Henry the Navigator

Prince Henry of Portugal, 1394 to 1460, called the Navigator, was the royal patron whose backing of Atlantic exploration opened the Age of Discovery. From his base in the Algarve he financed successive voyages that passed Cape Bojador in 1434, reached the Senegal and Guinea coasts, and began the trade in gold and enslaved Africans, laying the groundwork for the later sea route to India. Though he did not sail himself, his sponsorship of caravels and pilots made systematic ocean exploration a state enterprise.