Henry+the+Navigator

toc He had two brothers, **Edward** (later Edward I) and **Peter**. He received an education based on politics, literature and war. In 1415, when he was only 21, he demonstrated his military flair during the course of the conquest of **Ceuta****﻿**, city of which he was later governor. When he returned to Portugal (~1417), he was named duke of Viseu and lord of Covilha. Short after this, he founded in **Sagres** (Algarve) a centre of **nautical**, **geographical** and **astronomic studies**, where distinguished sailors and cartographers worked. Henry organised several expeditions from here with commercial and evangelizing purposes. The stage of the great Portuguese geographical discoveries started in **1434**, when **Gil Eanes** surrounded the **Cape Bojador**. Some years later, **Nuno Tristão** reached **Cap Blanc** (1443) and the mouth of **Gambia River** (1446). The last expedition supported by Prince Henry the navigator finished with the discovery of **Cape Verde Islands** and **﻿Senegal River**, in 1456, by **Alvise da Cadamosto**.
 * Henry the Navigator** was the son of **Juan I** (Juan -or João- de Avis) and **Felipa de Lancaster**, so he was **prince Henry the Navigator**. He was born in **1394**, in Porto (Portugal), and died in **Vila do Infante** (Portugal), in **1460**.



Here you can see a [|video about Prince Henry the Navigator]. Here you can see a [|Xtranormal about Prince Henry the Navigator]. =﻿Achievements=

In 1417, he became the **Grand Master** of the **Order of Christ**. He invested the profits of the Order in maritime explorations. Therefore, the emblem of the Order adorned the Portuguese ships used for exploring.





Thanks to Henry the Navigator’s work, the navigational techniques improved. These improvements were very useful in later expeditions, like Bartolomeu Diaz’s (1487). Henry had the idea that **black people**, after being **baptized**, had to be taken back to their original countries to encourage their neighbours to become Christians, and therefore, “true men”. However, nobody knew later anything about the black people who returned. In **1460**, when the Portuguese arrived in **Sierra Leona** and Henry the Navigator died, the longing for money replaced his idealism. The attitude that had once transformed a small village of the Iberian Peninsula into a real nation with good sailors, **was deteriorated** with time, and the slaves’ work was even considered the basis of the nation. Henry also took part in the Portuguese politics, and held an important role durng the minority of king Alfonso V, his **nephew**. He appears in the Portuguese bills of **10,000 shields**.



=﻿Discoveries supported by Henry the Navigator=

Although his nickname was 'the Navigator', he **only payed** for the expediditions; he was **not an explorer**

by João Gonçalves Zarco and Tristão Vaz Teixeira by Diogo de Silves by Gil Eanes by Nuno Tristão by Dinis Dias by Alvise da Cadamosto
 * Madeira Islands** (1418),
 * Azores Islands** (1432),
 * Cape Bojador** (1434),
 * Cap Blanc** or Cabo Blanco (1443),
 * Senegal** (1445),
 * Cape Verde Islands** (1460)

Here you can see all the [|Discoveries supported by Henry the Navigator]