Part 2

The discoveries of the Portuguese were largely the result of the genius and ability of a prince of their royal house, Henrique by name, known in European history as Henry the Navigator. He was the third son of João I and Philippa of Lancaster, and was therefore a nephew of Henry IV of England. Two objects engrossed the attention of the Infante Dom Henrique: the conversion of the heathen to Christianity, and the discovery of unknown lands, the last of which he believed would greatly facilitate the former. As a gallant knight he took part in the expedition against Ceuta in 1415, and there he learned that trade was carried on with the country south of the Sahara by means of caravans of camels, and that the coast of the Atlantic in that direction was often visited. Then he thought that the same coast could more easily be reached by sea, and he resolved to attempt to do it. In 1418 he took up his residence at Sagres, close to Cape Saint Vincent, in the Algarves, the south-western point of Portugal and the very best position in Europe as a basis for exploration. He was then twenty-four years of age. At Sagres he built an observatory, established a school of navigation, and invited the most expert astronomers, mathematicians, and sea-captains that he could hear of to visit him, that he might consult with them as to the best means of prosecuting discovery. He was possessed of much wealth, as he had been created duke of Viseu, to which title large estates were attached, and he was also Master of the Order of Christ and governor of the Algarves. His own revenues he spent entirely in the promotion of his designs, and he was most liberally aided with means by his father and his brothers.[4]

[Sidenote: Historical Sketches.]

The first exploring expedition sent out is said to have been under the command of Bartholomeu Perestrello, who discovered the island of Porto Santo in 1418 or 1419, but the early accounts of this voyage do not agree with each other, and nothing connected with it is certain.

In 1419 Perestrello was sent again, and with him were two other ships commanded by João Gonçalves Zarco and Tristão Vas, who had instructions from Dom Henrique to establish a station on Porto Santo and plant a garden for the use of future navigators. Perestrello returned to Portugal from the island, but the other captains planted a plot of ground, and in 1420 went on to Madeira, which received its name from them on account of the trees with which it was covered. They then returned to Porto Santo, and thence to Portugal. Unfortunately they had put ashore a rabbit with young, and its progeny increased so rapidly that the continued cultivation of the ground became impossible, so that Porto Santo was not permanently colonised until several years later. The accounts of this voyage are also vague and unreliable. In 1425 a commencement was made in colonising Madeira, and among other useful plants the vine and the sugar cane were introduced.[5]

[Sidenote: Progress of Discovery.]

In 1432 Gonçalo Velho Cabral, Commander of the Order of Christ, discovered and named the island Santa Maria in the Azores.

It was most probably in 1434 that an expedition under Gil Eannes doubled Cape Bojador, though some of the ancient writers assign the date 1428 for this achievement, others 1432, and others again 1433. This was a great step in advance, for on finding the sea south of the dreaded headland to be as easily navigated as that on the north, the old terror of the common people was dispelled, and it was no longer difficult to obtain men to work the ships. It is not easy therefore to account for the various dates assigned for this achievement, but exact chronology does not seem to have been regarded as of much importance when the chronicles were prepared from oral testimony years after the events took place. In 1435 the same captain Gil Eannes reached the mouth of the river do Ouro, to which he gave this name.

In 1441 Nuno Tristão reached Cape Blanco. In 1443 he visited the bay of Arguim, and returned to Portugal with a number of negro slaves, who were gladly received as labourers. In 1444 or 1445 Cape Verde was discovered and named by Diniz Dias.

From this time onward many small vessels left Portugal every year to trade on the African coast for gold dust, ivory, and particularly for slaves. All the features of the shore became thoroughly well known, and were marked on charts as far south as the Rio Grande, but for fifteen years, until after the death of Dom Henrique--13th of November 1460--discovery practically ceased. The lucrative slave trade occupied the minds of the sea captains, and ships freighted with negroes taken captive in raids, or purchased from conquering chiefs, frequently entered the harbours of Portugal. The commerce in human flesh was regarded as highly meritorious, because it brought heathens to a knowledge of Christianity. But never has a mistake or a crime led to more disastrous results, for to the introduction of negroes as labourers on the great estates belonging to the nobles and religious orders in Alemtejo and the Algarves the decline of the kingdom in power and importance is mainly due. The effects were not visible for many years, but no one can come in contact with the lower classes in Southern Portugal to-day without being impressed with the fact that both the Europeans and the Africans have been ruined by mixture of their blood.

[Sidenote: Historical Sketches.]

The exploring expeditions which Dom Henrique never ceased to encourage, but which the greed of those who were in his service had turned into slave-hunting voyages, were resumed after his death. In 1461, Pedro de Cinta, who was sent out by Affonso V, reached the coast of the present republic of Liberia, and in 1471 Fernando Po crossed the equator.

