Prince Henry was born in Portugal to King John I and Philippa of Lancaster. As a young man Henry learned how to be a soldier and a knight. Henry’s interests soon turned to exploration and voyages of discovery. He never participated in such voyages but became known as the Navigator because of his patronage of sailors, mapmakers, and ship designers. Henry founded a center for the study of navigation and about 1420 he began sending ships from Portugal to explore the African coastline. He wanted to find a southern route to India in order to establish profitable trade routes. Henry supervised many important advances in seafaring. Because of his strong commitment to exploration, maps became more accurate, new methods of navigation were developed, and ship designs were improved.
