ENRIQUE THE NAVIGATOR: BIOGRAPHY, ROUTES, DISCOVERIES - ARTE - 2025

Henry the Navigator (1394-1460) was a Portuguese infant who promoted the territorial expansion of Portugal through Africa and the Atlantic islands between 1415 and 1460. His expeditions were part of the Age of Discovery, a time in which recurrent explorations provided new lands to European monarchies and, with it, the extension of cultural, economic and religious ties.

The infant was in charge of planning and training the explorers who, following his guidelines, achieved the conquest of places such as the Madeira archipelago, the Azores islands and some territories on the west coast of Africa.

Henry the Navigator

Via Wikimedia Commons

The information obtained and the naval charts created from these expeditions paved the way for other Portuguese explorers such as Vasco Da Gama (1469-1524) to successfully carry out their naval campaigns.

Biography

Early years

Infante Enrique, later nicknamed 'The Navigator', was born on March 4, 1394 in Porto, Portugal. He was the third of the nine children of King Juan I and Philippa of Lancaster.

During his childhood and youth he received a comprehensive education in disciplines such as politics, literature and military strategy.

First conquest

At the age of 20, Enrique proposed to his father the conquest of Ceuta, currently an autonomous Spanish city, which at that time was in the hands of the Benimerín sultanate.

King John I accepted the suggestion and in August 1415, he took the city in the company of his three eldest sons Eduardo, Pedro, and Enrique himself, with the support of more than 50,000 Portuguese soldiers.

This victory represented for Portugal the power over trade in the area and the beginning of a period of conquests and discoveries never before seen in that kingdom.

For his bravery in battle, Enrique was made a Knight and Count of Viseu. Later, the navigator would also be recognized as Duke of Coimbra, Lord of Covirán and Grand Master of the Order of Christ.

Tiles on the capture of Ceuta by the Infante Enrique.

Source:

Via Wikimedia Commons

Explorers School

Rejoicing with the victory in Ceuta, the Infante Enrique set out to conquer new lands to expand the power of Portugal in the world.

To achieve this goal, he created a town in southern Portugal in 1416 that served as a shipyard, as well as a center for nautical, geographical and astronomical studies. The objective of this place was to educate the explorers who would command the expeditions of the Portuguese Crown.

Although some historians doubt the existence of this place, presumably located in Sagres, others affirm that the most outstanding navigators of the time passed through this school of explorers.

The results were quick. By 1418 one of the infant's explorers, Bartolomeo Perestrelo discovered the island of Porto Santo in the Atlantic and this was just the beginning.

Routes and discoveries

- Decade 1420 to 1430

In 1421 the navigators Joao Gonçalves Zarco and Tristão Vaz Teixeira arrived at an island, which they later called Madeira, when they confused it with the island of Porto Santo, both currently belonging to the Madeira archipelago.

The aim of the navigators was to explore the coast of Africa and reach Guinea, but a detour took them to that island.

In 1425 they returned to its coasts with colonization projects bringing cereals and rabbits, which presumably multiplied to the point of becoming a plague.

- Decade 1430 to 1440

In 1432 the navigator Gonzalo Velho Cabral discovered Santa María, the first island land of the Azores Islands.

After the death of King Juan I in 1433, his son Eduardo I ascended the throne and offered his brother Enrique a fifth of the benefits of the conquered territories.

Eduardo I also granted him permission to explore beyond Cape Bojador, the southernmost point of the African coast known until then by Europeans.

In 1434, the explorer Gil Eanes was the first to pass this milestone after a series of attempts. On one of these trips he came across the Canary Islands that were already occupied by Spain.

Failure in Tangier

The successes obtained so far with his explorations led Enrique to make risky decisions with bitter results.

In 1437 he planned together with his younger brother the Infante Fernando (1402-1443) the conquest of Morocco to establish in that territory a base for future explorations to Africa.

However, Fernando and a part of the men who accompanied him were arrested during the attack on Tangier. Historians indicate that they were treated as hostages to demand that Portugal leave Ceuta.

The infant Fernando was never released and died in captivity six years after his capture.

Changes in the Portuguese Crown

Enrique's expeditions were always linked to the support of the Portuguese kingdom and until that moment his position in royalty had allowed him to guarantee the monopoly and the expenses of the expeditions.

After the death in 1438 of his brother King Edward I, Enrique supported his older brother, the Infante Pedro, as regent of the kingdom, waiting for his nephew Alfonso, who was only six years old, to be old enough to rule.

