CHAP. I I I ]
CHRISTOPHER
COLUMBUS.
39
advantages, and stimulated by the munificence of Prince Henry, the Portuguese marine became signalized for the hardihood of its enterprises, and the extent of its discoveries.
Cape Bojador was
doubled; the region of the tropics penetrated, and divested of its fancied terrors; the greater part of the African coast, from Cape Blanco to Cape de Verde, explored; and the Cape de Verde and Azore islands, which lay three hundred leagues distant from the continent, were rescued from the oblivious empire of the ocean. To secure the quiet prosecution and full enjoyment of his dis coveries, Henry obtained the protection of a papal bull, granting to the crown of Portugal sovereign authority over all the lands it might discover in the Atlantic, to India inclusive, with plenary indulgence to all who should die in these expeditions; at the same time menacing, with the terrors of the church, all who should interfere in these Christian conquests.* Henry died on the 13th of November, 1473, without accom plishing the great object of his ambition.
It was not until many
years afterwards, that Vasco de Gama, pursuing with a Portu guese fleet the track he had pointed out, realized his anticipations by doubling the Cape of Good Hope, sailing along the southern coast of India, and thus opening a highway for commerce to the opulent regions of the East.
Henry, however, lived long enough
to reap some of the richest rewards of a great and good mind. He beheld, through his means, his native country in a grand and active career of prosperity.
The discoveries of the Portuguese
were the wonder and admiration of the fifteenth century, and Portugal, from being one of the least among nations, suddenly rose to be one of the most important. All this was effected, not by arms, but by arts; not by the *
Vasconcelos, Hist. de Juan II.