SAGRES
When prince Henry the Navigator commenced his explorations, that would start the Portuguese Age of Discoveries, at his Vila do Infante, the Sagres peninsula lacked the necessary requirements for such large undertakings by its scarcity of water (even though it was surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean), minimal agriculture, lack of wood for shipbuilding and small population. Henry re-populated a village called Terçanabal that was deserted due to the continuous pirate attacks to the coast. The village was situated in a strategic position for his maritime enterprises and was latter called Vila do Infante.


FortressHenry the Navigator employed cartographers, such as Jehuda Cresques, to help him chart the coast of Mauretania in the wake of voyages he sent there.

He engaged an expert map and instrument-maker, Jayme of Majorca, so that his captains might have the best nautical information. This probably led to the legend of the Nautical School of Sagres (although a "school" also means a group of followers). There was no centre of navigational science or any supposed observatory, if compared to the modern definition of "observatory" or "navigational centre", as Russell makes very clear. The centre of his expeditions was actually at Lagos, further to the east along the Algarve coast.

This was a time of many important discoveries: cartography was refined with the use of newly devised instruments, such as an improved astrolabium] and improved sundial, maps were regularly updated and extended, and a revolutionary type of vessel known as the caravel was designed.

Prince Henry built a chapel next to his house in 1459, as he began to spend more time in Sagres in his later years. He died at Sagres on 13 November 1460.

The exact location of Henry’s School of Navigation is not known (it is popularly believed to have been destroyed by the 1755 Lisbon earthquake)

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