Slavery reparations

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mikesiva
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'The previously unseen records show exactly who received what in payouts from the Government when slave ownership was abolished by Britain – much to the potential embarrassment of their descendants. Dr Nick Draper from University College London, who has studied the compensation papers, says as many as one-fifth of wealthy Victorian Britons derived all or part of their fortunes from the slave economy. As a result, there are now wealthy families all around the UK still indirectly enjoying the proceeds of slavery where it has been passed on to them. Dr Draper said: "There was a feeding frenzy around the compensation." A John Austin, for instance, owned 415 slaves, and got compensation of £20,511, a sum worth nearly £17m today. And there were many who received far more. Academics from UCL, including Dr Draper, spent three years drawing together 46,000 records of compensation given to British slave-owners into an internet database to be launched for public use on Wednesday. But he emphasised that the claims set to be unveiled were not just from rich families but included many "very ordinary men and women" and covered the entire spectrum of society. Dr Draper added that the database's findings may have implications for the "reparations debate". Barbados is currently leading the way in calling for reparations from former colonial powers for the injustices suffered by slaves and their families. Among those revealed to have benefited from slavery are ancestors of the Prime Minister, David Cameron, former minister Douglas Hogg, authors Graham Greene and George Orwell, poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning, and the new chairman of the Arts Council, Peter Bazalgette. Other prominent names which feature in the records include scions of one of the nation's oldest banking families, the Barings, and the second Earl of Harewood, Henry Lascelles, an ancestor of the Queen's cousin. Some families used the money to invest in the railways and other aspects of the industrial revolution; others bought or maintained their country houses, and some used the money for philanthropy. George Orwell's great-grandfather, Charles Blair, received £4,442, equal to £3m today, for the 218 slaves he owned. The British government paid out £20m to compensate some 3,000 families that owned slaves for the loss of their "property" when slave-ownership was abolished in Britain's colonies in 1833. This figure represented a staggering 40 per cent of the Treasury's annual spending budget and, in today's terms, calculated as wage values, equates to around £16.5bn.'

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/ho ... 08358.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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mikesiva
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A meeting of CARICOM nations in St Vincent has approved unanimously a ten-point plan proposed by the Caricom Reparations Commission to achieve reparatory justice for the victims of genocide, slavery, slave trading, and racial apartheid.

Sir Hilary Beckles, the Chairman of the Caricom Reparations Commission, said:

"I am very pleased that the conference has adopted the Plan. Reparations for the slave era is an issue that has resonated increasingly in recent years.

"Reparations for slavery, and the century of racial apartheid that replaced it into the 1950s, resonate as a popular right today in Caribbean communities because of the persistent harm and suffering linked to the crimes against humanity under colonialism."

Martyn Day, from law firm Leigh Day and who is advising the commission said:

"This is a very comprehensive and fair set of demands on the Governments whose countries grew rich at the expense of those regions whose human wealth was stolen from them.

"A Conference in London between representatives of CARICOM and the slave nations, to include the Governments of Holland, UK, France as well as potentially other nations who profited from the slave trade, will enable our clients to quickly gauge whether or not their concerns are being taken seriously.”

Ten Point Action Plan

Introduction

In 2013 Caribbean Heads of Governments established the Caricom Reparations Commission [CRC] with a mandate to prepare the case for reparatory justice for the region’s indigenous and African descendant communities who are the victims of Crimes against Humanity [CAH] in the forms of genocide, slavery, slave trading, and racial apartheid.

This document, prepared by the CRC, proposes the delivery of this mandate within the formulation of the Caricom Reparations Justice Program [CRJP]. The CRC asserts that victims and descendants of these CAH have a legal right to reparatory justice, and that those who committed these crimes, and who have been enriched by the proceeds of these crimes, have a reparatory case to answer.

The CRJP recognizes the special role and status of European governments in this regard, being the legal bodies that instituted the framework for developing and sustaining these crimes. These governments, furthermore, served as the primary agencies through which slave based enrichment took place, and as national custodians of criminally accumulated wealth.

THE CRC ASSERTS THAT EUROPEAN GOVERNMENTS:

· Were owners and traders of enslaved Africans • Instructed genocidal actions upon indigenous communities
· Created the legal, financial and fiscal policies necessary for the enslavement of Africans
· Defined and enforced African enslavement and native genocide as in their ‘national interests’
· Refused compensation to the enslaved with the ending of their enslavement
· Compensated slave owners at emancipation for the loss of legal property rights in enslaved Africans
· Imposed a further one hundred years of racial apartheid upon the emancipated
· Imposed for another one hundred years policies designed to perpetuate suffering upon the emancipated and survivors of genocide
· And have refused to acknowledge such crimes or to compensate victims and their descendants
Context

The CRC is committed to the process of national international reconciliation. Victims and their descendants have a duty to call for reparatory justice.

