Prince Henry (Portuguese: Henrique O Navegador, English: Henry the Navigator; March 4, 1394 - November 13, 1460), full name Don Alfonso Enrique, Duke of Viseu (O Infante Dom Henrique Duque de Viseu), Portuguese prince and navigator, was called the "Navigator" because he established a navigation school and rewarded navigation. With his support, the Portuguese fleet plundered gold and ivory from the west coast of Africa to Guinea, captured black slaves, and successively occupied the Madeira Islands.
Prince Henry
Timeline
In 11394, Prince Henry was born, the third son of John I of Portugal.
415, he participated in the conquest of Ceuta, a Muslim trading port in southern Spain.
420, was appointed governor of the "Knights of Christ".
420, Madeira Islands was discovered and colonized by the Portuguese.
427, The Azores were discovered and colonized by the Portuguese.
434, Portuguese explorers sailed south of Cape Bogador.
436, their expedition failed in Tangier and attacked the Moors .
In 11441, Nuno Tristan arrived at Cape Blanco and crossed the Sahara Desert .
444, the first private merchant ship was sent to sub-Saharan trading in sub-Saharan Africa.
In 11456, Cardamosto discovered the Cape Verde Islands.
460, Prince Henry the Navigator passed away.
Birth and Early Life
Portugal was called Lusitania in the ancient Greek and ancient Roman eras. At the beginning of the 14th century AD, during the reign of King Dinis, Portugal began to expand overseas. By the middle of the 15th century, as navigation technology became increasingly mature, a Portuguese navigator named Henry appeared.
In 11394, Prince Henry was born. He was the third son of King Joao I of Portugal and Lancaster Philippa . It is said that the astrology at the time of his birth predicted that he " will surely achieve greatness. And the noble conquest, and more importantly, he will discover mysterious things that others cannot see.". Henry learned strategy and tactics, diplomatic art, national management, ancient and modern knowledge from a young age, and was well-read. As a prince, Henry longed for a life of adventure and fighting. At the same time, he was a devout Christian. In his view, it was a Christian's duty to attack the Moors and explore unknown areas and bring Christianity there. Prince Henry never married. He had a rigorous and firm character and lived a simple life.
415, Henry and his brothers accompanied his father Joao I to raid Ceuta. The Moors had no knowledge at all beforehand. As a result, Ceuta was captured in just one day, and the Portuguese only lost 8 people. In this battle, Henry took the lead and rushed into the enemy line alone, but was surrounded by the Moors. One of his guards died in the battle while desperately protecting him. Later generations regarded this as the beginning of the Portuguese and European expansion.
html In 11417, the Moorish army surrounded Ceuta, and Henry led reinforcements to Ceuta and spent three months there. These were three months that changed the history of the world. During these three months, Henry learned from prisoners of war and merchants that there was an ancient and busy trade route that could cross the Sahara Desert and that in 20 days, one could reach the "green country" with lush woods and fertile land. ", that is, contemporary Guinea, The Gambia, Senegal, southern Mali and southern Niger, from where African pepper, gold, and ivory can be obtained. The Portuguese had no experience in crossing the desert by land. Prince Henry had a bold idea to reach the "green country" by sea.This idea was approved by King Joao I , who made him a knight, and then Henry was made Duke of Viseu and Lord of Covinia.
Henry's brothers Du Prince Arte I and Prince Pedro ("The Prince of Seven Departures to the World" o Infante das Sete Partidas do Mundo) were both enlightened princes trained in the Renaissance era, both civil and military, Pedro Prince Luo began to travel around Europe and Asia as a knight at the age of 20. He visited the Pope of Rome, Juan II of Kingdom of Castile, Emperor Sigismund of the Holy Roman Empire, Ottoman Sultan Murad II and Constantine XI also participated in the HRE army's war to suppress the Hussites in Bohemia. His vision and knowledge allowed him to greatly appreciate and fully support the career of his third brother Henry in the future.
The Rise of Navigation
Henry had no interest in politics. He went to Portugal's southernmost province of Agavi, far away from the political center of Lisbon, as governor, and settled in a city called Sasa near Cape San Vicente. He settled in the small village of Gerish , and this place became the source of his adventures in strange places in the following decades.
