HENRY OF PORTUGAL, surnamed the "Navigator" duke of Viseu, governor of the Algarve, was born at Oporto on March 4, He was the third surviving son of John (Joao) I., the founder of the Aviz dynasty, under whom Portugal, victorious against Castile and against the Moors of Morocco, began to take a prominent place among European nations; his mother was Philippa, daughter of John of Gaunt. When Ceuta, the "African Gibraltar," was taken in 1415, Prince Henry performed the most distinguished service of any Portuguese leader, and received knighthood ; he was now created duke of Viseu and lord of Covilham, and about the same time began his explorations, which, however, limited in their original conception, certainly developed into a search for a better knowledge of the western ocean and for a sea-way along the unknown coast of Africa to the supposed western Nile (our Senegal), to the rich negro lands beyond the Sahara desert, to the half-true, half-fabled realm of Prester John, and so ultimately to the Indies.
In 1415, the year of Ceuta, the prince sent out one John de Trasto on a voyage which brought the Portuguese to Grand Canary. There was no discovery here, for the whole Canarian archipelago was now well known to French and Spanish mariners. But in 1418 Zarco rediscovered Porto Santo, and in 142o Madeira, which had originally been discovered in the 14th century. In 1424-25 Prince Henry attempted to purchase the Canaries, and began the colonization of the Madeira group, both in Madeira itself and in Porto Santo, for which he obtained charters (143o and 1433) from the Portuguese Crown. In 1427, again, with his father King John, he sent out the pilot Diogo de Sevill, followed in 1431 by Goncalo Velho Cabral, to explore the Azores. This rediscovery of the far western archipelago suggests that Henry had in mind the possibility of such a western route to Asia as Columbus attempted in 1492. Meantime, in 1418, Henry had gone in person to relieve Ceuta from an attack of Morocco and Granada Mussulmans; had accomplished his task, and had planned, though he did not carry out, a seizure of Gibraltar. At this time, it is probable that he was gathering information from the Moors with regard to the coast of "Guinea" and the interior of Africa. In 1419, after his return to Portugal, he was created gov ernor of the "kingdom" of Algarve, the southernmost province of Portugal; and his connection now began with what afterwards became known as the "Infante's Town" (Villa do Halite) at Sagres, close to Cape St. Vincent; where, before 1438, a Tercena Nabal or naval arsenal grew up and where, from 1438, after the Tangier expedition, the prince often resided.
In King John died, exhorting his son not to abandon his schemes; and in one of Henry's ships, commanded by Gil Eannes, at length doubled Cape Bojador. In Baldaya, the prince's cup-bearer, passed 5o leagues beyond; and by 1436 the Portuguese had almost reached Cape Blanco. Plans of further conquest in Morocco, resulting in 1437 in the disastrous attack upon Tangier, and followed in 1438 by the death of King Edward (Duarte) and the domestic troubles of the minority of Affonso V., now interrupted Atlantic and African exploration down to except in the Azores, where rediscovery and colonization progressed, as is shown by the royal licence of July 2, 1439, to people "the seven islands" of the group then known. In 1441 exploration began again in earnest with the venture of Antam Gon calvez, who brought to Portugal the first slaves and gold-dust from the Guinea coasts beyond Bojador; while Nuno Tristam in the same year pushed on to Cape Blanco. These successes produced a great effect ; the cause of discovery became popular; and many volunteers, especially merchants and seamen from Lisbon and Lagos, came forward. In 1442 Nuno Tristam reached the Bay or Bight of Arguim, where the infante erected a fort in 1448, and where for years the Portuguese carried on vigorous slave-raiding. Meantime the prince, who was now a knight of the Garter of England, proceeded with his Sagres buildings, which formed the nucleus of the "Infante's Town," and which had been begun about In there was a burst of maritime and exploring activity; more than 3o ships sailed with Henry's licence to Guinea; and several of their commanders achieved notable success. Thus Diniz Diaz, Nuno Tristam, and others reached the Senegal in ; Diaz rounded Cape Verde in the same year; and in 1446 Alvaro Fernandez pushed on almost to our Sierra Leone, to a point I io leagues beyond Cape Verde. This was perhaps the most distant point reached before 1461. In 1444, moreover, the island of St. Michael in the Azores was sighted (May 8), and in its colonization was begun. During this latter year also Juan Fernandez (q.v.) spent seven months among the natives of the Arguim coast, and brought back the first trustworthy first-hand European account of the Sahara hinterland. Slave-raiding contin ued ceaselessly; by 1446 the Portuguese had carried off nearly a thousand captives from the newly surveyed coasts; but between this time and the voyages of Cadamosto (q.v.) in 1455-1456, the prince altered his policy, forbade the kidnapping of the natives and endeavoured to promote their peaceful intercourse with his men. In 1445-46, again, Dom Henry renewed his earlier attempts to purchase or seize the Canaries, which brought Portugal to the verge of war with Castile ; but the home Government refused to support him, and the project was again abandoned. Azurara's narrative ceases in 1448; one of the latest expeditions noticed by him is that of a foreigner in the prince's service, "Vallarte the Dane," which ended in destruction near the Gambia, after passing Cape Verde in 1448. After this the chief matters in Dom Henry's life are, first, the progress of discovery and colonization in the Azores; secondly, the rapid progress of civilization in Madeira, evidenced by its timber, sugar, corn and honey, and above all by its 'vine; and thirdly, the explorations of Cadamosto and Diogo Gomez (q.v.).