Their call for justice is the basis of the closure they seek to the terrible tragedies that engulfed humanity during modernity. The CRC comes into being some two generations after the national independence process, and finds European colonial rule as a persistent part of Caribbean life.

The CRC operates within the context of persistent objection from European governments to its mandate.

The CRC, nonetheless, is optimistic that the CRJP will gain acceptance as a necessary path to progress.

The CRC sees the persistent racial victimization of the descendants of slavery and genocide as the root cause of their suffering today.

The CRC recognizes that the persistent harm and suffering experienced today by these victims as the primary cause of development failure in the Caribbean.

It calls upon European governments to participate in the CRJP with a view to prepare these victims and sufferers for full admission with dignity into the citizenry of the global community. The CRC here outlines the path to reconciliation, truth, and justice for VICTIMS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS.

CRJP: Ten Point Action Plan

1. FULL FORMAL APOLOGY

The healing process for victims and the descendants of the enslaved and enslavers requires as a precondition the offer of a sincere formal apology by the governments of Europe. Some governments in refusing to offer an apology have issued in place Statements of Regrets.

Such statements do not acknowledge that crimes have been committed and represent a refusal to take responsibility for such crimes. Statements of regrets represent, furthermore, a reprehensible response to the call for apology in that they suggest that victims and their descendants are not worthy of an apology. Only an explicit formal apology will suffice within the context of the CRJP.


2. REPATRIATION

Over 10 million Africans were stolen from their homes and forcefully transported to the Caribbean as the enslaved chattel and property of Europeans. The transatlantic slave trade is the largest forced migration in human history and has no parallel in terms of man’s inhumanity to man.

This trade in enchained bodies was a highly successful commercial business for the nations of Europe. The lives of millions of men, women and children were destroyed in search of profit. The descendants of these stolen people have a legal right to return to their homeland.

A Repatriation program must be established and all available channels of international law and diplomacy used to resettle those persons who wish to return. A resettlement program should address such matters as citizenship and deploy available best practices in respect of community re-integration.


3. INDIGENOUS PEOPLES DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM

The governments of Europe committed genocide upon the native Caribbean population. Military commanders were given official instructions by their governments to eliminate these communities and to remove those who survive pogroms from the region.

Genocide and land appropriation went hand in hand. A community of over 3,000,000 in 1700 has been reduced to less than 30,000 in 2000. Survivors remain traumatized, landless, and are the most marginalized social group within the region.

The University of the West Indies offers an Indigenous Peoples Scholarship in a desperate effort at rehabilitation. It is woefully insufficient. A Development Plan is required to rehabilitate this community.


4. CULTURAL INSTITUTIONS

European nations have invested in the development of community institutions such as museums and research centers in order to prepare their citizens for an understanding of these CAH.

These facilities serve to reinforce within the consciousness of their citizens an understanding of their role in history as rulers and change agents.

There are no such institutions in the Caribbean where the CAH were committed. Caribbean schoolteachers and researchers do not have the same opportunity.

Descendants of these CAH continue to suffer the disdain of having no relevant institutional systems through which their experience can be scientifically told. This crisis must be remedies within the CJRP.


5. PUBLIC HEALTH CRISIS

The African descended population in the Caribbean has the highest incidence in the world of chronic diseases in the forms of hypertension and type two diabetes.

This pandemic is the direct result of the nutritional experience, physical and emotional brutality, and overall stress profiles associated with slavery, genocide, and apartheid. Over 10 million Africans were imported into the Caribbean during the 400 years of slavery.

At the end of slavery in the late 19th century less than 2 million remained. The chronic health condition of Caribbean blacks now constitutes the greatest financial risk to sustainability in the region. Arresting this pandemic requires the injection of science, technology, and capital beyond the capacity of the region.

Europe has a responsibility to participate in the alleviation of this heath disaster. The CRJP addresses this issue and calls upon the governments of Europe to take responsibility for this tragic human legacy of slavery and colonisation.