King João II was as resolute as his grand-uncle the Navigator in endeavouring to discover an ocean road to India. He had not indeed any idea of the great consequences that would follow, his object being simply to divert the eastern trade from Venice to Lisbon, which would be effected if an unbroken sea route could be found. In 1484 he sent out a ship under Diogo Cam, which reached the mouth of the Congo, and in the following year the same officer made a greater advance than any previous explorer could boast of, for he pushed on southward as far as Cape Cross, latitude 22°, on the coast of what is now German South-West Africa, where the marble pillar which he set up to mark the extent of his voyage remained standing more than four hundred years.

[Sidenote: Expedition under Bartholomeu Dias.]

The next expedition sent in the same direction solved the secret concerning the meridional extent of the African continent. It was under the chief command of an officer named Bartholomeu Dias, of whose previous career unfortunately nothing can now be ascertained except that he was a gentleman of the king’s household and receiver of customs at Lisbon when the appointment was conferred upon him, and that he had at some former time taken part in exploring the coast. The historian João de Barros states that at the end of August 1486[6] he sailed from the Tagus with two vessels of about fifty tons each, according to the Portuguese measurement of the time, though they would probably be rated much higher now. He had also a small storeship with him, for previous expeditions had often been obliged to turn back from want of food.

[Sidenote: Historical Sketches.]

The officers who were to serve under him were carefully selected, and were skilful in their professions. They were: Leitão (probably a nickname) sailing master, and Pedro d’Alanquer pilot of the flag ship; João Infante captain, João Grego sailing master, and Alvaro Martins pilot of the São Pantaleão; and Pedro Dias, brother of the commodore, captain, João Alves sailing master, and João de Santiago pilot of the storeship. On board the squadron were four negresses--convicts--from the coast of Guinea, who were to be set ashore at different places to make discoveries and report to the next white men they should see. This was a common practice at the time, the persons selected being criminals under sentence of death, who were glad to escape immediate execution by risking anything that might befall them in an unknown and barbarous country. In this instance women were chosen, as it was considered likely they would be protected by the natives. It was hoped that through their means a powerful Christian prince called Prester John,[7] who was believed to reside in the interior, might come to learn of the greatness of the Portuguese monarchy and that efforts were being made to reach him, so that he might send messengers to the coast to communicate with the explorers. King João and his courtiers believed that if this mythical Prester John could be found, he would point out the way to India.

Dias, like all preceding explorers, kept close to the coast on his way southward. Somewhere near the equator he left the storeship with nine men to look after her, and then continued his course until he reached an inlet or small harbour with a group of islets at its entrance, the one now called Angra Pequena or Little Bay by the English, Luderitzbucht by the Germans, in whose possession it is at present, but which he named Angra dos Ilheos, the bay of the Islets. The latitude was believed to be 24° south, but in reality it was 26½°, so imperfect were the means then known for determining it. There he cast anchor, and for the first time Christian men trod the soil of Africa south of the tropic.

[Sidenote: Visit to Angra Pequena.]

A more desolate place than that on which the weary seamen landed could hardly be, and no mention is made by the early Portuguese historians of any sign of human life being observed as far as the explorers wandered. Unfortunately the original journal or log-book of the expedition has long since disappeared, so that much that would be intensely interesting now can never be known. But this is certain, that refreshment there could have been none, except fish, the flesh of sea-fowl that made their nests on the islets, and possibly eggs if the breeding season was not far advanced, though even that would be welcomed by men long accustomed only to salted food. There was no fresh water, so it was no place in which to tarry long. Before he left, Dias set up a marble cross some two metres or so in height, on an eminence that he named Serra Parda, the Grey Mountain, as a token that he had taken possession of the country for his king. For more than three hundred years that cross stood there above the dreary waste just as the brave Portuguese explorer erected it.[8] The place where it stood so long is called Pedestal Point. Here one of the negresses was left, almost certainly to perish, when the expedition moved onward.

[Sidenote: Historical Sketches.]

From Angra Pequena Dias tried to keep the land in sight, but as it was the season of the south-east winds, which were contrary, he could not make rapid progress. At length by repeatedly tacking he reached an inlet or bend in the coast to which he gave the name Angra das Voltas, the Bay of the Turnings. There is a curve in the land in the position indicated, 29° south, but the latitudes given are not to be depended upon, and the expedition may have been far from it and farther still from the point at the mouth of the Orange river called by modern geographers Cape Voltas, in remembrance of that event. At Angra das Voltas, wherever it was, Dias remained five days, as the weather was unfavourable for sailing, and before he left another of the negresses was set ashore.

[Sidenote: Visit to Mossel Bay.]

