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Ethiopian Christian king of medieval legend and a poten- Further Reading
tial ally in any prospective crusade against Islam. The Cadamosto, A. (1937). The voyages of Cadamosto and other documents
on western Africa in the second half of the fifteenth century (G. R.
route there was thought to be via the Sinus Aethiopicus,
Crone, Ed. & Trans.). London: Hakluyt Society.
an African gulf first described in the fourteenth century, Diffie, B. W., & Winius, G. D. (1977). Foundations of the Portuguese
from the head of which Ethiopia was thought to be a empire, 1415–1580: Vol. 1: Europe and the world in the age of
expansion. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
short march overland. The possibility that a sea route Phillips, W. D., Jr., & Phillips, C. R. (1992). The worlds of Christopher
around Africa to the Indies might exist took hold only Columbus. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Russell, P. E. (2001). Prince Henry “the Navigator.” New Haven, CT: Yale
after the Portuguese had passed Cape Verde and turned
University Press.
east into the Gulf of Guinea. Zurara, G. E. (1896–1899). The chronicle of the discovery and conquest
Although the economic development of the Madeira of Guinea (2 vols., C. R. Beazley & E. Prestage,Trans.). London: Hak-
luyt Society.
andtheAzoresheldmoreimmediatebenefitsforhimand
for Portugal as a whole, Henry is best remembered for
his sponsorship of the African voyages, thanks especially
to the flattering chronicle of his contemporary, Gomes Herodotus
Eanes de Zurara. More reliable is the account by the (c. 484–425 bce)
Venetian Alvise Cadamosto, who made two voyages un- Ancient Greek historian
der Henry’s auspices in 1455 and 1456.On the strength
of Henry’s Plantagenet ancestry, Samuel Purchas also erodotus was the founder of the Greek historio-
claimed that he was the “true foundation of Greatnesse, Hgraphic (relating to the writing of history) tradi-
not of Portugall alone, but...especially of these Hero- tion. Although earlier writers may have written books
ike endeavours of the English” (Russell 2001, 1). The dealing with historical topics, Herodotus was the first to
more extravagant epithet,“Navigator,” was not bestowed write in Greek a long prose work that had the purpose
until the nineteenth century. Another more immediate of narrating and explaining a complex historical event.
legacy is the indirect connection between Henry and The tradition of historical writing that began with the
Christopher Columbus. In 1446, Henry assigned the publication of Herodotus’s work during the late fifth
administration of Porto Santo in the Madeiras to Bar- century BCE extended to the end of antiquity and pro-
tolomeu Perestrelo,who had grown up inHenry’shouse- vides the principal source of information for the history
hold and who probably advised him on the subject of of the Mediterranean Sea basin from the sixth century
Atlantic navigation. Perestrelo’s daughter Felipa Muniz BCE to the seventh century CE.
married Columbus, who thereby received her father’s No ancient biography of Herodotus survives.The only
maps and papers. sources for his life are his work and an article in a tenth-
century CEByzantineencyclopediaentitledtheSuda.These
Lincoln P. Paine
sources suggest that he was born in the southwest Ana-
See also Portuguese Empire tolian city of Halicarnassus (in modern Turkey) and died
in the south Italian city of Thurii. The presence of both
Greek and Carian (relating to a region ofAnatolia) names
in his family indicates that he was probably of mixed
Greek and Carian ancestry. Except for his being exiled
after an unsuccessful attempt to oust the tyrant of Hali-
carnassus and his death at Thurii, the only known events
of Herodotus’s life are the travels he mentions in his
work.These were extensive and included visits to Athens,
Prine Henry the Navigator Egypt, north Africa, south Italy, and the Black Sea.