Destiny Disrupted

~North

·~ Sea

Atlantic

Ocean

MEANWHILE IN EUROPE

Indian

Ocean

The European Quest for a Sea Route to the Indies

201

But it wasn't just the Vikings. Everyone who sailed regularly between
Scandinavia and southern Europe had to develop rugged ships and learn
how to manage them in the big storms and high seas of the North At-
lantic; western Europeans, therefore, ended up very much at home on the
water. With such accomplished mariners amongst their subjects, some am-
bitious monarchs began to dream of finding a way to skirt the whole land
mass between Europe and east Asia and with it the whole Muslim prob-
lem: in short, they got interested in finding a way to get to India and the
islands further east entirely by sea.
One aristocrat who poured serious support into this enterprise was
Prince Henry of Portugal (called "Henry the Navigator" even though he
never went on any of the expeditions he sponsored). Prince Henry was
closely connected to the king of Portugal, but more important, he was one
of the richest men in western Europe. He funded sea captains to sail south
along the coast of Africa looking for a way around it. Henry's letters and
proclamations show that he originally saw himself as a crusader, out to
prove himself a great Christian monarch by scoring victories against the
Moors and finding new souls to save for the one true faith.^2