CONQUESTS AND DISCOVERIES OF ,HENRY THE NAVIGATOR • .
Current Literature
Edited by Virginia de Castro e Almeida , This book (Allen and Unwin, 10s. 6d.) is an-. abridged translation of. the Chronicles of Gomes Eannes de Azurara, the Portuguese Hakluyt. They have never been translated before and the publishers are to be thanked for making them available to English readers. Apart from the value of this work to scholars, it can be recommended to the general reader as a vivid account of the adventures and achievements of the greatest of the Portuguese explorers of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, and of the life of that great prince, the Infante Henry, called the Navigator. He was the third son of John I of Portugal who had married the daughter of John of Gaunt. His first youthful exploit was his part in the capture of Ceuta from the Moors, which he and his brothers undertook as an exercise in chivalry preparatory to being knighted. Later, he spent many years at sea, directing campaigns against the Moors and planning the voyages of discovery to the west coast of Africa which raised Portugal to be the greatest
sea-power in Europe. Henry- did not take an active part in these expeditions, which were led by such captains as
Lan(•arote, and Dias who discovered Guinea, but it was his organisation of the fleets, his planning and charting of routes, and his inspiring leadership which made them possible.
Azurara wrote of him : " . . . things which seemed impossible to men were rendered- easy by the persistence of his efforts." It is a pity that there is no map ; and a note on Azurara would have been useful.
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