Cadamosto in 1455 and 1456, explored part of the courses of the Senegal and the Gambia, discovered the Cape Verde islands (1456), named and mapped more carefully than before a consid erable section of the coast beyond Cape Verde, and gave much new information on the trade-routes of north-west Africa and on the native races; while Gomez, in his first important venture (after 1448 and before 1458), though not accomplishing the full Indian purpose of his voyage (he took a native interpreter with him for use "in the event of reaching India"), explored and observed in the Gambia valley and along the adjacent coasts with fully as much care and profit. As a result of these expeditions the infante seems to have sent out in 1458 a mission to convert the Gambia negroes. Gomez' second voyage, resulting in another "discovery" of the Cape Verde islands, was probably in 1462, after the death of Prince Henry; it is likely that among the infante's last occupa tions were the necessary measures for the equipment and despatch of this venture, as well as of Pedro de Sintra's important expedi tion of 1461.
The infante's share in home politics was considerable, especially in the years of Affonso V.'s minority (1438, etc.) while his elder brother Pedro was regent. When Dom Pedro rose in revolt (1447), Henry stood by the king and allowed his brother to be crushed. In the Morocco campaigns of his last years, especially at the cap ture of Alcazar the Little (1458), he restored his military fame which brought him invitations from the pope, the emperor and the kings of Castile and England, to take command of their armies. The prince was also grand master of the Order of Christ, the successor of the Templars in Portugal ; and most of his Atlantic and African expeditions sailed under the flag of his order, whose revenues were at the service of his explorations, in whose name he asked and obtained the official recognition of Pope Eugenius IV. for his work, and on which he bestowed privileges in the new lands. As "protector of Portuguese studies," Dom Henry founded a professorship of theology, and perhaps also chairs of mathematics and medicine, in Lisbon. To instruct his captains, pilots and other pioneers more fully in the art of navigation and the making of maps and instruments he procured the aid of one Master Jacome from Majorca, together with that of certain Arab and Jewish mathematicians. We hear also of one Master Peter, who inscribed and illuminated maps for the infante ; the mathematician Pedro Nunes declares that the prince's mariners were well taught and pro vided with instruments and rules of astronomy and geometry "which all map-makers should know"; Cadamosto tells us that the Portuguese caravels in his day were the best sailing ships afloat; while, from several matters recorded by Henry's biographers, it is clear that he devoted great attention to the study of earlier charts and of any available information he could gain upon the trade routes of north-west Africa. Thus we find an Oran merchant corresponding with him about events happening in the negro world of the Gambia basin in 1458. Even if there were never a formal "geographical school" at Sagres, or elsewhere in Portugal, founded by Prince Henry, it appears certain that his court was the centre of active and useful geographical study, as well as the source of the best practical exploration of the time.
The prince died on Nov. 13, 146o, in his town near Cape St. Vincent, and was buried in the church of St. Mary in Lagos, but a year later his body was removed to the superb monastery of Batalha. His great-nephew, King Dom Manuel, had a statue of him placed over the centre column of the side gate of the church of Belem, and in 184o a monument was erected to him at Sagres. BIBLIOGRAPHY.-J. de Barros, Decadas da Asia (Lisbon, 1652) ; A. Cordeiro, Historic Insulana (Lisbon, 1717) ; "Diogo Gomez" in Dr. Schmeller's fiber Valentim Fernandez Alemao, vol. iv. pt. iii., in the publications of the 1st class of the Royal Bavarian Academy of Sciences (Munich, 1845) ; Gomes Eannes de Azurara, Chronica do descobri mento e conquista de Guine, ed. Carreira and Santarem (Paris, 1841), Eng. trans. by R. Beazley and E. Prestage, Hakluyt Society (1896-99) ; Freire (Candido Lusitano), Vida do Infante D. Henrique (Lisbon, 1858) ; G. de Veer, Prinz Heinrich der See f aher (Danzig, 1863) ; R. H. Major, The Life of Henry of Portugal, surnamed the Navigator (1868) ; Archivo dos Acores (Ponta Delgada, 1878-94) ; E. Wauwer man, Henri le Navigateur et l'academie portugaise de Sagres (Antwerp and Brussels 189o) ; Algunos documentos do archivo national da Torre do Tombo acerca das navegacoes . . . portuguezas (Lisbon 1892) ; Duarte Pacheco Pereira, Esmeraldo de situ orbis (Lisbon, 1892) ; Alves, Dom Henrique o Infante (Oporto, 1894) ; Sophus Ruge, "Prinz Hein rich der Seefahrer," in vol. 65 of Globus, p. 1S3 (Brunswick, 1894) ; R. Beazley, Prince Henry the Navigator (1895) ; J. Mees, Henri le Navigateur at l'academie ... de Sagres (Brussels, 1901) ; and Histoire de la decouverte des Iles Acores (Ghent, 19o1) ; J. P. Oliveira Martins, The Golden Age of Prince Henry the Navigator, trans. by J. J. Abraham and W. E. Reynolds (1914)•