W  / 13.79917; -16.60528 ), the south bank of which was controlled by the Mandinka king known as Niumimansa , of

900-685: The Straits of Gibraltar from the Iberian Peninsula . He learned of the opportunity offered by the Saharan trade routes that terminated there, and became fascinated with Africa in general; he was most intrigued by the Christian legend of Prester John and the expansion of Portuguese trade. He is regarded as the patron of Portuguese exploration . Henry was the third surviving son of King John I and his wife Philippa , sister of King Henry IV of England . He

950-624: The Tinguilinta River , after a village along its upper course. Lying between the Kogon River  [ fr ] to the north and the Pongo River to the south, the Nunez empties into the Atlantic Ocean at the port town of Kamsar , along the coast of Guinea-Conakry. The river is swollen each year during the rainy season, producing floodplains and inland swamps. These floodplains are inhabited by

1000-486: The University of Lisbon . For other subjects like medicine or philosophy, he ordered that each room should be decorated according to the subject taught. Henry also had other resources. When John I died in 1433, Henry's eldest brother Edward of Portugal became king. He granted Henry all profits from trading within the areas he discovered as well as the sole right to authorize expeditions beyond Cape Bojador . Henry also held

1050-437: The West African coast. Somewhere south of Cap Vert , Tristão came across the mouth of a large river. Tristão took 22 sailors with him on a launch upriver, to search for a settlement to raid. But the launch was ambushed by thirteen native canoes with some 80 armed men. Quickly surrounded, Nuno Tristão, along with most of his crew, was killed on the spot by poisoned arrows (two might have escaped). Tristão's caravel, reduced to

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1100-602: The Azores were first discovered by Diogo de Silves in 1427. In 1431, Gonçalo Velho was dispatched with orders to determine the location of "islands" first identified by de Silves. Velho apparently got as far as the Formigas , in the eastern archipelago, before having to return to Sagres, probably due to bad weather. By this time the Portuguese navigators had also reached the Sargasso Sea (western North Atlantic region), naming it after

1150-685: The Governor 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

1200-510: The Moorish port of Ceuta in northern Morocco . Ceuta had long been a base for Barbary pirates who raided the Portuguese coast, depopulating villages by capturing their inhabitants to be sold in the African slave trade . Following this success, Henry began to explore the coast of Africa, most of which was unknown to Europeans. His objectives included finding the source of the West African gold trade and

1250-472: The Muslim land-based trade routes across the western Sahara Desert , and slaves and gold began arriving in Portugal. This rerouting of trade devastated Algiers and Tunis, but made Portugal rich. By 1452, the influx of gold permitted the minting of Portugal's first gold cruzado coins. A cruzado was equal to 400 reis at the time. From 1444 to 1446, as many as forty vessels sailed from Lagos on Henry's behalf, and

1300-511: 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. Through his administrative direction, he is regarded as the main initiator of what would be known as the Age of Discovery . Henry was the fourth child of King John I of Portugal , who founded

1350-526: 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"). It is traditionally suggested that Henry gathered at his villa on the Sagres peninsula a school of navigators and map-makers . However modern historians hold this to be

1400-518: The Niumi Bato. It was these Mandinka (or Mandikized) warriors that ambushed and killed Nuno Tristão. Other scholars attribute the killing of the Portuguese slave raider and his party to the Serer people of Senegambia . This is the general consensus. The death of Nuno Tristão, Henry's favorite captain, was the beginning of the end of this wave of Henry's expeditions. Another set of ships would still go out

1450-560: The Rio Nunez's farmers. In 1849 the river was the site of the Rio Nuñez incident , when a Franco-Belgian squadron of warships fired on Boké, which resulted in loss of inventory by two British traders. The incident was inconclusive. During the 1870s, this river was a major export point for peanuts , with 5,000 tons per year. In the 1880s, the trade turned to rubber. Speakers of the Rio Nunez languages , Mbulungish and Baga Mboteni , live at

1500-598: The accounts of Diogo Gomes and Cadamosto ), have generally dismissed this claim and now generally agree that Nuno Tristão only reached as far as the Sine-Saloum delta, still in Senegal, just a few kilometres south of Cape of Masts (Cape Naze) or, at their most generous, the Gambia River . Exactly where has been subject to debate. In his careful investigation, historian Teixeira da Mota concluded that Nuno Tristão first prodded up

1550-574: The capture of Ceuta in 1415. Henry was interested in locating the source of the caravans that brought gold to the city. During the reign of his father, John I, João Gonçalves Zarco and Tristão Vaz Teixeira were sent to explore along the African coast. Zarco, a knight in service to Prince Henry, had commanded the caravels guarding the coast of Algarve from the incursions of the Moors . He had also been at Ceuta. In 1418, Zarco and Teixeira were blown off-course by

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1600-413: The commercial centers of Boke and Kacundy . During his journey Gamble records the earliest known description of irrigated rice cultivation in the Rio Nunez region (though earlier accounts exist such Diego Gomes ' 15th century record of mangrove rice farming along the Gambia River , detailing his eyewitness account of the process. Records attest to his purchases of both red rice and polished rice from

1650-510: The credit. By 1462, the Portuguese had explored the coast of Africa as far as present-day Sierra Leone . Twenty-eight years later, Bartolomeu Dias proved that Africa could be circumnavigated when he reached the southern tip of the continent, now known as the Cape of Good Hope . In 1498, Vasco da Gama became the first European sailor to reach India by sea. No one used the nickname "Henry the Navigator" to refer to Prince Henry during his lifetime or in

