Editing Prince Henry the Navigator (section)

== Henry's explorations ==
{{more citations needed|section|date=May 2022}}
[[File:Henrican navigation routes.gif|thumb|250px|Map depicting Atlantic winds (green), currents (blue) and approximate Portuguese sailing routes (red) utilizing the ''[[Volta do mar]]'' technique, perfected under Prince Henry.]]
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, Portugal|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 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 the returning [[westerlies]] in the mid-Atlantic. This was a major step in the [[history of navigation]], when an understanding of [[Winds in the Age of Sail|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 [[Point of sail#Close-hauled|sailing upwind]] to some extent, it was worth even major extensions of course to have a faster and calmer [[Point of sail#Running downwind|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.

=== Madeira ===
[[File:80. Alvise da Mosto, o Cadamosto presentato all' Infante D. Enrico di Portogallo, anno 1454.jpg|thumb|left|Depiction of Prince Henry enlisting [[Alvise Cadamosto]], who led a voyage to [[Porto Santo]], [[Madeira]], and the [[Canary islands]], before reaching the African mainland.]]
The first explorations followed not long after the capture of Ceuta in 1415. Henry was interested in locating the source of the [[caravan (travellers)|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 a storm while making the ''volta do mar'' westward swing to return to Portugal. They found shelter at an island they named [[Porto Santo Island|Porto Santo]]. Henry directed that Porto Santo be colonized. The move to claim the [[Madeira]]n islands was probably a response to [[Crown of Castile|Castile]]'s efforts to claim the Canary Islands.<ref>Fernandez-Armesto, Felipe. ''1492: The Year Our World Began''. {{ISBN|1-4088-0950-8}}</ref> In 1420, settlers then moved to the nearby island of [[Madeira Island|Madeira]].

=== The Azores ===
[[File:Stationary Ship (5977153683).jpg|thumb|upright|Prince Henry is the central figure on the [[Monument to the Discoveries]] in [[Lisbon]].]]
A chart drawn by the [[Catalans|Catalan]] cartographer, [[Gabriel de Vallseca]] of [[Mallorca]], has been interpreted to indicate that 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 the ''[[Sargassum]]'' seaweed growing there (''sargaço'' / ''sargasso'' in Portuguese).<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.bookdrum.com/books/wide-sargasso-sea/9780140818031/setting.html |title=Wide Sargasso Sea – Setting |publisher= Book Drum |access-date=13 April 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131215231223/http://www.bookdrum.com/books/wide-sargasso-sea/9780140818031/setting.html |archive-date=15 December 2013 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=The Sargasso Sea|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/blueplanet/infobursts/sargasso_bg.shtml|work=BBC Nature|access-date=6 June 2011}}</ref>

=== West African coast ===
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 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 the Navigator|Hanno]] almost two millennia before.
[[File:Alternative Henry the Navigator (St. Vincent Panels).jpg|thumb|upright|left|The portrait in the [[Saint Vincent Panels]] believed to be true likeness of Prince Henry.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=BRANCO |first=FERNANDO |date=2022 |title=HENRY THE NAVIGATOR AND THE ST. VINCENT PANELS |url=https://www.academia.edu/75617769 |journal=TRIPLO V, CLEPUL Univ. Lisboa}}</ref>]]
Using the new ship type, the expeditions then pushed onwards. [[Nuno Tristão]] and [[Antão Gonçalves]] reached [[Ras Nouadhibou|Cape Blanco]] in 1441. The Portuguese sighted 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 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.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Foundations of Early Modern Europe, 1460–1559|last1=Rice Jr.|first1=Eugene F.|last2=Grafton|first2=Anthony|publisher=W.W. Norton & Company|year=1994|page=35}}</ref> By 1452, the influx of gold permitted the minting of Portugal's first gold ''[[Portuguese real#Coins|cruzado]]'' coins. A cruzado was equal to 400 reis at the time. From 1444 to 1446, as many as forty vessels sailed from [[Lagos, Portugal|Lagos]] on Henry's behalf, and 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 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.