When In 1412, John I. Sent Forth A Few Vessels, To Explore The Western Shores Of Africa, While He Prepared A Great Armament To Attack The Moors Of Barbary, The Art Of Navigation Was Still Very Imperfect, Nor Had The Portuguese Ever Ventured To Sail Beyond Cape Non.

But what most powerfully contributed to give impulse and direction to the national ardour, was the enlightened enthusiasm, with which prince Henry of Portugal, a younger son of John I., espoused the interests of science, and the prosecution of nautical discovery.

In order to pursue his splendid projects without interruption, he fixed his residence at Sagres, near Cape St. Vincent, where the prospect of the open Atlantic continually invited his thoughts to their favourite theme. His first effort was upon a small scale. He fitted out a single ship, the command of which was entrusted to two gentlemen of his household, who volunteered their services, with instructions to use their utmost endeavours to double Cape Bojador, and thence to steer southward. According to the mode of navigation, which then prevailed, they held their course along the shore, and by following that direction, they must have encountered almost insuperable difficulties, in the attempt to pass the cape; their want of skill was, however, compensated by a fortunate accident. A sudden squall drove them out to sea, and when they expected every moment to perish, landed them on an unknown island, which, from their happy escape, they named Porto Santo. They returned to Portugal with the good tidings, and were received with the applause due to fortunate adventurers. The following year, prince Henry sent out three ships to take possession of the new island; a fixed spot on the horizon, towards the south, resembling a small black cloud, soon attracted the attention of the settlers, and the conjecture suggested itself that it might be land. Steering towards it, they arrived at a considerable island, uninhabited, and covered with wood, which, on that account, they called Madeira.

By these voyages, the Portuguese became accustomed to a bolder navigation, and at length, in 1433, Gilianez, one of prince Henry's captains, by venturing out into the open sea, succeeded in doubling Cape Bojador, which, until then, had been regarded as impassable. This successful voyage, which the ignorance of the age placed on a level with the most famous exploits recorded in history, opened a new sphere to navigation, as it discovered the vast continent of Africa, still washed by the Atlantic Ocean, and stretching towards the south. A rapid progress was then made along the shores of the Sehara, and the Portuguese navigators were not long in reaching the fertile regions watered by the Senegal and the Gambia.

The early part of this progress was dreary in the extreme; they saw nothing before them but a wild expanse of lifeless earth and sky, naked rocks and burning sands, stretching immeasurably into the exterior, and affording no encouragement to any project of settlement. After, however, passing Cape Blanco, the coast began to improve in appearance, and when they saw the ivory and gold brought down from the interior, those regions began to excite the lust of conquest.

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