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Although Henry the Navigator was neither a sailor or navigator, he sponsored & led many sea voyages. He set out ships to Africa, Asia, & the Americas. He became fascinated with the resources in Africa, & wanted Portugal to have them, too. He sent his ships out to Africa for the first time in 1415, with little to no knowledge of Africa. They reached the Canary Islands, & kept going from there. His pursue to reach more of Africa gained him his success.
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Zheng He continued to Africa on his 5th voyage. He resisted the Persian Gulf, & explored more of Africa's east coast. He tried to set up Chinese Missions to Egypt, but he suspended it & went back to China. With all the voyages he did, he expanded trade in Asia, & bartered gold from the "Gold Coast" in modern day Ghana.
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Fernão Gomes earned rights to explore Africa for 5 years in 1469. He reached modern day Ghana in 1471, & he settled in La Mina. He found an abundance of gold there, which is why it is now called the "Gold Coast".
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Bartolomeu Dias became the first explorer to find a direct sea route from Europe to Asia. This opened trade in India & other Asian countries. This also inspired Christopher Columbus to seek a royal patron to establish his own voyage.
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The Line of Demarcation divides the world between Spain & Portugal. The line claims that anything east of the line belongs to Spain, & anything west belongs to Portugal. This created problems because Spain & Portugal wanted to explore all over the world, & not just their half of the line.
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Vasco da Gama took a direct route to Cape of Good, in Africa, & sailed westward to modern day Kenya. He found Chinese traders, & brought back an enormous amount of new goods to Portugal.
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Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama reached India after rounding the tip of Africa. The voyage was highly profitable, although many of the sailors and ships were lost. This voyage gave Portugal access to India from a direct sea route.
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Alfonso de Albuquerque was a Portuguese sea captain that fought over Asian trade to crush the Muslim-Italian domination. He first went to North Africa to serve 10 years in the Crusades. He was appointed & sailed to the east coast of Africa to build a fortress to block the Muslims from trading with the Asians. He went on many other voyages to try to stop the Muslims from dominating trade routes.
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In 1542, Fernão Mendes Pinto became the first "Westerner" to explore Japan. He was imprisoned for shipwrecking in China, & after escaping he jumped onto a Chinese ship with two companions. They sailed to an unknown direction, & shipwrecked on an island. That island was later discovered to be Japan. After knowing it was Japan, he returned & came back with a Catholic missionary.
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William Adams became the first English navigator to reach Japan. After 19 harsh months at sea, & 20 dying companions on board with him (out of the 100), he landed in Japan. He brought many things to Japan including: knowledge of ships, shipbuilding skills, & some mathematics.