6. ILLITERACY ERADICATION

At the end of the European colonial period in most parts of the Caribbean, the British in particular left the black and indigenous communities in a general state of illiteracy. Some 70 percent of blacks in British colonies were functionally illiterate in the 1960s when nation states began to appear.

Jamaica, the largest such community, was home to the largest number of such citizens. Widespread illiteracy has subverted the development efforts of these nation states and represents a drag upon social and economic advancement.

Caribbean governments allocate more than 70 percent of public expenditure to health and education in an effort to uproot the legacies of slavery and colonization. European governments have a responsibility to participate in this effort within the context of the CRJP.


7. AFRICAN KNOWLEDGE PROGRAM

The forced separation of Africans from their homeland has resulted in cultural and social alienation from identity and existential belonging. Denied the right in law to life, and divorced by space from the source of historic self, Africans have craved the right to return and knowledge of the route to roots.

A program of action is required to build ‘bridges of belonging’. Such projects as school exchanges and culture tours, community artistic and performance programs, entrepreneurial and religious engagements, as well as political interaction, are required in order to neutralize the void created by slave voyages.

Such actions will serve to build knowledge networks that are necessary for community rehabilitation.


8. PSYCHOLOGICAL REHABILITATION

For over 400 years Africans and their descendants were classified in law as non-human, chattel, property, and real estate. They were denied recognition as members of the human family by laws derived from the parliaments and palaces of Europe.

This history has inflicted massive psychological trauma upon African descendant populations. This much is evident daily in the Caribbean.

Only a reparatory justice approach to truth and educational exposure can begin the process of healing and repair. Such an engagement will call into being, for example, the need for greater Caribbean integration designed to enable the coming together of the fragmented community.


9. TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER

For 400 years the trade and production policies of Europe could be summed up in the British slogan: “not a nail is to be made in the colonies”.

The Caribbean was denied participation in Europe’s industrialization process, and was confined to the role of producer and exporter of raw materials. This system was designed to extract maximum value from the region and to enable maximum wealth accumulation in Europe.

The effectiveness of this policy meant that the Caribbean entered its nation building phase as a technologically and scientifically ill-equipped- backward space within the postmodern world economy.

Generations of Caribbean youth, as a consequence, have been denied membership and access to the science and technology culture that is the world’s youth patrimony. Technology transfer and science sharing for development must be a part of the CRJP.


10. DEBT CANCELLATION

Caribbean governments that emerged from slavery and colonialism have inherited the massive crisis of community poverty and institutional unpreparedness for development. These governments still daily engage in the business of cleaning up the colonial mess in order to prepare for development.

The pressure of development has driven governments to carry the burden of public employment and social policies designed to confront colonial legacies. This process has resulted in states accumulating unsustainable levels of public debt that now constitute their fiscal entrapment.

This debt cycle properly belongs to the imperial governments who have made no sustained attempt to deal with debilitating colonial legacies. Support for the payment of domestic debt and cancellation of international debt are necessary reparatory actions.
Gils
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When is this conference ?

1. APOLOGY

It's the ideal starting point but ...... :?: 10 m people :shock: .

2. REPATRIATION

Over 10 million Africans were stolen from their homes and forcefully transported to the Caribbean as the enslaved chattel and property of Europeans.

I don't think I will ever agree with the accounting, no matter what method they've used. They clearly didn't consider the not insignificant number of captives who died during the journey, or those before even leaving Africa.

It is well known that privateers and buccaneers fiddled their books and as many again didn't even keep records, not unexpected behavior from pirates, so pinning this claim around what their records show will bring about as much clarity as columbus's accounts. smh

This CRC would have to commission a thorough study into those figures for me to not believe they are doing this issue a very large disservice, at present I get the impression those numbers are pre World War 1 and have only recently been rediscovered in an unused British museum store room.

I wouldn't be surprised to learn it's backdated no earlier than 1833-38.
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The British government paid out £20m to compensate some 3,000 families that owned slaves for the loss of their "property" when slave-ownership was abolished in Britain's colonies in 1833. This figure represented a staggering 40 per cent of the Treasury's annual spending budget and, in today's terms, calculated as wage values, equates to around £16.5bn.'
The Spanish and Portuguese were granted " Papal Bulls " by the Pope in 1493, which gave them exclusive ownership of the New World.

At that time they already had many forts and trading posts situated along the coast of West Africa, as well as access to Moorish ( Black Jews, Muslims from Africa) maps of the sea which they gained possession of before ejecting them out of Spain, in the same year columbus was said to have set foot on land. 1492.

