![]() More immediately, they brought in returns on capital loans extended by Prince Henry to island settlers. ![]() Colonization of these islands was important for the entire subsequent history of Iberian expansion: they provided bases for voyages to the New World and for the development of practices used later in American colonization. The Cape Verde Islands, much farther to the south, were discovered and settled in 1455-1460. 1439), except the Canaries, which fell under the control of Castile. These islands, as well as the Azores and Canaries, had been known to the earlier Middle Ages they were now rediscovered and exploited by the Portuguese (the Azores ca. Henry's first sponsored voyages of exploration were to the Atlantic islands of Madeira and Porto Santo (1418-1419) colonization followed. Prince Henry may thus have sought to tap the supply at its source by venturing down the West African coast. Gold hunger had been growing in late medieval Europe in response to the growth of commerce, but Portugal had lacked gold coinage since 1383. With the fall of Ceuta the Portuguese learned of the long-established gold trade with black Africa conducted by caravan across the Sahara. Henry was knighted and made Duke of Viseu. A campaign launched in July 1415 during a civil war in North Africa left the port of Ceuta stripped of its navy. ![]() King John wished to satisfy the avarice and lust for battle of his warriors Prince Henry and his brothers wanted to prove their manhood and strike a blow for the faith on the battlefield. The Prester's domains had been variously located in present-day India and in East Africa (Ethiopia). He hoped also to catch Islam in a gigantic pincers movement by joining forces with the mythical "Indies" Christian kingdom of Prester John, the wealthy and powerful priest-king of medieval legend. These ventures were united not by geographical curiosity but by Henry's overreaching desire to continue abroad the traditional Portuguese crusade against Moors and Berbers in the peninsula itself. John and his sons became involved in a threefold movement of Portuguese expansion, comprising the campaign to conquer Moorish North Africa the movement to explore and conquer the Atlantic island groups to the west and south and the exploring, trading, and slaving expeditions down the West African coast. Thus the ruling families began to look abroad for new worlds of wealth, land, and honors to conquer. The conflicts of this period had left the nobility decimated and impoverished and the monarchy's revenues greatly depreciated. He grew to maturity at a time when John I was bringing to a close a confused period of civil strife and war with Castile and securing Portugal's independence. Born at Oporto on March 4, 1394, Henry was the third son of John I of Portugal and Philippa of Lancaster.
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