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Prince Henry was appointed the Administrator General of the Order of Christ in 1420. He would spend the next four decades years funding a series of expeditions round the coast of Africa and into the unknown Atlantic Ocean.

Success was all: commandeers who failed to break new ground would immediately lose funding. Those who sailed farther than their predecessors would be rewarding with more ships and more money.

Henry, his cartographers and his sea captains would go on to establish new trade routes, discover new islands and lands.

He also helped to establish the basis for the transatlantic slave trade – Henry’s captains began capturing Africans in the 1440s, with the prince taking 20% of the profits.

Image: Excerpt of painting attributed to 15th century Portuguese artists Nuno Gonçalves, possibly of Prince Henry

Related article: https://theageofexploration.com/ten-major-figures-of-the-age-of-exploration/

Cornelis de Houtman had been charged with heading an expedition to further improve trade routes to the East for the Netherlands. Unfortunately, the captain became embroiled in a dispute with the Sultan of Aceh, who was reportedly incensed at the Dutchman’s arrogant demeanour.

The tension escalated into an armed conflict on the Dutch ships. As the Dutch crew members fought the Inning Balee army - a navy composed of widows of fallen warriors - Malahayati reportedly stabbed de Houtman with a rencong, a traditional Acehnese dagger, killing him instantly. 

The list:

Prince Henry the Navigator

Vasco da Gama

Christopher Columbus

Ferdinand Magellan

Hernán Cortés

Gerard Mercator

Francis Drake

Cornelis de Houtman

John Smith

Pocahontas

The full article: https://theageofexploration.com/ten-major-figures-of-the-age-of-exploration/

For decades, Charles Francis Hall dreamed of exploring the Arctic and becoming the first person to reach the North Pole.

On his first journey north, Hall befriended an Inuit couple, Ipirvik and Taqulittuq. Over the next two years, he learned how to live like the Inuit and survive in the harsh conditions above the Arctic Circle.

On his second expedition, Hall travelled once again with Ipirvik and Taqulittuq and spent a total of five years in the far north. The trip, however, was marred by a violent incident, when Hall shot dead a whaler named Patrick Coleman, who he suspected of organising a mutiny. Hall was never charged for the killing.

Soon, he returned north with a larger ship, the Polaris, as he aimed to reach the North Pole. The third journey, however, was also marked by disputes. In October 1871, wintering at Thank God Harbour, Hall returned from a days-long exploratory trip and asked for a hot cup of coffee. Minutes after drinking it, the American was violently ill. After two weeks of alternating between better spells and bouts of vomiting and dizziness, Hall died on 8 November.

The US Navy did order an investigation into Hall’s death, but found he had died of natural causes - apoplexy. In the 1960s, however, Hall’s biographer Chauncey C. Loomis had the body dug up and found large traces of arsenic in Hall’s system.

Ever since, suspicion has fallen on Emil Bessels, the ship’s physician and chief scientist, who had looked after Hall during his illness. Bessels had argued bitterly with Hall during the expedition and also had an apparent shared love interest – Vinnie Ream, an artist who had just completed a sculpture of Abraham Lincoln for the Capitol.

Without further evidence, however, the case remains inconclusive.

The main image shows Bessels on the left, and Hall on the right.

Full article here.

Though Roggeveen only spent a short time on the island, it is thought his ship may have brought some of the European diseases that later ravaged the local population. In recent centuries, the residents of Easter Island have also been hit by deforestation, slave raiding expeditions and mass migration. Nevertheless, the culture of the island and its people still survive today.

It is not clear whether the name of Rapa Nui came from local people or traders. Historically, it is believed the island was known as Te pito o te henua, meaning The Navel of the World or End of the Land, and also Mata-ki-te-rangi, meaning Eyes Gazing Skyward.

Painting: A View of the Monuments of Easter Island, by William Hodges, c. 1775–1776

You can read an interview with the director of the Toki Music and Arts School on Rapa Nui here.

The Age of Exploration sub has now reached 5,000 followers!

Thank you very much for all your contributions so far - I really enjoy reading all the comments and discussions.

As you may know, there is also an Age of Exploration website - it's been a lot of work getting everything off the ground and seeing that some other people find these stories at least mildly interesting really does help.

I would like to take this opportunity to make a shameless plug – we now have a Patreon page.

This is an independent project and I have wanted to keep the website ad-free from the start. This means we are kind of reliant on the kindness of our readers. Every person that chooses to support our work through Patreon really does make a huge difference. (I think you can also sign up for free if you like :) )

We are also starting to put up a few articles and images that I hope you might find interesting! Anyway, enough of the sales talk... you can find it here:

https://www.patreon.com/cw/TheAgeofExploration

There is also The Age of Exploration newsletter, which helps us keep in touch with readers outside of social media. We are just about to send the second ever newsletter – if you happen to be interested:

https://theageofexploration.com/the-age-of-exploration-newsletter/

In other news, we are slowly coming to the end of the Arctic obsession, though I should be putting up a brief history of the search for the North-West Passage just after Easter. In the next few weeks I think we will be getting more into the colonisation of the Americas, and maybe a little bit on Prince Henry the Navigator.

Thank you once again!

Jonathan B

Images: The Columbus Festival in the Madeiras/a ship plug for sale online.

Stokes joined the navy as a boy, and sailed all over the world. In 1822-23, he was involved in fighting the slave trade in West Africa.

In 1827,  as captain of the Beagle, he led a daring rescue of the crew of the Prince of Saxe Cobourg, who had become stranded off the coast of Tierra del Fuego after their ship was wrecked.

On 12 August 1828, however, Stokes shot himself during a years-long expedition to map the Magellan Strait and the southern coast of South America. Stokes was replaced as captain of the Beagle by Robert FitzRoy.

Three years later, Fitzroy would captain the Beagle on a five-year voyage around the world. On board was a 22-year-old Charles Darwin in search of adventure. The trip exposed Darwin to the tremendous variety of life on Earth, and helped establish the ideas that would later form the groundwork for his theory of evolution. 

In later years, Fitzroy served as the governor of New Zealand and also became a pioneering meteorologist. In New Zealand in the 1840s, he made concerted efforts to protect the Maori from illegal land sales claimed by British settlers.

In 1865, however, he committed suicide at his home of Ampton Hall in Suffolk, England at the age of 59.

Despite their tragic ends, both men enjoyed careers of prominence, endurance and bravery. And, as the men who captained the Beagle, they also steered a ship that changed the course of scientific history.

Painting: The Beagle at Ponsonby Sound in the Beagle Channel, Tierra del Fuego, in March 1834, by Conrad Martens