Henry the Navigator UCSB Home Dept. of Black Studies Henry the Navigator   Henry the Navigator (13941460), prince of Portugal, noted as thepatron of navigation and exploration, born in Oporto. He was the thirdson of John I, king of Portugal. Henry participated in the capture ofCeuta in North Africa from the Moors in 1415. Subsequently he made hisresidence at Sagres, Portugal, near Cape Saint Vincent, and thereestablished an observatory and the first school for navigators inEurope. Henry also made improvements in the art of shipbuilding. Thecaravel, a sailing ship, was designed at Sagres. He made no voyageshimself, but under his direction many important expeditions wereundertaken along the west coast of Africa. Henry's navigators reachedMadeira in 1420, sailed around Cape Bojador in 1434, sailed to CapeBlanc in 1441, rounded Cape Verde in 1445, and reached the mouth of theGambia River in presentday Gambia about 1446. History Up to the MiddleAges, the history of Portugal is inseparable from that of Spain.Presentday Portugal became a part of the Roman province of Lusitania inthe 2nd century BC. In the 5th century AD control of the region passedto the Visigoths, and in the 8th century it was included in the area ofMoorish Muslim conquest. In 997 the territory between the Douro andMinho rivers (now northern Portugal) was retaken from the Moors byBermudo II, king of León, and in 1064 the reconquest was completed asfar south as presentday Coimbra by Ferdinand I, king of Castile andLeón. The reconquered districts were then organized into a feudalcounty, composed of Spanish fiefs. Portugal later derived its name fromthe northernmost fief, the Comitatus Portaculenis, which extended aroundthe old Roman seaport of Portus Cale (presentday Oporto). In 1093 Henryof Burgundy came to the assistance of Castile when it was invaded by theMoors. In gratitude Alfonso I of Castile made Henry count of Portugal.On the death of Alfonso in 1109, Count Henry, and later his widow,Teresa, refused to continue feudal allegiance to Leon. He invaded Leónand began a series of peninsular wars, but with little success. In 1128his son, Alfonso Henriques, later Alfonso I, king of Portugal, rebelledagainst his mother. The Portuguese knights accepted Alfonso as king in1143, and in 1179 the pope recognized the independence of Portugal.The Medieval Kingdom of Portugal Alfonso I, aided by the Templars andother military orders sworn to fight the Moors, extended the border ofthe new kingdom as far south as the Tagus River. His son Sancho I, whoreigned from 1185 to 1211, encouraged Christians to settle in thereconquered area by establishing selfgoverning municipalities there.The Cistercian monks occupied the land and promoted efficientagricultural methods. In the late 12th century, the Almohads, a Muslimdynasty from North Africa, temporarily halted the Christians' southwardmovement, but after their defeat in 1212 at Las Navas de Tolosa inCastile the reconquest continued. King Alfonso III, who reigned from1248 to 1279, completed the expulsion of the Moors from the Algarve andmoved the capital of Portugal from Coimbra to Lisbon. He also began thepractice of governing with the aid of a Cortes (representativeassembly), which included members of the nobility, the clergy, and thecitizens, and he increased the power of the monarchy at the expense ofthe church. His son Diniz, called the Farmer King because of hisencouragement of agriculture, founded the nation's first university atCoimbra and was responsible for the development of the Portuguese navy.In 1294 he signed a commercial treaty with England, beginning a sequenceof alliances between the two countries. Diniz's successor, Alfonso IV,joined with Alfonso XI of Castile to win a major victory over the Moorsat the Battle of the Salado River in 1340. In this period the royalhouses of Castile and Portugal frequently intermarried, repeatedlyraising the possibility that one of the kingdoms might be absorbed bythe other. After the death of Ferdinand I, the last of the legitimatedescendants of Henry of Burgundy, his illegitimate half brother John Isecured the Portuguese throne in 1385, after two years of civil war. Hisbranch of the Burgundian line became known as the house of Aviz. John'sreign was one of the most notable in Portuguese history. He successfullydefended the kingdom against Castilian attack and in 1385 defeatedCastile decisively in the Battle of Aljubarrota. In 1386 England andPortugal allied themselves permanently by the Treaty of Windsor. Thegreatest fame of John's reign, however, rests on the work done under thedirection of his son Henry the Navigator, prince of Portugal, inexploring the African coast for an eastward route to the Indies. Acentury of exploration and conquest began, which made Portugal one ofthe greatest colonial powers in the world. In 1418 and 1419 Portuguesenavigators explored Madeira and in 1427 discovered the Azores. Asuccessful Portuguese military campaign in Morocco resulted in thecapture of Ceuta in 1415.The Era of Portuguese Expansion Madeira and the Azores rapidly becameimportant centers of sugar production, and the capture of Ceuta gavePortugal a foothold in Africa, providing the impetus for furtherexploration of the African coast. Using the caravel, a new type of lightsailing vessel especially adapted for Atlantic voyages, Portuguesemariners sailed as far south as Cape Verde in 1444, and by 1460 they hadreached Sierra Leone. Meanwhile, John I's successors, King Duarte(reigned 143338) and Alfonso V, sent further expeditions to Morocco,capturing the cities of Tangier and Arzila (Asilah).The Reign of John II King John II restored the prestige the monarchyhad lost at home during the reigns of his two predecessors, subjectingthe turbulent nobles to his authority. Abroad, he founded (1482) aPortuguese stronghold at Elmina, in presentday Ghana, and establishedrelations with the kingdom of the Kongo (in presentday Angola). In 1487and 1488, Bartholomeu