Prince Henry founded a Navigation Academy in Cape San Vicente to train domestic sailors and improve their navigation skills; he established an observatory to attract geoscientists, cartographers, mathematicians and astronomers from all over the world. Jointly research, formulate plans and programs ; extensively collect various literature and materials on geography, meteorology, trade winds, ocean currents, shipbuilding, navigation, etc., analyze and organize them for their own use; establish a travel library , including "Marco Polo's Travels" , also collected many maps and drew new maps. A stone tablet was unearthed in Sagres in 1836, which reads: "The great Prince Henry built here a palace, a famous school of cosmology, an observatory and a naval arsenal."
He supported mathematicians and craftsmen Improve and create new navigation instruments , such as improving the compass imported from China, quadrant , and horizontal scale. In navigation, ships are the most important. Due to the different sailing conditions between the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean, ships sailing in the Mediterranean Sea are not suitable for sailing in the Atlantic Ocean. At that time, most ships were still sailing oars. The main power relied more on slaves to paddle large oars to drive the ships, and the maneuverability was very poor. The ship masts mostly used single-piece square sails or single-piece square sails. The former relied too much on the wind direction, and the rear The person appears to be lacking motivation.
Therefore, Henry's greatest focus was on shipbuilding, for which he took many preferential measures to encourage shipbuilding : Anyone who built a ship of more than 100 tons could get wood for free from the Royal Forest, and any other necessary materials. Duty-free import of . In the context of insufficient currency at the time, duty-free imports came at a considerable cost. After hard work, by 1440, a ship suitable for sailing on the Atlantic Ocean was finally built- Caravel sailing ship. The Caravel sailboat uses a mixture of Arabian jib and European square sails, with an aspect ratio of 1:3.5. The hull of this kind of boat is shallow, light, flexible and fast, which allows it to sail close to the coast without having to go far from the coast to avoid reefs and sandbars. This is especially important when sailing for the purpose of exploring unfamiliar coasts.
In addition to Christians, Prince Henry braved controversy and risk, absorbing Moriscos and Jews as well as Christian converts as his own staff. Because the Moors can travel freely between North Africa and West Africa regions, and they have a lot of dual knowledge of Christianity and Islam , so in order to know oneself and the enemy, Henry is a meritocracy and absorbs Catalonia. Various ethnic groups, including Asians, Guineans, and Moors, also provided funding to the University of Lisbon to offer navigation, astronomy, geometry, geography, and other subjects to cultivate reserve talents for navigation in Portugal. In the era of Renaissance , astrology was also very popular. The astrology that Prince Henry believed in showed that the prince's Aries belongs to the Mars house, and Mars is in the Aquarius house and belongs to Sagittarius, which means The prince's mission is to lead his men to expand the territory and obtain the fruits of exploring the world.
Prince Henry was still a very devout Christian. He built churches in his land and fiefdom. He personally determined the days for mass, the types of daily classes, the people who presided over the daily classes, and the management of churches. As a fanatical Crusader knight, he often sat high on his horse and watched mercilessly as the Bishop of Lagos executed Muslim prisoners of war and apostates in batches.
He also supported the development of handicrafts, fishing, milling, coral industry, sugar industry, printing and dyeing industry . He leased the land of the Knights of Christ to farmers and collected land rent , and added fisheries and soaps. He also made money through his business, and he also obtained the privilege of fishing tuna in the Algarve through the royal family's reward, providing additional supplies for the garrison in Ceuta. After occupying Ceuta, I heard that the Moors also had a lot of trade south of the Sahara, so I immediately crossed the Sahara and opened a new trade route.
418, Henry sent his first expedition with only one square ship southward to find Guinea. The ship was blown to the west and arrived at the Port of Santos Island in Madeira Islands . The Madeira Islands were discovered, and Prince Henry subsequently declared the islands to belong to Portugal.
In 11419, the Portuguese fleet arrived at the main island of Madeira Islands and established the capital of Portuguese Madeira on the island. The land here is fertile and the climate is hot and humid, suitable for growing wheat and sugar cane. In fact, we came here a few centuries ago in order to compete with the Venetians for Mediterranean trade, but in the end it was nothing and it was forgotten. But at this time, Europeans found this place again and began to plant sugar cane, a crop that Europeans had been exposed to since the Crusaders. Later, this crop was transplanted to other European colonies. Since then, the Madeira Islands have become the foothold and supply station for Portuguese expeditions.
Prince's next goal was the Canary Islands , but the Portuguese soldiers were defeated by the locals. Prince Henry made several efforts in the future, but all failed. Later, Portugal gave up its ownership of the Canary Islands and gave it to the Spaniards. In the following years, Prince Henry sent several expeditions to explore from two directions. One direction is to go south along the coast of Africa, and the other is to leave the coast and sail deep to the southwest to discover more islands.
