A History of Agriculture in India v2.c72.s3: Advances in Navigation by the Portuguese
A History of Agriculture in India v2.c72.s3
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Advances in Navigation by the Portuguese
v2.c72.s3.1
In the latter half of the fifteenth century, the Portuguese showed extraordinary vigour in navigation and exploration and became leaders in nautical astronomy. This was entirely due to the leadership of their king, the Infante, Prince Henry (A.D. 1394-1460), who is remembered as Henry the Navigator. In A.D. 1415, at the age of twenty-one, he captured the Arab City of Ceuta, thereby gaining a springboard for expeditions to Africa. He was a strong believer in the fable of Prester John, whose co-operation was thought to be necessary for the encirclement and ultimate annihilation of the Moslems. He had read Marco Polo’s Travels, and his imagination was fired by the account of Asian countries given by this indefatigable traveller.
v2.c72.s3.2
Prince Henry established an observatory and a school for navigation at Sagre. He summoned learned mathematicians, astronomers, cartographers, and navigators from all parts of Europe. He engaged the most famous cosmographer of the age, Jafuda Cresques, a Catalan Jew from Majorca. He also collected most daring captains and mariners he could find. Charts were made, and the working of the mariner’s compass was improved. He also realized that ships which were good enough for coastal trade were not suitable for sailing in open seas. He improved the caravel, and also the galleon, which carried batteries of cannon, and became a floating fortress.
v2.c72.s3.3
‘The Portuguese discoveries of the fifteenth century,’ remarks Trend, ‘were undertaken by methodical men, gifted with a cool, political intelligence and a lucid vision; precise in their view of the practical objectives, of which they had made an exact and detailed study. They had a far-reaching plan, prepared by men with an exceptional capacity for organization, and with nothing of the unconscious adventurousness attributed to them later. Every year ships went to Africa with orders to go as far south as they could without losing sight of the coast. The greatest obstacle was Cape Bojador, some way north of the Tropic of Cancer, and the subject of terrifying legends. There the land seemed to fall away in an immense curve, and there was a wide stretch of white spray, giving the idea that the ocean from there onwards was always on the boil from the torrid heat of the sun. This cape was passed in A.D. 1434, and the commercial exploration of the West African coast led to the colonization of the Atlantic islands: Madeira (A.D. 1420), the Azores (A.D. 1437) and Cape Verde Islands (A.D. 1446). Plans for the first expeditions were prepared by the group of pilots, mathematicians and cartographers whom "the Navigator" gathered round him. Under John II, the later voyages were worked out by other expert groups, including the cosmographer Martin Behaim of Nuremberg. The second half of the fifteenth century brought fresh discoveries, including the mouth of the Congo (A.D. 1485). Bartolomeu Dias rounded the Cape of Good Hope (A.D. 1487) and Vasco da Gama finally reached the west coast of India in A.D. 1498.
v2.c72.s3.4
The Portuguese success in these maritime undertakings and adventures in navigation was due to science; and the science of the day, however rudimentary, had led to a series of technical improvements in ships and how to sail them.¹
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¹ Trend, J. B. *Portugal*, pp. 133, 134