PORTUGAL. 



129 



. connected : a department of enterprise and skill in 

 which Portugal has gained almost unrivalled distinc- 

 tion. At the period at which we are arrived, the art 

 of navigation was still very imperfect. ' Though Afri- 

 ca," says Dr. Robertson, " lay so near to Portugal, 

 and the fertility of the countries already known on that 

 continent invited men to explore it more fully, the 

 Portuguese had not ventured to sail beyond Cape N"n. 

 That promontory, as its name imports, was hitherto 

 considered as a boundary which could not be passed. 

 But the nations of Europe had now acquired as much 

 knowledge as emboldened them to disregard the pre- 

 judices and to correct the errors of their ancestors. 

 The long reign of ignorance, the constant enemy of 

 every curious inquiry, and of every new undertaking, 

 was approaching to its period. The light of science 

 began to dawn. The works of the ancient Greeks and 

 Romans began to be read with admiration and profit. 

 The sciences cultivated by the Arabians were intro- 

 duced into Europe by the Moors settled in Spain and 

 Portugal, and by the Jews, who were very numerous 

 in both these kingdoms. Geometry, astronomy, and 

 geography, the sciences on which the art of navigation 

 is founded, became objects of studious attention. The 

 memory of the discoveries made by the ancients was 

 revived, and the progress of their navigation and com- 

 merce began to be traced. Some of the causes (parti- 

 cularly the inquisition) which have obstructed the cul- 

 tivation of science in Portugal during this century and 

 the last, did not exist, or did not operate in the same 

 manner in the fifteenth century ; and the Portuguese, 

 at that period, seem to have kept pace with the nation? 

 on this side the Alps in literary pursuits." (History of 

 America, book i.) Such were the circumstances of the 

 age when King John, urged partly by ambitious motives, 

 and partly instigated to the measure in order to find 

 employment for the restless spirit of his subjects, fitted 

 out two armaments, the one destined to attack the 

 Moors settled on the coast of Africa ; the other, con- 

 sisting only of a few vessels, appointed to sail along 

 the western shore of Africa bounded by the Atlantic 

 Ocean, and to discover the unknown countries situated 

 there. The expedition against the Moors ended suc- 

 cessfully ; while, what was still more important, the 

 vessels sent on the discovery doubled that formidable 

 cape which had terminated the progress of former na- 

 vigators, and proceeded 160 miles beyond it, to Cape 

 Bojador. " As its rocky cliffs," says the historian 

 just quoted, " which stretched a considerable way into 

 the Atlantic, appeared more dreadful than the promon- 

 tory they had passed, the Portuguese commanders 

 durst not attempt to sail round it, but returned to Lis- 

 bon, more satisfied with having advanced so far, than 

 ashamed of having ventured no farther." 



Inconsiderable as this voyage was, it increased the 

 passion for discovery which began to arise. Nor was 

 Portugal deficient in men of talents and enterprise ca- 

 pable of giving it a proper impulse and direction. Not 

 only was John himself anxious to patronize and for- 

 ward any plan which had for its object the progress of 

 discovery, but Prince Henry, his fourth son, was, from 

 his great talents and ardent enthusiasm, peculiar in- 

 formed for espousing a cause which might prove not 

 only beneficial but splendid and honourable. He had 



cultivated, according to Dr. Robertson, the arts and I'ortujtf. 

 sciences, which were then unknown and despised by *"" r v-" - ' 

 persons of his rank. He had applied, with peculiar 

 fondness, to the study of geography, and hid acquired 

 such knowledge of tin- habitable globe, as discovered 

 the great probability of finding new and opulent coun- 

 tric-. by sailing along the coast of Africa. Under such 

 distinguished patronage, an impulse was given to the 

 spirit of discovery unknown before, and which was 

 attended with the most brilliant results. Not only 

 were the islands Porto S;i:irt'j, Madeira, C*pe c'e Verd. 

 and the Azores, discovered and taken possession of, * 

 but, ere long, the western coast of Africa was traced, 

 and Bartholomew Diaz had descried tlwt lofty prom > - 

 tory which bounds this great continent on the south ; 

 which the discoverer himself denominated the Stormy 

 Cape, but to which the king, his master, as he now en- 

 tertained no doubts of having found the long desired 

 route to India, gave a name more inviting, and of bet* 

 ter omen, the Cape of Good Hope. These great events 

 had taken place during the successive reigns of John, 

 Edward, Alphonso V. and John II. ; and, in the reign 

 of Emanuel, the next monarch, Vasco de Gama, a man Kmanuel. 

 of noble birth, possessed of virtue, prudence, and cou- 

 rage, was despatched by his sovereign with three ves- 

 sels, to follow the route which Diaz had pursued, and, 

 if possible, to double that promontory, which was justly 

 regarded as opening a way to the East. After strug- 

 gling for four months with contrary winds, Gama, du- 

 ring an interval of calm weather, accomplished the ob- 

 ject for which he had set out After doubling that DJ, COfe r 

 formidable cane, he directed his course towards the O f the 

 north-east, along the African continent. He landed at Cap* of 

 Melinda, on the Zanquebar coast, and afterwards cross- <-ood 

 ing the Indian* ocean, he arrived at Calecut, on the H P e< 

 coast of Malabar. And having obtained not only some 

 commodities peculiar to that place, but many rich pro- 

 ductions of the eastern parts of India, he returned to 

 Portugal by the same route, and landed at Lisbon in 

 September 1499, two years two months and five days 

 from the time he had left that port, and after having 

 performed a voyage, the longest as well as the most 

 difficult that had yet been accomplished. In about a Discovery 

 year after this date, Cabral discovered that extensive O f Brazil. 

 country in South America, now known by the name of 

 Brazil, and which till lately formed so important a portion 

 of the territories of the kings of Portugal. This great 

 progress in navigation and in the discovery of unknown 

 regions, of which we have given but a brief sketch, 

 was accomplished ere the termination of the fifteenth 

 century ; and the two Past important voyages, those of 

 De Gama and Cabral, were performed five and seven 

 years respectively from the time when the New World 

 was discovered by the illustrious Columbus. In the 

 history of navigation Portugal holds an eminent place, 

 both from the number, the eirly date, and the magni- 

 ficence of her discoveries ; and, as previously mention- 

 ed, the only circumstance which prevents her being 

 entirely unrivalled in this great department, is her re- 

 fusing, though urgently solicited, to patronize and pro- 

 mote that bold voyage of discovery meditated by Co- 

 lumbus, which was, at a subseqent period, undertaken 

 under the auspices of Spain, and which, contrary to 

 the expectation of the Portuguese, forms the greatest 



* The Canary Islands had been discovered so early as 1402, by Bethencourt, chamberlain to the king ot France. It has been asserted 

 that these islands, and various others said to be discovered by the Portuguese, were not unknown to the tSenoese and Venetian navigator* ir< 

 the fourteenth century ; but that, as they were not colonized, they were neglected and forgotten. What truth may be in this opinion it it 

 now too late to ascertain. 



VOL. XVII. PART I. B 



