Henry the Navigator - Age of Discovery

foreign early August of 1415 a vast Portuguese Armada approached the coast of North Africa near the Strait of Gibraltar its primary objective the city of sciuta came into view Fleet consisted of 59 galleys 33 Carex and 120 support vessels on board were 20 000 troops with an additional 30 000 support personnel the force was multinational consisting of not only Portuguese men but also recruits and mercenaries from France England and Germany years of meticulous planning went into this attack which was arranged in the utmost to secrecy The Invasion force was led by the warrior king John the first to Portugal and by his side were his three sons including azaire Prince Edward sayuta was a fabulously wealthy City a place where the trade routes that North Africa ended and it was extremely strategic being well placed on the Strait of Gibraltar as such its defenses were impressive over the centuries it had been built into a fortress defended by high walls and impressive Towers the Marinette Dynasty the current owners had even gone so far as to add an imposing Citadel the Portuguese arrived with their Fleet on August 12 1415 as they entered the harbor they immediately came under bombardment from the city this initially prevented the Europeans from making landfall meanwhile the governor of the city ordered the women and children to depart and brought in as many reinforcements as he could find however the Marinette Sultan Abu Syed Usman III of Fez due to Massive Internal upheaval that bordered on Civil War was unable to ascend in any further troops King John of Portugal managed to reorganize his man for an attack on August 16th but that very night a strong Gale descended on the fleet which literally scattered it to the wind next morning with the Portuguese Fleet absent The Defenders of the city came to the conclusion that the Europeans had given up the governor Salah bin Salah made the decision to release his reinforcements leaving only a small Garrison a decision he'd soon regret it was on August 21st 1415 that King John returned in Forest once again against the odds he had brought his Fleet together and his soldiers were eager for battle as before the fleet sailed into the harbor landing craft that were loaded with troops were lowered into the water and then quickly made their way to the beaches however as the King was making his way to the shore he was shot and wounded in the leg his men began to falter it was at this point that his son a man by the name of Prince Henry took up the Royal Standard and led the attack onwards flanked by his brother of Prince Edward the heir to the throne and supported by 300 men Henry Advanced to the al-madina gate which was poorly defended due to the speed of Henry's attack the gate was not properly secured and was soon smashed open a massive breach would follow as King John arrived at the gate with the rest of the army the Portuguese poured into the City and brushed aside The Defenders this small outnumbered Garrison was able to resist fiercely at first but eventually they had to break and run retreated to a citadel but he remained there only for a night it was during that night that he realized that his options were very limited he decided to use the cover of darkness and fled the city as well the very next day all resistance in say Utah came to an end at which point the flag of Lisbon was hoisted above the battlements of the city the Portuguese Empire had begun [Music] by the late 14th century Portugal was a relatively impoverished Nation when King John came to power on April 6 1385 he inherited a kingdom that seemed to have a relatively dismal future the kingdoms of Central Europe on the other hand were growing as the Renaissance in certain areas was beginning the city-states of Italy especially Genoa and Venice which had a monopoly on trade to the Orient were growing immensely wealthy as Can Be Imagined this was envied by just about everybody else Portugal meanwhile was missing out it was on the extreme periphery as the writer John Crowley would say it was the prow of Europe the kingdom had a long Coastal border that looked on towards a menacing seemingly endless Atlantic Ocean an ocean by the way that the Arabs would call the green sea of Darkness to the east Portugal was blocked by its powerful and aggressive neighbor Castile indeed a few months after King John had come to power Castile invaded with a strong Army at the Battle of al-jubarata on August 1485 the Portuguese King despite being outnumbered by nearly five to one achieved a decisive victory his position as a sovereign was secured in the house of aviz which he founded would last for nearly 200 years in the aftermath of this battle King John was able to focus on the task of expanding his realm thirty years later he and his sons stood as conquerors of the city of seyuta Roger Crowley of the book conquerors describes this moment well quote the Portuguese had come to wash their hands in Infidel blood they fulfilled their contract to the letter three days of pillage and Massacre then ransacked a place once described as the flower of all other cities in Africa its Gateway and its key this stunning coup sort of noticed the European Rivals that the small kingdom was self-confident energetic and on the Move end quote on August 24 1415 in what had once been the city's mosque now converted into a