Their pilots, indeed, guided most of the vessels engaged in the early voyages of discovery, but they were employed, and the means furnished, by the great monarchs, whose ports were situated upon the shores of the Atlantic.
The first appearance of a bolder spirit, in which the human mind began to make a grand movement in every direction, in religion, science, freedom, and liberty, may be dated from about the end of the fifteenth century.

The glory of leading the way in this new career, was reserved for Portugal, then one of the smallest, and least powerful of the European kingdoms.
When in 1412, John I.sent forth a few vessels, to explore the western shores of Africa, while he prepared a great armament to attack the moors of Barbary, the art of navigation was still very imperfect, nor had the Portuguese ever ventured to sail beyond Cape Non.

But what most powerfully contributed to give impulse and direction to the national ardour, was the enlightened enthusiasm, with which prince Henry of Portugal, a younger son of John I., espoused the interests of science, and the prosecution of nautical discovery.

In order to pursue his splendid projects without interruption, he fixed his residence at Sagres, near Cape St.
Vincent, where the prospect of the open Atlantic continually invited his thoughts to their favourite theme.

His first effort was upon a small scale.