Editing Prince Henry the Navigator (section)

=== 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.