How Did Henry The Navigator Affect The World

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”The world runs on individuals pursuing their self interests. The great achievements of civilization have not come from government bureaus. Einstein didn’t construct his theory under order from a, from a bureaucrat. Henry Ford didn’t revolutionize the automobile industry that way.” Henry The Navigator was a very important figure throughout history because of what he did to support expeditions and how he teached people in many different fields to do the expeditions. He also took on many roles of leadership during battles and sieges. He was the son of the king of Portugal and became very contributive to Portugal. He accomplished many things in his life that were very important throughout history. Henry The Navigator affected our world today …show more content…

King John l and his sons goal was to expand Portugals lands. Henry The Navigator encouraged his father to conquer Ceuta. In 1415, Henry The Navigator assisted in leading an attack on Ceuta with his father and older brothers. Their attack against the Muslims succeeded and Ceuta was under Portuguese control. Henry The Navigator was given the role as Duke of Viseu after their success. He came across new trade routes and wanted to obtain Africa’s resources for Portugal. He also wanted to explore to find the legendary Christian empire of the priest-king PresterJohn which ended up not existing. Henry The Navigator was one of the initiators of the Age of Discovery, he was not a Navigator but he did sponsor many explorations. Henry The Navigator was addressed as the governor of the Algarve. He was able to bring in lots of money and many of his sponsorships and explorations began after he started his school of navigation. He sponsored many explorations along the west coast of Africa. Henry The Navigator is said to possibly be a founder of the Atlantic slave trade. In 1441, two men captured many Africans and Portugal became very involved in slave trading. Henry The Navigator became wealthy from this trading system. In 1445, he sent a navigator named Alvise da Cadamosto on an expedition in west Africa in 1456. He sailed up The Gambia River to the Gene River and tried to trade with the Africans, but did not succeed. In 1458, Henry The Navigator sent Diogo Gomes on an expedition that reached Cape Palmas. Henry The Navigator died the same year the expedition returned in 1460. Portugal had become a strong sea coping nation with extraordinary income from sea trading routes because of Henry The Navigator. He later was interested in Africa which the Portuguese didn 't know much