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Colonies and Empires In 1433, the Portuguese sea captain, Gill Eannes, returned to Lisbon after reaching the Canary Islands, off the north west coast of Africa. Nobody could know, at that time, that Eannes had taken the first step on a road which would lead to European domination of the world. Eannes' voyage was the first of the "Voyages of Discovery".
In the same year, Prince Henry of Portugal (the Navigator), sent Eannes to explore the coast of Africa. Prince Henry's aim was that Portuguese sailors should eventually sail around Africa and reach India. There were three main motives behind Prince Henry's ambition:
In 1487, Bartolomeu Diaz reached the southern tip of Africa. Because this was such a promising event in the search for a direct route to India, Diaz named this southern limit "the Cape of Good Hope". Vasco de Gama, in 1498, was the first European to reach India and the cargo of spices and precious stones which he brought back paid for the expedition sixteen times over.
By 1487, Prince Henry's three motives had been reduced to one. Prester John had not been found and, although the desire for knowledge still existed, it was already overtaken by the overwhelming desire to make money.
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© Shirley Burchill, Nigel Hughes, Richard Gale, Peter Price and Keith Woodall 2009 Footnote : As far as the Open Door team can ascertain the images shown on this page are in the Public Domain. |
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