church known as our lady of Africa a rightfully proud King John knighted his sons Prince Henry's moment had finally come the prince who would be known to history as Henry the Navigator looked at the city of sayuta and saw a vast untapped potential in his mind he saw North African Caravans bringing in the spices from the East he glimpsed the trans-saharan trade routes bringing in the legendary gold of Mount samusa Henry didn't have to look much further than the Catalan Atlas at 1375 to reaffirm his beliefs there he would see the mighty African king holding up a gold coin in his hand sitting near the fabled river of gold Mansa musa's famous pilgrimage to Mecca in 1324 where he brought so much gold that it devalued its worth obviously had an effect on the European mind but the knighted Prince not just a warrior but also a man with a talent for seizing opportunity saw much more he observed a way of cutting out the middlemen of Genoa and Venice and getting directly to the spice markets of Alexandria and Damascus he saw an ability to outflank the growth of Islam indeed as later ventures of exploration would be billed to the pope as Crusades what's more he believed that by exploring Africa a way could be found to reach prester John prester John was believed to be an extremely powerful Christian King who had a vast Empire someplace to the east his tail emerged in the 12th and 13th centuries as the Crusades were being pushed back by Islam the belief was that if Europe could only reach prester John then perhaps he would unleash his armies and destroy the caliphate in a combined attack Prince Henry's mind was made up Portugal would have to expand and thus it would need to explore or face a slow death of obscurity for Henry sayuta was just the beginning it was a city that needed to be a firm part of Portugal's domain when his father King John placed him in charge of syuta's Defense he took the job extremely seriously thus four years later in 1419 when the Marinette Sultan Abu Syed Usman III launched a major attack on the city Henry quickly sailed his Fleet to alleviate the Muslim Siege but by the time he arrived the commander of his Garrison had daringly sallied forth and destroyed the procedures the Muslims were forced to fall back and the sultan uthman was later assassinated in Fez in 1420 for his failure the Marinette sultanate would descend into Anarchy and sayuta would face little opposition in the coming years Prince Henry on the other hand got the credit for the win on May 25th 1420 he was appointed the Grand Master the order of Christ this was a religious organization that was considered the successor to the now dissolved Knight's Templar the position brought him a lot of prestige and a steady source of income that he was more than eager to use Henry was Now set to further his ambitions in the city of sagres located in the southernmost part of Portugal he was renowned as establishing his famous school of navigation now it needs to be mentioned that there was not much evidence that Henry actually built a physical School the truth of the matter is that he probably just brought together cartographers sea captains Sailors Pilots men that were willing to explore and compile their information and the prince provided a platform likely just a collection of buildings that he owned for these men to congregate and to engage in discourse either way more detailed maps were created sailing tools like the compass and the astrolabe were better utilized than studied and as a result the Portuguese began to take a commanding lead on venturing into the unknown Henry also made an important decision that would forever affect Maritime history he simply wanted a better ship the answer that he and his team came up with was known as the caravel the caravel was based on a Portuguese fishing vessel weighing approximately 80 tons with a shallow draft which made it ideal for exploring estuaries and Coastal Waters however its design also functioned very well on the open ocean which thus far had been a major obstacle triangular sails possibly of Arab origin known as Latin sales allowed it to sail Against the Wind albeit in a zigzag pattern it also had two or three Mass some of which were rigged with square sails in order to give it better speed the rudder was expanded for greater maneuverability and a Forecastle in a Stern Castle were Incorporated giving the ship a better defensive Edge it didn't require a large crew which allowed for longer voyages most importantly the ship could not only sail out but it could also return in relative safety therefore the design became an astounding success in later variants the caravel would be a larger better equipped and have heavier Weaponry the stage for exploration was Now set in 1419 Henry sponsored a voyage to Africa which got blown off course but inadvertently discovered the Madeira archipelago located approximately 250 miles west off the coast of Morocco Henry's men landed on one of the islands and established a new colony which would be named Porto Santo the islands of the Madeira archipelago would be a blessing to the expansion of Portugal it would serve as the base of operations and a stepping stone to new discoveries what's more the island served as a vast source of Timber perfect for ship construction Madeira by the way in Portuguese means wood Prince Henry also saw here an opportunity to create a