From May to November 11420, the Holy See issued a series of documents, appointing Prince Henry as the Grand Commander of the Knights of Christ headquartered in Tomar Christian Church, allowing him to manage the related properties of the Knights, and transfer the Knights to the Order. The income is used for navigation and adventure. The only restriction is that the very expensive real estate in the Knights is not allowed to be touched.
In 11427, the fleet exploring the southwest discovered the Azores Islands. The Azores Islands are located in the Atlantic Ocean 1,450 kilometers west of Portugal. They are composed of 9 main islands. They have a mild climate, rich water and soil, and the ocean currents near the islands are from It flows from west to east, so it is convenient for ships returning from Africa to return to the European continent.Can be used as a supply station for ocean voyages.
In 11431, Gonzalo Viniu Cabral discovered Formiga Island east of the Azores . Perhaps due to the harsh climate and the resistance of the locals, the Portuguese had no choice but to leave things alone after their first landing. In the following years, the Portuguese discovered the islands of St. Michael and Santa Maria.
432, Prince Henry sent 16 ships, hundreds of people, a priest, and dozens of livestock to colonize the Azores . The discovery and colonization of the Azores had an important impact on future Portuguese exploration and colonization, because its distance from Portugal is almost equivalent to 1/3 of the distance from Portugal across the Atlantic to the Americas. The wheat grown here can also supplement the Portuguese mainland. .
htmlIn 11433, King Joao I passed away, and Henry's eldest brother Duarte I succeeded. At this time, Henry focused his main energy on his expedition south along the coast of Africa. The main obstacle on this route is Cape Bojador, which is located on the African continent just south of the Canary Islands.
As early as 1341 to 1346 AD, Catalan and Portuguese navigators sailed 900 kilometers south along the west coast of Africa until Bojador. The sailors did not dare to sail further south. They secretly returned to Europe, using the pretext of encountering all kinds of terrifying natives. The salt in the sea was so thick that even plows could not plow it. They also threatened that all Christians who passed through Bohador would become black. The south of Cape Bohar was a completely unknown world to Europeans at that time, with dense reefs, huge waves, and mysterious rapids. Arabs fearfully called this sea area "darkness" "Green Sea ", on the medieval Arabic map, on the coast slightly south of Cape Bohar, there is a hand of the devil sticking out of the water.
434, after more than a dozen attempts, Prince Henry's expedition finally crossed the corner under the leadership of captain Gil Eianish. (The captain later boasted that sailing on the dark green sea was as easy as sailing on domestic waters. The contemporary Portuguese historian Surara called it a feat.)
The following year, Eyanes and Afonso Gonçalves Baldaia (about 1415-1481) went to sea again and arrived at Garnet Bay, 100 nautical miles south of Cape Bohar, where they beach Human and camel tracks were found on the coast, proving that life existed in this area.
In 11436 they arrived at a place called Neo de Oro (Rio de Oro), where they found placer gold, thinking that it was the gold river that Europeans had been looking for. In fact, it was not even a river. , just a small bay, not of much value. During the reign of Duarte, the king used 1/5 of the tax revenue of Madeira as a navigation fund.
437, the prince proposed to his brother Duarte I to attack Tangier. After the fortress of Ceuta was established, the Moors took the initiative to bypass it, isolating this area from the trade network. At that time, the Portuguese had different views on whether to advance into North Africa or explore along the coast of West Africa. The nobles advocated launching a full-scale war against North Africa and occupying large areas of land, merchants advocated peaceful trade with the Moors , and government officials hoped to explore and establish strip colonies along the coast of North Africa. However, the princes fought against all opinions, and the parliament finally had to agree to allocate a certain amount of military expenditures, but had reservations about the expedition itself.
During the Battle of Tangier expedition, the expeditionary force lost contact with the army on the seaside because it was too far from the coastline, and was finally besieged by a huge Moroccan army.After 37 days of siege, Prince Henry gave his brother Prince Fernando as a hostage to the Moors in order to save the Portuguese army, and promised to exchange Ceuta for Prince Fernando. Ceuta's geographical location is very important. This fortress guards the exit of the Mediterranean Sea. Giving it back to the Arabs would give them the opportunity to enter the Atlantic Ocean, which would also mean that their navigation career would come to an end. Everyone knows that Enrique is a ruthless person, but no one would have thought that he could not even care about his own brother's life. Prince Fernando wrote to him many times, and the king also hoped to gather more troops to rescue Prince Fernando. Prince Henry used various means to hinder the exchange of Prince Fernando with Ceuta. In the end, Prince Fernando was imprisoned until his death.
