The Portuguese Empire and the Americas: The History and Legacy of Portugals Exploration and Colonization in the New World Audiobook Libro.fm

By the start of the 15th century ships were now much larger and able to support long distance travel with a minimum number of crew aboard With that the Portuguese started exploring the west coast of Africa and the Atlantic under orders from Prince Henry the Navigator At this point Europeans had not yet been capable of navigating completely around Africa since the ships being built were not yet fully capable of being able to sail very far from the coast and navigation in open waters was difficult but the Portuguese continued pushing down the western African coast looking for ways to bypass the Ottomans and Muslims of Africa who had been making overland trade routes difficult In 1451 Prince Henry the Navigator helped fund and develop a new type of ship the caravel that featured triangular lateen sails and would be able to travel in the open ocean and sail against the wind In 1488 Bartholomew Diaz rounded the southern tip of Africa named the Cape of Good Hope by King John of Portugal and entered the Indian Ocean from the Atlantic