1700-425: The dreaded Cape. Each returned unsuccessful. The captains gave various excuses for having failed. Finally, in 1434 Gil Eanes , the commander of one of Henry's expeditions, became the first known European to pass Cape Bojador since Hanno almost two millennium before. Using the new ship type, the expeditions then pushed onwards. Nuno Tristão and Antão Gonçalves reached Cape Blanco in 1441. The Portuguese sighted

1750-651: The first private mercantile expeditions began. Alvise Cadamosto explored the Atlantic coast of Africa and discovered several islands of the Cape Verde archipelago between 1453 and 1456. In his first voyage, which started on 22 March 1455, he visited the Madeira Islands and the Canary Islands. On the second voyage, in 1456, Cadamosto became the first European to reach the Cape Verde Islands. António Noli later claimed

1800-417: 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. Contrary to his brothers, Prince Henry was not praised for his intellectual gifts by his contemporaries. It

1850-560: The latter at the Prince's court "probably accounts for the legend of the School of Sagres, which is now discredited." 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 sails. Most of

1900-492: The legendary Christian kingdom of Prester John , and stopping the pirate attacks on the Portuguese coast. At that time, the cargo ships of the Mediterranean were too slow and heavy to undertake such voyages. Under Henry's direction, a new and much lighter ship was developed, the caravel , which could sail farther and faster. Above all, it was highly maneuverable and could sail " into the wind ", making it largely independent of

1950-469: The next year, but would also take significant casualties, and as a result, Portuguese expeditions were temporarily suspended. Henry the Navigator did not dispatch another expedition to the West African coast again until a decade later ( Cadamosto in 1455). Henry the Navigator Dom Henrique of Portugal, Duke of Viseu (4 March 1394 – 13 November 1460), better known as Prince Henry

2000-543: The nomenclature of the time, the "Land of the Blacks" ( Terra do Negros , later Terra dos Guineus , or simply Guinea ). Portuguese slave raiders immediately descended on the Senegalese coast, but finding alert and better-armed natives on that coast, the slave raids were not nearly as easy nor as profitable as they had hoped. In 1446 (or perhaps 1445 or 1447, date uncertain), Nuno Tristão set out on his fourth (and final) trip down

2050-609: The peace agreement. The Portuguese Cortes refused to return Ceuta as ransom for Ferdinand, who remained in captivity until his death six years later. Prince Regent Peter supported Portuguese maritime expansion in the Atlantic Ocean and Africa, and Henry promoted the colonization of the Azores during Peter's regency (1439–1448). For most of the latter part of his life, Henry concentrated on his maritime activities and court politics. According to João de Barros , in Algarve , Prince Henry

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2100-483: The prevailing winds. The caravel used the lateen sail , the prevailing rig in Christian Mediterranean navigation since late antiquity. With this ship, Portuguese mariners freely explored uncharted waters around the Atlantic, from rivers and shallow waters to transoceanic voyages. In 1419, Henry's father appointed him governor of the province of the Algarve . On May 25, 1420, Henry gained appointment as

2150-521: The returning westerlies in the mid-Atlantic. This was a major step in the history of navigation , when an understanding of oceanic wind patterns was crucial to Atlantic navigation, from Africa and the open ocean to Europe, and enabled the main route between the New World and Europe in the North Atlantic in future voyages of discovery. Although the lateen sail allowed sailing upwind to some extent, it

2200-496: The ship of Antão Gonçalves , who had been sent on a separate mission by Henry that same year to hunt monk seals that basked on those shores. But Gonçalves happened to capture a solitary young camel-driver, the first native encountered by the Portuguese since the expeditions began in the 1420s. Nuno Tristão, who carried on board one of Henry's Moorish servants to act as an interpreter , interrogated Gonçalves's captive camel-driver. Tristão and Gonçalves were led by his information to

2250-412: The technological base for exploration, with a naval arsenal and an observatory, etc., although repeated in popular culture, has never been established. Henry did possess geographical curiosity, and employed cartographers. Jehuda Cresques , a noted cartographer , has been said to have accepted an invitation to come to Portugal to make maps for the infante. Prestage makes the argument that the presence of

2300-412: The voyages sent out by Henry consisted of one or two ships that navigated by following the coast, stopping at night to tie up along some shore. During Prince Henry's time and after, the Portuguese navigators discovered and perfected the North Atlantic volta do mar (the "turn of the sea" or "return from the sea"): the dependable pattern of trade winds blowing largely from the east near the equator and

2350-518: The year 1346. In 1425, his second brother the Infante Peter, Duke of Coimbra , made a diplomatic tour of Europe, with an additional charge from Henry to seek out geographic material. Peter returned with a current world map from Venice. In 1431, Henry donated houses for the Estudo Geral to teach all the sciences—grammar, logic, rhetoric, arithmetic, music, and astronomy—in what would later become

2400-574: 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. Another possibility is that he was born at the Monastery of Leça do Balio, in Leça da Palmeira , during the same period of the royal couple's residence in the city of Porto. Henry was 21 when he, his father and brothers captured

2450-443: Was only later chroniclers such as João de Barros and Damião de Góis who attributed him a scholarly character and an interest for cosmography . The myth of the " Sagres school " allegedly founded by Prince Henry was created in the 18th century, mainly by Samuel Purchas and Abbé Prévost . In nineteenth-century Portugal, the idealized vision of Prince Henry as a putative pioneer of exploration and science reached its apogee. Henry

2500-581: Was worth even major extensions of course to have a faster and calmer following wind for most of a journey. Portuguese mariners who sailed south and southwest towards the Canary Islands and West Africa would afterwards sail far to the northwest—that is, away from continental Portugal, and seemingly in the wrong direction—before turning northeast near the Azores islands and finally east to Europe in order to have largely following winds for their full journey. Christopher Columbus used this on his transatlantic voyages. The first explorations followed not long after

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