Then, using Ceuta, which was retained by Prince Henry, as a springboard, , Portugal made three expeditions to Tangier in 11458, 1463, and 1471, capturing almost all of Morocco's coast near the Atlantic Ocean.
html In 11438, Alfonso V succeeded to the throne, and Prince Henry resumed his navigation career that had been interrupted by the failure of the Battle of Tangier.
The sailing ship built by Henry the Navigator
Prince Henry the Navigator in armor
The beginning of the slave trade
In 11441, after dealing with the disastrous attack on Tangier and the resulting political struggle, Henry returned to Sagres, Expeditions to the African coast resumed. This year the expedition set a new record for sailing southward: Cape Brown (now Cape Nouadhibou in Mauritania ). In the same year, another expedition was sent out and brought back ten Muslim captives. This marked the beginning of Europeans' involvement in the slave trade.
The expedition arrived at the mouth of the Oro River in 1442. In 1443, the Portuguese arrived in the Senegambia region for the first time. The Portuguese had early contact with the black kingdom here. The local black tribes were large in number and strengthened, so it was difficult to conquer by force. Therefore, the Portuguese gave up their attempt to conquer by force, and instead sow discord among the various tribes , these black tribes have never lacked sufficient motivation to frame their compatriots. Prisoners of war, witchcraft sacrifices, and the defeated are all excellent candidates for slaves. The Portuguese called this land the land of black people, and this is Guinea. ) origin.
443, Prince Pedro , who was the regent at the time, granted Prince Henry the privilege of navigation, war, and trade in the sea and land south of Cape Bojador, using it for navigation and exempting the proceeds from navigation from taxation. All taxes . Later, Prince Henry also built a small town on the promontory in front of Sagres. This is the famous Cape San Vicente. Here he will build a church, a beacon, and the first slave in Europe. Market , this model will affect later Europeans' business model and attitude towards black African .
and above support ensured the funds for Henry's voyage and were the driving force for the rapid advancement of the voyage expedition. But exploration is not an adventure for the sake of exploration. The protracted expedition did not bring much profit, so Henry suffered more and more criticism, thinking that it was a meaningless and profitless pursuit of the unknowable.
Henry saw that the slave trade was an opportunity to quell criticism , so he organized a voyage for the purpose of plundering slaves in 1444, bringing back 235 slaves at a time and selling them on the outskirts of Ragush. This was the sin of Europe for 400 years. The beginning of the slave trade. Since 1455, 800 black slaves have been sold to Portugal as slaves every year.
From then on, the voyage organized by Henry focused equally on exploration, colonization and slave trade. At this time, the Portuguese royal family issued licenses to private explorers, allowing them to obtain everything they discovered. For private individuals, it meant that as long as they paid a small amount of money and took risks, they could make a fortune; for the royal family, , you can get benefits without paying any price.This set off a craze for private adventure in the country. Soon, 25 ships were sailing to the African coast every year. Of course, private expeditions, due to their profit-seeking and unorganized nature, are not real expeditions, but merely gaining wealth in discovered areas.
446, as Prince Alfonso gradually came of age, Prince Pedro, the regent and Henry's brother, was forced to hand over the regency power and almost triggered a rebellion. Although the rebellion was suppressed in the end, it ended with the death of Prince Pedro. . The death of this most visionary sailing nobleman made all Europe regret it, but Prince Henry clearly realized that his generation was gradually withdrawing from the political stage, so instead of continuing to fight for power with the new generation of young nobles, it was better to fade out and not belong. After leaving his own political arena, he turned his attention to running his own maritime business, leaving more technological assets and intangible resource advantages for future generations to enjoy.
The economic impact of the African slave trade on West Africa, where the coastal states became rich and powerful while the savanna states were destabilized as their people were taken captive
In 11448, Prince Henry sent men to Brown A permanent fortress was built on Altyn Island at the corner of , and a port, city hall, and monastery were built as the center. It served as a trade transit station for Portuguese exploration. The later Portuguese maritime empire was based on this trade scattered in various strategic locations. Station, and the sea area between the trading posts.