Dias became the first to sail around the southernend of Africa, opening the sea route to the Orient. After ChristopherColumbus's voyage to America in 1492, Portugal and Spain concluded theTreaty of Tordesillas (1494), allocating to Portugal all undiscoveredlands east of a line 370 leagues west of the Cape Verde Islands. SeeDemarcation, Line of.Emanuel and His Successors (14951580) Under King Emanuel, Portuguesepower reached its height. From 1497 to 1499 Vasco da Gama made the firstvoyage to India following the route discovered by Dias, and inaugurateda lucrative trade in spices and other luxuries between Europe and SouthAsia. Led by Afonso de Albuquerque, the Portuguese occupied Goa, India,in 1510, Malacca (now Melaka, Malaysia) in 1511, the Moluccas (inpresentday Indonesia) in 151214, and Hormuz Island in the Persian Gulfin 1515. During the same period they opened up trade with China andestablished relations with Ethiopia. As other Portuguese kings had done,Emanuel dreamed of uniting Portugal and Spain under his rule andsuccessively married two daughters of King Ferdinand V and QueenIsabella I. Under pressure from his Spanish relations, he followed theirexample by expelling Jews and Muslims from his domains in 1497, thusdepriving Portugal of much of its middle class. His son, John III,promoted the settlement of Brazil and (again influenced by the exampleof Spain) introduced (1536) the Inquisition into Portugal to enforcereligious uniformity. By the time he died in 1557, Portugal had begun todecline as a political and commercial power. This trend continued underKing Sebastian, who was killed during another expedition against Moroccoin 1578. On the death of his successor, King Henry, in 1580, the Avizdynasty came to an end.The Habsburg and Braganza Dynasties When Henry died, seven claimantsdisputed the succession to the throne. The most powerful was Philip II,king of Spain, who in 1580 became Philip I of Portugal. The annexationof Portugal to the Spanish Habsburg monarchy subjected it to the heavyexpenses of Spanish wars in a period known as the Sixty Years'Captivity. After 1600, Portuguese domination of trade with the EastIndies was lost to the Dutch and the English. Under Philip I, Portugalenjoyed considerable autonomy, but his successors, Philip II (Philip IIIof Spain) and Philip III (Philip IV of Spain), treated it as a Spanishprovince, provoking widespread discontent. After unsuccessful revolts in1634 and 1637, Portuguese conspirators with the support of France wonindependence for their kingdom in 1640. John, duke of Braganza, waselected John IV, first king of the house of Braganza, which ruledPortugal as long as the monarchy endured.John IV and His Successors (16401816) King John expelled the Dutchfrom Brazil, which they had occupied in 1630, and renewed thetraditional tie with England. Although further weakened by conflictswith Spain in the second half of the 17th century, Portugal recovered ameasure of prosperity in the 18th century, after gold and diamonds werediscovered in Brazil. Between 1683 and 1750, during the reigns of PedroII and John V, British merchants came to dominate Portuguese trade; themonarchy became more despotic and the Cortes fell into disuse. Duringthe reign (175077) of Joseph Emanuel, the kingdom was controlled by thechiefminister, Sebastião José de Carvalho e Mello, marquês de Pombal,considered one of the greatest statesmen in modern Portuguese history.Although a ruthless dictator, he worked to weaken the power of theprivileged nobility and the church, encouraged industry and education,and ended the foreign monopoly of trade. Pombal was dismissed, however,at the accession of Joseph Emanuel's daughter Maria I in 1777. Duringthe French revolutionary and Napoleonic wars, Portugal sided withBritain against France. In 1807, when the armies of Napoleon threatenedPortugal, the royal family withdrew to Brazil and made Rio de Janeirothe seat of government. A French army occupied Portugal but was defeatedin 1808 by a British army under Sir Arthur Wellesley, 1st duke ofWellington. By the Convention of Sintra (August 30, 1808), the Frenchleft the country, but they reinvaded a year later. Wellington againchecked the French advance, and by 1811 Portugal was free of Frenchinfluence. The Portuguese royal family chose, however, to remain inBrazil, which in 1815 was made a separate kingdom. In 1816 John VIsucceeded to the two thrones, ruling Portugal through a council ofregency.The Constitutional Monarchy In 1820 the Portuguese army headed arevolution designed to bring about a constitutional government. KingJohn, who agreed to return to Portugal as constitutional monarch, madehis son, Dom Pedro, regent of Brazil. Brazil proclaimed itselfindependent in 1822, and Pedro was made constitutional emperor Pedro Iof that country. In Portugal, meanwhile, Pedro's brother, Dom Miguel,appealed to the supporters of absolute monarchy to overthrow theconstitutionalists, and an insurrection led by the prince almostsucceeded on April 30, 1824. King John managed to remain in power,however, and Miguel went into exile in Vienna. In 1826 Pedro I of Brazilsucceeded to the throne of Portugal as Pedro IV. He put into effect aconstitutional charter, providing for a parliamentary regime based onauthorization of the monarchy rather than on popular will. He thenabdicated in favor of his daughter, Maria II, called Maria da Gloria, a7yearold child. Miguel returned from Vienna in 1828 and, ruling asregent for Maria II, seized the throne. A period of acute civil strifefollowed. With the help of England, France, and Spain, Maria wasrestored to the throne in 1834. Political conflict characterized herreign as the Liberals, who supported the 1822 constitution, opposed theChartists, who supported the 1826 charter. Under her successorsPedro V,who reigned from 1853 to 1861, and Louis, who reigned from 1861 to1889political strife became less pronounced. |
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