The Chronicle of the Discovery and Conquest of Guinea. Vol. IIZurara, Gomes Eannes de
History
The Chronicle of the Discovery and Conquest of Guinea. Vol. II
Zurara, Gomes Eannes de
Guinea (Region) -- Discovery and exploration -- Early works to 1800
Further, Antonio Galvano, after speaking of a voyage which took place in
1447, goes on to mention another (undated, but probably conceived by the
author as falling within a year or two of the last) in these terms. "It
is moreover told that in the meantime a Portuguese ship, coming out of
the Straits of Gibraltar, was carried westwards by a storm much further
than was intended, and arrived at an island where there were seven
cities, and people who spoke our language." This, however, is too much
like an echo of the old Spanish tale of the Seven Bishops and their
cities in the Island of "Antillia."
In the same connection a number of still looser and more doubtful
assertions exist in Portuguese archives and chronicles. Thus, in 1457,
the Infant D. Fernando, as heir of Prince Henry, planned Atlantic
explorations; in 1484 and 1486 similar designs were
entertained--possibly on the strength of Columbus' recent suggestions,
which are known to have directly occasioned one unsuccessful venture at
this time; and in 1473 João Vaz da Costa Cortereal was reported, by a
now-exploded legend, to have actually discovered Newfoundland.
THE "SCHOOL OF SAGRES," ETC.
Few things in connection with the life of Henry the Navigator are more
interesting than the tradition of his educational and intellectual work,
especially for the furtherance of geography, in the alleged School of
Sagres and other supposed foundations or benefactions. Unfortunately,
this tradition is not as clearly established as it might be, and it has
been made more difficult by constant exaggeration. Not content with
asserting that the Infant aimed at drawing the commerce of Cadiz and
Ceuta--without reckoning other ports--to his town at Sagres, some have
indulged in pictures of a geographical university established by the
Prince upon this headland--pictures which are quite beyond any known
means of verification. These flourishes, however, need not cause one to
run into another extreme, and deny that Sagres became, during the latter
part of Henry's life, especially from 1438 to his death, the centre of
the exploring movement and the scientific study which the Infant
inspired. At Sagres,[217] according to what may be called the older
view--which, resting mainly upon Barros, is adopted by Major, de Veer,
Wauwermans, and even Martins--Prince Henry usually resided, not merely
during the last years of his life, or after his return from the Tangier
expedition of 1437, but from the time of his reappearance in Portugal
after the relief of Ceuta in 1418. At first, however (1418-1438) it was
called Tercena[218] Nabal, or Naval Arsenal, after it emerged from the
stage of a little harbour of refuge for passing ships; and only
afterwards did it become (from 1438 onwards) the Villa do Iffante, "my
town," from which some of Prince Henry's charters are dated. Shortly
before the completion of Azurara's chronicle, according to this view,
the town was fortified with strong walls and enlarged by the building of
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