Prince Henry traded brass, ironware, wheat, and horses here for gold, ivory, and slaves from the African interior. His ideal was to use the Portuguese trading post in the Gulf of Guinea area as a gate to lead the trade routes from the Indian Ocean to the Red Sea, Egypt , Arabia and other places through Africa to the Gulf of Guinea, thereby establishing a connection between Portugal and the East. This would not only It can bypass the maritime republics such as the Republic of Venice, and also hope to reduce the trade volume of Mamluk Egypt, thereby weakening its strength, and finally reducing the resistance of the Crusaders to regain Egypt. The idea of using force to monopolize maritime trade routes and thereby weakening the opponent's economy was started by Prince Henry. The idea of monopolizing Indian Ocean trade guided Dias, Vasco da Gama, Cabral and others to follow. A bloody battle in the Indian Ocean.
As African trade continued to expand, Altyn Island became an important center for the supply of gold. The expedition finally paid off, and those criticisms quieted down, and even the past complaints turned into public praise involuntarily.
After a lot of development and consumption, the gold sand in Prince Henry's palace can still be used for 18 years after his death, which shows its large quantity.
In 11457, 's rapidly developing economy and gold reserves increased Portugal's voice in European-African trade and European trade. It began to think about actively casting high-value currencies for international trade and strategic reserves, and reducing foreign currencies. The loss of value that occurs during the exchange process. So the Portuguese began to create a high-purity gold coin called Cruzado, which means Crusader. Due to its exquisite workmanship and high purity, it did not depreciate until 1536.
Due to the exemplary role of Prince Henry, domestic nobles and merchants were eager to trade and plunder in Africa. The royal family took a commission from them by issuing unified trade licenses. This practice was pioneered by the Portuguese and later followed by other colonial powers.
In 11444, Nuno Tristão arrived near the mouth of the Senegal River in Cape Brown. The coast here became verdant and the vegetation was lush. In this way, after more than ten years of sailing, Portugal finally reached the green country.
After 11449, the navigators organized by Prince Henry did not take geographical discovery as their mission, but tried their best to explore some large rivers that had been discovered, especially the Gambia River, so as to search for John the Priest and the gold. However, the navigators did not John and the gold were not found, but some prosperous black kingdoms were discovered, and there were rumors of larger kingdoms in the distance.
In his later years, Henry devoted himself to coordinating the relationship between Portugal and the Holy See, expanding the rights of the Portuguese Knights of Christ, and expressing his Crusader ideals to the Holy See.
html In 11458, Prince Henry, who had rich military experience, navigation experience, and financial reserves, revived his crusade ideals and took 220 ships and 25,000 soldiers to the fortress of Kassel-Segel near Tangier. After allowing the Arabs to leave with their families and valuables, the Portuguese successfully entered the city.
Map of the Azores Islands in the North Atlantic, circa 1584. Before being colonized by the Portuguese in the 15th century, these islands were uninhabited
Death
The death of Prince Henry in 11460 marked the end of a great era of Portuguese maritime exploration. An impressive tomb was obtained at the Monastery of Batalaja in central Portugal. Henry the Navigator became a legendary figure through his achievements and the late medieval chronicle of his life written in Zurara (c.1410 - c.1474). Even in the 15th century, some commentators did note that the prince was too interested in wealth, recalling the Crusades of the past, but he was widely known for centuries as the founder of the Portuguese maritime empire.
The slave trade brought Henry wealth and glory. Strange as it seems today, Henry was not criticized for this trade, but instead he was widely congratulated and celebrated for discovering new sources of wealth, disrupting Islamic trade networks, and giving pagans the opportunity to learn about the Christian faith. praise. "Navigator" was at the height of his fame and power, but he was, of course, mortal.
He did not live to see the incredible scope of the empire he began to build. As more Portuguese explored, more and more colonies joined the Atlantic islands, as tiny Portugal weaved a global network of trading ports from Brazil to Japan. The chapel Henry founded in Belem, outside Lisbon, remains the last home sailors saw before leaving Portugal to reach these far-flung colonies. There was a tradition that the crew would pray in this chapel on the eve of their departure, asking their God for a successful voyage and a safe return home.
The tomb of Prince Henry the Navigator, in the Monastery of Batalaha, central Portugal
Portuguese sailors had only reached the Canary Islands in West Africa when Henry died, but in 1488, Bartholomeu Dias attested that when he arrived When the southern tip of the continent is reached, Africa can be circumnavigated. Ten years later, Vasco da Gama traveled around Africa and sailed to India.
Statue of Henry the Navigator, Porto
