He was a prince, politician, warrior and grand master of the Order of Christ. He gives a very important contribution to geographical discovery and to a new cultural opening between the Europe and East. When he arrived to settle in the Algarve as Governor in 1419 he was a young man of 25. However, historical sources do not provide this certainty of such a building in Sagres and the school seems to be reduced to a simple school of thought of the new era of exploration that Henry was certainly firing pin. What is certain is that Henry during the 15th century more or less, building boats and then go to explore the Atlantic sea. With him began the culture of exploration.

The exact location of Henry's School of Navigation is not

known. It is generally accepted that he sited his headquarters at Sagres and created a settlement

on land granted by the crown. The settlement came to be known as Vila do Infante, or

Prince's town. This is popularly believed to have been situated

on the headland within the walls of the forteleza which were

rebuilt after the 1755 earthquake. The only building still surviving

and thought to have been around in more or less its present form in

Henry's day, is the simple little church within the fortress.

Where was this famous school ?

The school of navigation was like a magnet to the best brains in Europe concerned with the nautical sciences. Under Henry's support, a community of brilliant scholars came here to teach and to study, and accumulated and correlated nautical knowledge as it was brought back by captains of successive voyages to hitherto unknown places. The scholars in turn instructed less experienced captains about Atlantic currents and wind systems and the latest navigational methods. Cartography was refined with the use of newly devised instruments. Maps were regularly updated and extended.

A revolutionary type of vessel, the caravel, was designed.

Henry lived in the vicinity of Sagres for most of his life and this is where he died on November 13, 1460 at the age of 66. He had opened the way, but had not lived long enough to savour and share the successes of Bartolomeu Dias who rounded the Cape of Good Hope in 1488, and Vasco da Gama who finally pushed through the sea route to India in 1498.

BY LORENZO PIANEZZA

7TH GRADE