Before There Was Columbus

Prince Henry the Navigator 

We all owe this man, who you probably never heard of, a big thank you.  Infante Dom Henrique, who became known as Prince Henry the Navigator (1394-1460) was the fourth child of King John I of Portugal  He was to become a pivotal figure in the history of maritime exploration, credited with starting the Age of Discovery.

Fighting the Moors in the Muslim port of Ceuta in Northern Africa opened his eyes to the potential of Subsaharan trade routes. This, in turn, led to a general fascination with Africa and desire to explore its trade possibilities.

He established  a School of Navigation in the furthest southwest part of Portugal, Sagres. His goals were to find new trade routes to Africa and along the way to establish alliances against Muslim power.  In those days, Sagres was, literally, the end of the world.  What lay to its west, no one knew. According to the legends that abounded there were sea monsters and the waters at times boiled- no one was interested in finding out if these things were true or not.                           

Cliffs, Sagres Portugal

 

Navigational device Sagres Portugal, possibly associated with navigational school of Prince Henry

Fort of Sagres, purported location of School of Henry the Navigator

Henry's goal was to demystify this great body of water and set the stage for exploration.  He gathered the best minds of the time in navigation, cartography, shipbuilding and other maritime disciplines.  This maritime "think tank" is usually called the "Sagres Navigational School", although the exact location of this school or its precise details are not known.  Local guides will tell you that the school was associated with the Fortress of Sagres, but there is no proof that this was its physical location. By report, the school was very strict and fear and superstition were not tolerated.

Enter Christopher Columbus. His interest was in sailing west across the Atlantic to Asia. Portugal saw some basic flaws in this plan ( more about that in another post) and would not support him. Spain did and the rest is history.

It has been claimed that Columbus trained at the Sagres school of Henry the Navigator. There is no proof that he was ever a student of its rigorous curriculum, but he was influenced by the climate of the intensive Portuguese exploration of the time and its advanced maritime knowledge.

 Henry did not spend his time in the courts of Lisbon, but in Sagres and the great monasteries of Portugal's Estremadura region, to the north. Henry died in Sagres and his tomb is in the Batalha Monastery.

Baltalha Monastery, Portugal

Tomb of Henry the Navigator, Batalha Monastery, Portugal

 Henry, himself, did not sail, but without him, his school, and support of maritime exploration, who knows if Columbus would have reached the New World (even if he was actually looking for India).

Perhaps we could side-step all the recent controversy surrounding Columbus Day by celebrating "Prince Henry Day", instead.  Without him Columbus might have never gotten to the Americas.