This exclusive deal, sanctioned by none other than Gods representative on Earth, lasted for over 100 years before any other European nation would come to know of the New Worlds existence, circa 1600.

This period up to 1492 is commonly referred to, by Europeans, as the dark ages.

An age under an I slamic Moorish rule which lasted over 700 years, 711 AD - 1492 and is the age preceding the one they themselves have named the age of discovery.

A period in history preceded by the crusades and black death pandemic and followed by the great plagues, slavery and the Spanish Inquisitions, which lasted 300 years.

It is my estimation that, under Moorish rule, Spanish Christians could have been made aware of the New Worlds existence as early as 1450.

" Papal Bulls are decrees or "solemn edicts" granted by the Vatican. The bulls we are concerned with essentially sanctioned 15th century Portuguese and Spanish genocide campaigns into Africa and the Americas.

These decrees established Christian dominion and subjugation of non-Christian "pagan" peoples and their lands (Newcomb, 1992). The 1493 Bull "Inter Caetera" granted unlimited rights to Spain, and the subsequent 1494 "Treaty of Tordesillas" (inspired by the Bull "Inter Caetera") divided the world in half, everything 370 leagues west of the Cape Verde islands went to Spain, everything east went to Portugal (Gottschalk, 1927) ".

A petition was started on change.org to claim for this period in question but I don't know who it was addressed to, how far it went or if there have been other similar cases lodged. Personally, Its at this point things get a little too self interested and over complex, as I really don't see how there can be separate claims, not without diluting the message.

http://www.manataka.org/page155.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;"
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mikesiva
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It's an interesting point from which to stage a discussion....

This law firm, mentioned in the beginning of that post, is representing the Caribbean governments in suing the European governments over slavery. This is the same law firm which sued Britain for atrocities committed during the Mau-Mau rebellion in Kenya, and won. This, however, is a totally different kettle of fish....

1) Apology - Tony Blair gave a speech "expressing regret", but refused to apologise. He should've just kept quiet, then. Because Blair then apologised for Britain's transportation of children to Australia, but not for slavery. I believe it is this hypocrisy which has led to demands for an apology.

2) Repatriation - I believe that the vast majority of Caribbean peeps don't want to be repatriated to Africa. They would prefer life in the Caribbean to Africa. However, I think this clause has been inserted for the benefit of the Rastafarians, who have been calling for repatriation for a while now. The Rastafarians were the first people to really call for reparations for slavery, so I think that's why this is there.

It is interesting how the Spanish, the Portuguese, and the Pope arrogantly thought it was their right to divide the world. But it is also interesting how the slave owners received so much money, while the slaves themselves didn't receive a single penny....
Gils
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The validity of the claim is undeniable but the numbers of people and time of occurrence must be clearly defined from the outset otherwise It loses credibility, through no other reason than laxity.

I really doubt the level of due diligence Eg are they proposing no captives were taken to Jamaica before the British ran out the Spaniards in 1655, if so that's 150 years they've just written off. Feels like an " in light of all we've learnt since 1962 " document .

Now if there was some kind of sister committee to facilitate development programs in manufacturing, health and education and technology research etc then I could at least say the subject is being looked at equally from both sides of the coin.

" not a nail is to be made in the colonies ". I didn't know this...... wow, bare faced.

7. AFRICAN KNOWLEDGE PROGRAM - :?: They don't do this already, or they're asking the Europeans to now do it for them ....
Gils
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IMO The fullest benefits of nation building are displayed best by the Japanese experience. If there are any blue prints in how to embrace capitalism then they are most likely to be found there.

In 1945, during the introspection of a brutal defeat, having just been bombed back into the 18th century, they openly and honestly concluded the allies were rightful victors, being as they had superior industrial advancements to aid their war effort.

So they observed the existing models being used in capitalism throughout the world and adopted the best working practices, making improvements and innovation in efficiency, cost, etc, then sold those same goods and services back to them, at a tidy profit.

Today they are G8 members while their standard of living and life expectancy is one of the highest on the planet. All without a standing army too.

In no way is that due to any kind acts of benevolence or accident. Completed in just 60 years, almost the same length of time the Caribbean has been independent.
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" Access to commodities such as fabrics, spices, and gold motivated a European quest for a faster means to reach South Asia.

It was this search that led the Portuguese down the coast of West Africa to Sierra Leone in 1460.