After making sail again heavy weather was encountered and a boisterous sea, such as ships often experience in that part of the ocean, and which is caused by the cold Antarctic current being slightly deflected by some means from its usual course and striking the hot Mozambique current at a right angle off the Cape of Good Hope. Very miserable Dias and his companions must have been in their tiny vessels among the tremendous billows, with the sails close reefed, and hardly a hope of escape from being lost. But after thirteen days the weather moderated, and then they steered eastward, expecting soon to see the coast again. For several days they sailed in this direction, but as no land appeared Dias concluded that he must either have passed the extremity of the continent or be in some deep gulf like that of Guinea. The first surmise was correct, for on turning to the north he reached the shore at an inlet which he named Angra dos Vaqueiros, the Bay of the Herdsmen, on account of the numerous droves of cattle which he saw grazing on its shores. It was probably the same inlet that was named by the next expedition the Watering Place of São Bras, and which since 1601 has been known as Mossel Bay. The inhabitants gazed with astonishment upon the strange apparition coming over the sea, and then fled inland with their cattle, so that it was not found possible to have any intercourse with the wild people. Thus no information concerning the inhabitants of the South African coast, except that they had domestic cattle in their possession, was obtained by this expedition.

How long Dias remained at Angra dos Vaqueiros is not known, but his vessels, good sea-boats as they had proved to be, must have needed some refitting, so he was probably there several days at least. He and his officers were in high spirits, as unless they were in another deep bay like the gulf of Guinea, they had solved the question of the extent southward of the African continent. As far as their eyes could reach, the shore stretched east and west, so, sailing again, they continued along it until they came to an uninhabited islet in latitude 33¾° south. This islet is in Algoa Bay as now termed--the Bahia da Lagoa of the Portuguese after the middle of the sixteenth century,--and still bears in the French form of St. Croix the name Ilheo da Santa Cruz, the islet of the Holy Cross, which he gave it on account of the pillar bearing a cross and the arms of Portugal which he erected upon it.

[Sidenote: Historical Sketches.]

Dias visited the mainland, where he observed two women gathering shellfish, who were left unmolested, as the king had issued instructions that no cause of offence should be given to the inhabitants of any countries discovered. Here the last of the negresses was set ashore as one had died on the passage. The coast was examined some distance to the eastward, and to a prominent rock upon it the name Penedo das Fontes, the Rock of the Fountains, was given by some of the people, because two springs of water were found there.

Here the seamen protested against going farther. They complained that their supply of food was running short, and the storeship was far behind, so that there was danger of perishing from hunger. They thought they had surely done sufficient in one voyage, for they were two thousand six hundred kilometres beyond the terminus of the preceding expedition, and no one had ever taken such tidings to Portugal as they would carry back. Further, from the trending of the coast it was evident there must be some great headland behind them, and therefore they were of opinion it would be better to turn about and look for it. One can hardly blame them for their protest, considering the fatigue and peril they had gone through and the wretchedly uncomfortable life they must have been leading.

[Sidenote: Extent of the Voyage.]

Dias, after hearing these statements, took the officers and some of the principal seamen on shore, where he administered an oath to them, after which he asked their opinion as to what was the best course to pursue for the service of the king. They replied with one voice, to return home, whereupon he caused them to sign a document to that effect. He then begged of them to continue only two or three days’ sail farther, and promised that if they should find nothing within that time to encourage them to proceed on an easterly course, he would put about. The crews consented, but in the time agreed upon they advanced only to the mouth of a river to which the commander gave the name Infante, owing to João Infante, captain of the _São Pantaleão_, being the first to leap ashore. The river was probably the Fish, but may have been either the Kowie or the Keiskama as known to us. Its mouth was stated to be twenty-five leagues from the islet of the Cross, and to be in latitude 32⅔° S., which was very incorrect.

But now, notwithstanding this error, there should have been no doubt in any mind that they had reached the end of the southern seaboard, which in a distance of over nine hundred kilometres does not vary a hundred and seventy kilometres in latitude. The coast before them trended away to the north-east in a bold, clear line, free of the haze that almost always hung over the western shore. And down it, only a short distance from the land, flowed a swift ocean current many degrees warmer than the water on either side, and revealing itself even to a careless eye by its deeper blue. That current could only come from a heated sea in the north, and so they might have known that the eastern side of Africa had surely been reached.

[Sidenote: Historical Sketches.]