During Pedro's regency, Enrique began the colonization of the Azores islands and continued to accumulate successes in his overseas campaigns.

- Decade 1440 to 1450

In 1443 his explorers Nuno Tristão and Antão Gonçalves reached Cabo Blanco on the African coast, where they took ten natives into captivity, presumably the first African slaves transferred to Portugal.

Later Tristão reached the island of Arguin and in 1446 at the mouth of the Gambia River, where he met his death at the hands of the locals.

In 1445 Juan Fernández arrived in Sudan, becoming the first European to enter inland from the African continent.

The explorer Dinis Dias reached Guinea, the first time that a Portuguese exploration went beyond the southern limit of the Sahara desert.

A new king

The problems on the Portuguese throne did not stop. Enrique had to choose a party again and on this occasion he supported the legitimate king, his nephew Alfonso V, who after reaching the age of majority declared war on the infant Pedro.

This internal conflict culminated in 1449 with the death of Pedro in the battle of Alfarrobeira. In reward for his loyalty to the Crown, Enrique received new benefits from the territories conquered by his explorers.

Last expeditions

In 1456 the explorer Alvise Cadamosto and Diogo Gomes discovered several of the Cape Verde islands, reaching as far as the Senegal River.

It is estimated that the southernmost point in Africa reached by the infante Enrique's travels was Sierra Leone, where his explorers arrived in 1460.

Explorations of Enrique the Navigator.

Source: Britannica.com

Interests behind the expeditions

Historians affirm that the trips promoted by the Infante Enrique had the objective not only to search for resources such as gold or economic treaties that would give more power to the Crown, but to establish a route from Portugal to India to avoid the dangerous Turkish fleet that was sailing through the Mediterranean.

The latter was achieved years later, in 1497, when the navigator Vasco Da Gama managed to establish a direct route to India, undoubtedly benefited by the navigation techniques and the advances experienced during the explorations of Henry the Navigator.

The diffusion of the Christian faith was another objective of the expeditions and that is why Enrique had on several occasions with bulls or papal permits that demonstrated the support of the church for his naval campaign.

This is demonstrated by the papal bull granted by Pope Nicholas V, which gave him the authorization to wage war against the infidels, conquer their lands and even enslave them.

A later papal bull also issued by Nicholas V reserved the conquered lands for Portugal and another bull, this time from Pope Callisto III, reserved to the Church the spiritual jurisdiction of all the conquered territories from Cape Bojador to India.

Plans with the slaves

The religious interest of his travels is confirmed by some historians who affirm that Henry the Navigator had a plan in his hands that involved the slaves in his power.

They assure that the infant proposed to return some slaves to their place of origin after baptizing them in the Christian faith so that they could carry evangelization within their communities.

However, these idealistic plans did not succeed. The first attempts culminated in freed slaves simply fleeing their captors.

Origin of his nickname

Historians claim that in the course of his life Enrique was never called the Navigator. Rather, they believe that it was a nickname later coined by the 19th century German historians Heinrich Schaefer and Gustav de Veer.

It is presumed that the name was later spread by British writers Henry Major and Raymond Beazley.

Death and legacy

In 1457 Enrique permanently resided in Sagres and there he died three years later, on November 13, 1460 at the age of 66.

Today the Navigator is remembered around the world with statues and festive activities that commemorate his accomplishments.

In 1960 the Monument to the Discoveries was built, a work carried out in Lisbon to commemorate the five centuries of the death of Henry the Navigator. That same year a coin with the image of the infant was also minted.

Despite the fact that the Navigator did not participate physically in most of his explorations, history has reserved an important place for him, since it is considered that it was his vision that allowed the expansion of Portuguese power beyond its initial borders.

Monument to the discoveries.

Source: Joaquim Alves GAspar

Via Wikimedia Commons

References

1. European implantation in Africa. (2011). The navigator Enrique and his Portuguese expeditions. Taken from blogs.ua.es
2. The first African "descobertas" in the times of Don Enrique "The Navigator". Taken from mgar.net
3. The Infante Enrique "The Navigator". (2019). Taken from mgar.net
4. European expansion, fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. (2019). Henry the Navigator. Taken from 7.uc.cl
5. History of Navigation. (2019). Enrique the Navigator. Taken from Librosmaravillosos.com
6. Felipe Fernandez-Armesto. Charles E. Nowell. Henry the Navigator. (2019). Taken from Britannica.com