Due to several technological and cultural advantages, Portugal dominated world trade for nearly 200 years, from the fifteenth to the sixteenth centuries. While, in the fifteenth century, the rest of Europe was decimated by the Black Plague, Portugal was protected by its physical isolation. Additionally, Portugal had an unusually strong national identity, due to its natural geographic borders, allowing the pooling of the considerable economic resources necessary to fund these ambitious explorations.

Additionally Portugal's extended contact with Islam, and therefore with its superior mathematical knowledge and sailing technologies, including sail shapes, hull designs, and maritime weaponry, resulted in a Portuguese fleet capable of negotiating the high Atlantic seas.

Many African cities were even deemed to be larger, more hygienic, and better organized than those of Europe.

As a consequence, most of the West African coast was explored in the period from 1415 into the 1600s.

Preserved maps from this period show a remarkably accurate understanding of the complicated coastline. African exports consisted primarily of gold, ivory, and pepper. However, over 175,000 slaves were also taken to Europe and the Americas during this period. In 1600, with the involvement of the Dutch and English, the magnitude of the slave trade grew exponentially.

From the time of their arrival on the shores of Sierra Leone in 1460, and until their gradual decline as leaders in world exploration in the sixteenth century, the Portuguese had an ambiguous relationship with their African trading partners. Disembarking at cities that were equally large, complex, and technologically advanced as Lisbon at the time, the Portuguese actually experienced far less culture shock than we might expect.

In fact, they encountered urban centers in West Africa comparable to those back in Europe, governed by elaborate dynasties, organized around apprenticeship-based artistic guilds, and with agricultural systems capable of feeding their large populaces. Many African cities were even deemed to be larger, more hygienic, and better organized than those of Europe.

Additionally, the Portuguese shared many beliefs about magic, the supernatural, and the treatment of illness with the African societies they encountered. Protective amulets in both cultures were considered medicinally valuable, and sickness in general was attributed to witchcraft. "

http://www.savagesandscoundrels.org/eve ... in-africa/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Gils
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1414 - Council of Constance

The Council of Constance brought together the crowned heads of Europe to settle the problem of papal succession.

The Council of Constance reaffirmed Pope Innocent IV's natural law rationale for claiming the lands of infidels in foreign lands. This decision, on the threshold of the Age of Discovery, would play a central role in the way Europeans colonized the Americas and claimed Indian lands for their respective kings and queens.

The quarrel that followed was finally resolved when the pope issued a bull that echoed the work of Innocent IV by authorizing the outright confiscation of heathen lands. click here for more

http://www.savagesandscoundrels.org/fla ... QnwL8.dpuf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;"

IMO the CRC weakens the case when African, New world and Caribbean crimes are separated, it also has the potential to diminish future cases

II prefer if all three cases were heard concurrently, with history as the judge and Jury and all the Popes, Kings, Queens, Prime Ministers, Governors, etc of the last 600 years on trail.

Not so much as a request, but a demand :!: .
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" Infante Dom Henrique de Avis, Duke of Viseu (4 March 1394 – 13 November 1460), better known as Henry the Navigator was an important figure in 15th-century Portuguese politics and in the early days of the Portuguese Empire.

Through his administrative direction, he is regarded as the main initiator of what would be known as the Age of Discoveries.

Henry was the fifth child of the Portuguese king John I and responsible for the early development of Portuguese exploration and maritime trade with other continents through the systematic exploration of Western Africa, the islands of the Atlantic Ocean, and the search for new routes (to the silk route).

King John I was the founder of the House of Aviz. Henry encouraged his father to conquer Ceuta (1415), the Muslim port on the North African coast across the Straits of Gibraltar from the Iberian Peninsula.

He learnt of the opportunities from the Saharan trade routes that terminated there, and became fascinated with Africa in general; he was most intrigued by the Christian legend of Prester John and the expansion of Portuguese trade. Henry is regarded as the patron of Portuguese exploration.

Henry was 21 when he, his father and brothers captured the Moorish port of Ceuta in northern Morocco, that had long been a base for Barbary pirates who raided the Portuguese coast, depopulating villages by capturing their inhabitants to be sold in the African slave market.

Following this success, Henry started to explore the coast of Africa, most of which was unknown to Europeans. His objectives included finding the source of the West African gold trade and the legendary Christian kingdom of Prester John, and stopping the pirate attacks on the Portuguese coast

On 25 May 1420, Henry gained appointment as the governor of the very rich Order of Christ, the Portuguese successor to the Knights Templar, which had its headquarters at Tomar, in central Portugal. Henry would hold this position for the remainder of his life, and the order was an important source of funds for Henry's ambitious plans, especially his persistent attempts to conquer the Canary Islands, which the Portuguese had claimed to have discovered before the year 1346.

