Sagres and Henry the Navigator

Born in 1394, the fifth son of King Jodo I and Queen Filipa of Lancaster, the Prince soon distinguished himself as a brave soldier in the conquest of Ceula (1415). Governor of the Order of Christ, which inherited the wealth of the Templars, he used the Order's resources to finance the first voyages of the Discoveries. These took caravelles lo Madeira (1420) and the Azores (1427) and, later, with the intrepid Gil Eanes at the helm, around Cabo Bojador (Cape Bojador) (1434) on the African coast, a key stage in the journeys south, which continued throughout the 15th century until India was reached in 1498.

In 1443 Prince Henry was granted permission to found Vila do Infante, next to Ponta de Sagres, a spot well-suited to overseeing the expeditions to the African coast which set sail from the Algarve. He lived in Vila do Infante for long periods and died there in 1460.

Defying the medieval vision of an ocean filled with terrible monsters, Prince Henry the Navigator had the courage to send ships beyond the horizon, "on seas never before sailed", in the words of the poet Camoes, These vessels were caravelles, fragile yet doughty, the pinnacle of maritime technology at the time.

In these craft men learnt the techniques of navigation, mapped out sea routes, discovered archipelagoes, explored unknown coastlines and began the vast undertaking known as (he Discoveries that gave "new worlds to the world". Sagres and Prince Henry are thus symbolic of the will to reveal the secrets of the universe, and extend the horizons of knowledge.