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Henry (Surnamed THE NAVIGATOR)

surnamed THE NAVIGATOR. a Portuguese prince; born in Oporto in 1394. The ambition of Henry was the discovery of unknown regions of the HENTY world. At Sagres he erected an observatory, to which he attached a school for the instruction of youthful scions of the nobility in the sciences necessary to navigation. Subsequently he dispatched some of his pupils on voyages of discovery, which resulted at last in the discovery of the Madeira Islands in 1418. Henry's thoughts were now directed toward the auriferous coasts of Guinea, of which he had heard from the Moors; and in 1433 one of his mariners sailed round Cape Nun, till then regarded as the farthest point of the earth, and took possession of the coasts as far S. as Cape Bojador. Next year Henry sent out a larger ship, which reached a point 120 miles beyond Cape Bojador; and at last, in 1440, Cape Blanco was reached. Henry died in 1460.