Henry also had other resources. When John I died, Henry's eldest brother, Edward became head of the castles council, and granted Henry a "Royal Flush" of all profits from trading within the areas he discovered as well as the sole right to authorize expeditions beyond Cape Bojador (off the coast of Morocco )

Until Henry's time, Cape Bojador remained the most southerly point known to Europeans on the unpromising desert coast of Africa, although the Periplus of the Carthaginian Hanno the Navigator described a journey farther south about 2,000 years earlier.

As a second fruit of this work João Gonçalves Zarco, Bartolomeu Perestrelo and Tristão Vaz Teixeira rediscovered the Madeira Islands in 1420, and at Henry's instigation Portuguese settlers colonized the islands.

In 1427, one of Henry's navigators, probably Gonçalo Velho, discovered the Azores. Portugal soon colonized these islands in 1430.

Gil Eanes, the commander of one of Henry's expeditions, became the first European known to pass Cape Bojador in 1434.

During Prince Henry`s time and after, the Portuguese navigators discovered and perfected the North Atlantic "Volta do Mar" (the turn of the sea or return from the sea).

This was a major step in the history of navigation, when an understanding of winds in the age of sail was crucial to Atlantic navigation, from Africa and the open ocean to Europe, and enabling the main route between the New World and Europe in the North Atlantic, in future voyages of discovery. Understanding the Atlantic gyre and the volta do mar enabled them to beat upwind to the Strait of Gibraltar and home, after navigating favorably to the south and southwest, towards the Canary Islands or the southwest.

The pilots first had to sail far to the west — counter-intuitively, in the wrong direction, that is, farther from continental Portugal, then for northeast, to the area around the Azores islands, and to east — in order to catch usable following winds, and return to Europe. Christopher Columbus would use it on his transatlantic voyages.

Henry also continued his involvement in events closer to home. In 1431 he donated houses for the Estudo Geral to reunite all the sciences — grammar, logic, rhetoric, arithmetic, music and astronomy — into what would later become the University of Lisbon. For other subjects like medicine or philosophy, he ordered that each room should be decorated according to each subject that was being taught.

He functioned as a primary organizer of the Portuguese expedition to Tangier in 1437.

This proved a disastrous failure; Henry's younger brother Ferdinand was given as a hostage to guarantee that the Portuguese would fulfill the terms of the peace agreement that had been made with Çala Ben Çala. The Archbishop of Braga and the count of Arraiolos refused to approve the terms in the reunion of the Portuguese Cortes, thus condemning Ferdinand to remain in miserable captivity until his death six years later.

For most of his last 23 years, Henry concentrated on his maritime activities, or on Portuguese court politics.

Discoveries / Dates

Nuno Tristão and Antão Gonçalves reached Cape Blanco in 1441.

The Portuguese sighted the Bay of Arguin in 1443 and built an important fort there around the year 1448. Dinis Dias soon came across the Senegal River and rounded the peninsula of Cap-Vert in 1444.

By this stage the explorers had passed the southern boundary of the desert, and from then on Henry had one of his wishes fulfilled: the Portuguese had circumvented the Muslim land-based trade routes across the western Sahara Desert, and slaves and gold began arriving in Portugal.

By 1452, the influx of gold permitted the minting of Portugal's first gold cruzado coins. A cruzado was equal to 400 reis at the time. From 1444 to 1446, as many as forty vessels sailed from Lagos on Henry's behalf, and the first private mercantile expeditions began.

Alvise Cadamosto explored the Atlantic coast of Africa and discovered several islands of the Cape Verde archipelago between 1455 and 1456. In his first voyage, which started on 22 March 1455, he visited the Madeira Islands and the Canary Islands.

On the second voyage, in 1456, Cadamosto became the first European to reach the Cape Verde Islands. António Noli later claimed the credit. By 1462, the Portuguese had explored the coast of Africa as far as the present-day nation Sierra Leone.

Twenty-eight years later, Bartolomeu Dias proved that Africa could be circumnavigated when he reached the southern tip of the continent, now known as the "Cape of Good Hope." In 1498, Vasco da Gama became the first European sailor to reach India by sea ".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_the_Navigator" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Not directly related but may prove useful....one day
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