Friday, November 06, 2009
Prince Henry the Navigator, a Bill Gates of the 1400's
Prince Henry the Navigator, says Wikipedia, lived most of his life in the southern Atlantic port of Lagos. From here he directed expeditions to Morocco and to the western coast of Africa with caravels, lateen-rigged ships with excellent seafaring capabilities.
Lagos was also the home port for Gil Eanes who was the first to sail beyond Cape Bojador in 1434, then considered the end of the world. This was a breakthrough in the Portuguese exploration of Africa.
Lagos was at least as important during the Age of Discovery as Cape Canaveral was during the early years of space exploration.
It was also through Lagos that the first African slaves entered post-medieval Europe. There is a 17th century building standing on the exact site where the first slave markets were held in the 15th century. As the major sponsor of these expeditions, Prince Henry received one fifth of the selling price of the slaves.
Henry possessed geographical curiosity and therefore employed cartographers. Jehuda Cresques, a noted cartographer, received an invitation to come to Sagres and made maps for Henry.
By 1462, the Portuguese had explored the coast of Africa as far as the present-day nation Sierra Leone. Twenty-eight years later, Bartolomeu Dias (can be spelt Diaz) proved that Africa could be circumnavigated when he reached the southern tip of the continent. This is now known as the "Cape of Good Hope." In 1498, Vasco da Gama was the first sailor to travel from Portugal to India.