plantation system to grow crops like sugar cane this endeavor would be vastly successful and 80 years later more sugar was produced on these islands than any other place in the world this plantation system would later be reinforced with fortified trading outposts known as fetorias roughly translated factories vetorias and plantations would prove another major success in fact in time they'd be set up in most of the lands that Portugal would eventually claim the discoveries would continue later in 1439 the Azores were colonized and incorporated into the Empire these islands would also serve as a base of operations and a springboard for further exploration however for Henry his main goal was always pushing South along the west coast of Africa Roger Crowley again in conquerors explains quote Henry the Navigator continued to sponsor Expeditions down the coast of Africa in search of slaves gold and spices year by year Headland by Headland Portuguese ships worked their way down the southwestward sloping bulge of West Africa cautiously sounding with Plumb lines as they went forever wary of Shoals and reefs over which the sea broke in Pounding surf in the process they began to delineate the shape of a continent the desert coasts of Mauritania the lush tropical shores of the region they called guinea and the Great Rivers of Equatorial Africa the Senegal and The Gambia under Henry's Direction exploration raiding and trading went hand in hand with ethnographical curiosity and mapping end quote Henry's explorers continued to push the boundary of the known world as they made their way they put up large Stone pillars that had crosses on top known as padraos which would serve as markers later outposts and trading stations were also established gold was found and shipped back while it wasn't a massive Hall it was enough for the Portuguese Crown to start minting gold coins known as cruzado it was also during these Expeditions that the slave trade would also begin to ramp up by 1444 240 slaves were brought back and paraded for sale in the harbor alisman in the next 15 years another 20 000 slaves men women and children would be brought back as well this would establish the beginning of the slave trade that would persist for more than 300 years make no mistake this would make Portugal rich but it would have devastating effects on the economy of Africa in all Henry funded over 14 Expeditions not all of them would be successful but those that did return would bring back not just potential for more trading opportunities but also invaluable information on the tides the currents the local Wildlife the winds and the people which were all compiled together and guarded with extreme secrecy eventually even the infamous Cape beauja door was overcome before Prince Henry this cape was a major obstacle on account of its harsh winds and strong currents it was said that Beyond were Waters that could boil a man alive and sea monsters of ever increasing magnitude after Prince Henry this cape was only a marker that was passed by as Portugal continued to extend further and further south along the African Coast however not everything that Henry the Navigator did was successful he was defeated by Castile when he attempted to take the Canary Islands and in 1437 he attempted to take Tangiers in Morocco as the North African trade routes had been diverted away from sayuta to the city it turned out to be a complete disaster Tangiers was too well defended Portugal didn't have enough troops or Siege equipment and eventually the entire Portuguese Army got trapped there Henry was forced to trade in his own brother Ferdinand as a hostage to allow for the Portuguese forces to retreat in peace the prince was also obliged to hand over sayuta which she refused to do and his brother would eventually die in a Muslim prison despite his failures Prince Henry the Navigator had set a powerful precedence for his country while he wasn't an Explorer himself per se he definitively got the ball rolling those that would follow in his footsteps would continue to explore create Maps design better ships find new trade routes not to mention frankly exploiting the rapidly expanding world around them for personal gain and Glory Portugal as a result of his actions would take an early lead in the age of Discovery while it never had the manpower to have a big land Empire it did have the motivation and the cunning to be a serious trade Empire in 1460 Henry Died he was interred in the Battalion Monastery in central Portugal in retrospect the prince would be regarded as one of the founding fathers of Portugal's Empire but he would also be a major figure in Maritime history in general his contribution after all could not be overlooked 26 years after his death the word discobremento would appear in written form in Portuguese for the first time in recorded history when translated into English this word meant discovery [Music]

Channel: Flash Point History

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Keywords: Age of Discovery, Age of exploration, Henry the Navigator, Prince Henry, Portugal, Portuguese, explorers, explore, discovery, exploration, Sagres, school of navigation, history, biography, naval exploration, africa, Ceuta, siege, tangier, Portuguese empire, empire, colonization, plantation, madeira, padrao

Id: xFbciexwsck

Length: 19min 4sec (1144 seconds)

Published: Fri Jun 23 2023