Whether the explorers observed these signs the Portuguese writers who recorded their deeds, though in a manner so incomplete as to cause nothing but regret to-day, do not inform us,[9] but from the river Infante the expedition turned back. At Santa Cruz Dias landed again, and bade farewell to the cross which he had set up there with as much sorrow as if he was parting with a son banished for life. In returning, the great headland was discovered, to which the commander gave the name Cabo Tormentoso--the Stormy Cape--afterwards changed by the king to Cabo de Boa Esperança--Cape of Good Hope--owing to the fair prospect which he could now entertain of India being at last reached by this route. What particular part of the peninsula Dias landed upon is unknown, but somewhere on it he set up another of the marble pillars he had brought from Portugal, to which he gave the name São Philippe. The country about it he did not explore, as his provisions were so scanty that he was anxious to get away. Keeping along the coast, after nine months’ absence the storeship was rejoined, when only three men were found on board of her, and of these, one, Fernão Colaça by name, died of joy upon seeing his countrymen again. The other six had been murdered by negroes with whom they were trading. Having replenished his scanty stock of provisions, Dias set fire to the storeship, as she was in need of refitting, and he had not men to work her; and then sailed to Prince’s Island in the bight of Biafra, where he found some Portuguese in distress. A gentleman of the king’s household, named Duarte Pacheco, had been sent to explore the rivers on that part of the coast, but had lost his vessel, and was then lying ill at the island with part of the crew who had escaped from the wreck. Dias took them all on board, being very glad not only to relieve his countrymen but to obtain more men to work his ships, so many of those who sailed with him from Portugal having died, and, pursuing his course in a north-westerly direction, touched at a river where trade was carried on, and also at the fort of São Jorge da Mina, an established Portuguese factory,[10] of which João Fogaça was then commander. Here he took charge of the gold that had been collected, after which he proceeded on his way to Lisbon, where he arrived in December 1487, sixteen months and seventeen days from the time of his setting out.

[Sidenote: Return of Dias to Portugal.]

No other dates than those mentioned are given by the early Portuguese historians, thus the exact time of the discovery of the Cape of Good Hope and the coast onward to the mouth of the Infante river is doubtful, and it can only be stated as having occurred in the early months of 1487. The voyage surely was a memorable one, and nothing but regret can be expressed that more of its details cannot be recovered. Of the three pillars set up by Dias, two--those of the Holy Cross and São Philippe--disappeared, no one has ever been able to ascertain when or how; that of São Thiago at Angra Pequena remained where it was placed until it was broken down by some unknown vandals about the commencement of the nineteenth century.

Meantime the king sent two men named Affonso de Paiva, of Castelbranco, and João Pires,[11] of Covilhão, in another direction to search for Prester John. For this purpose they left Santarem on the 7th of May 1487, and being well provided with money, they proceeded first to Naples, then to the island of Rhodes, and thence to Alexandria. They were both conversant with the Arabic language, and had no difficulty in passing for Moors. At Alexandria they were detained some time by illness, but upon recovering they proceeded to Cairo, and thence in the disguise of merchants to Tor, Suakin, and Aden. Here they separated, Affonso de Paiva having resolved to visit Abyssinia to ascertain if the monarch of that country was not the potentate they were in search of, and João Pires taking passage in a vessel bound to Cananor on the Malabar coast. They arranged, however, to meet again in Cairo at a time fixed upon.

[Sidenote: Historical Sketches.]

João Pires reached Cananor in safety, and went down the coast as far as Calicut, after which he proceeded upwards to Goa. Here he embarked in a vessel bound to Sofala, and having visited that port, he returned to Aden, and at the time appointed was back in Cairo, where he learned that Affonso de Paiva had died not long before. At Cairo he found two Portuguese Jews, Rabbi Habrão, of Beja, and Josepe, a shoemaker of Lamego. Josepe had been in Bagdad, on the Euphrates, some years previously, and had there heard of Ormuz, at the mouth of the Persian gulf, and of its being the warehouse of the Indian trade and the point of departure for caravans to Aleppo and Damascus. He had returned to Portugal and informed the king of what he had learned, who thereupon sent him and Habrão with letters of instruction to Affonso de Paiva and João Pires, directing them if they had not already found Prester John, to proceed to Ormuz and gather all the information they could there.

[Sidenote: Travels of João Pires.]

Upon receiving this order João Pires drew up an account of what he had seen and learned in India and on the African coast, which he gave to Josepe to convey to the king, and taking Habrão with him, he proceeded to Aden and thence to Ormuz. From Ormuz Habrão set out with a caravan for Aleppo on his way back to Portugal with a duplicate of the narrative sent to the king by Josepe. None of the early Portuguese historians who had access to the records of the country ever saw this narrative, so that probably neither of the Jews lived to deliver his charge. Not a single date is given in the early accounts of this journey, except that of the departure from Santarem, which De Goes fixes as May 1486[12] and Castanheda and De Barros as the 7th of May 1487. There is no trace of any knowledge in Portugal of the commerce of Sofala before the return of Vasco da Gama in 1499, but as such a journey as that described must in the fifteenth century have occupied several years, it is just possible that Josepe or Habrão reached Lisbon after that date.