Prince Henry

Henry was born on March 4, 1394 died on November 13, 1460. He was the fourth son of, King John I of Portugal. His mother was Queen Philippa. But being born in royalty didn’t stop him from achieving his dream. After the expedition of Bartolomeu Dias, Portugal became the European country to establish trading outputs along the west coast of Africa. Eventually they proceeded to move east towards the Indian Ocean. Prince Henry was the nation’s most enthusiastic supporter. In 1419, his father appointed Prince Henry the governor of the province of Algarve which is on Portugal's southern coast. Also he had a dream to become and explorer himself which began the year 1415 when he helped conquer the Muslim city of Ceuta. Prince Henry led that expedition which led to the conquering of Ceuta, Portugal’s 1st ever conquest when he was just 21. That’s when he got his knight like urges. As known from before, the Europeans found spices that added flavor to Europe’s bland food. This caused them to want them. Some of the things he found when they invaded the Muslim city were stores filled with pepper, cinnamon, cloves and other spices. They also found large amounts of gold, silver, and jewel. Three years after he went to the aid of the town, when it was troubled by a Moorish army, and twice afterwards fought in Africa. This was just the beginning of what Prince Henry wanted. After returning home from the city of Ceuta he became determined to reach the source that the Muslims retrieved those treasures. And like most European explorers he wanted to spread the spirit of Christianity throughout the world. Prince Henry was also the founder of a navigation school around about 1418 that was located in the southern part of Portugal.   It was the 1st school for oceanic navigation along with an astronomical observatory at Sagres, Portugal. In this school, people were trained in navigations, map-making, and science, in order to sail down the west of Africa. This school had everything thing that...