First, it's important to know the name is misleading. How is that? Well, Henry has gone down in history as "Prince Henry the Navigator". When we think of navigators, we think of those who were out leading expeditions, captaining ships, the ones doing the exploring, so to speak. However, Henry never actually sailed on the voyages he sponsored, equipped and paid for. So how is it possible that a non-sailor, non-explorer be given credit for leading the Age of Discovery? The short answer is this: without his leadership and vision, Portugal's achievements--and probably the acheivements of other nations as well--would have come much later than they did.

PRINCE HENRY'S CAREER ACHIEVEMENTS:

• BACKGROUND: the 4th child of Portuguese King John. He did not grow up in poverty, but into a powerful family.

• created schools for mapmaking, studying navigation, and helped with new and improved ship building.

• challenged and encouraged sailors to sail into the waters off the coast of Africa, which was also mysterious and unknown.

• under his direction, the slow and heavy ships being used were replaced by the caravel, a ship able to sail farther and faster than ever before.

• between 1444 and 1446, Prince Henry sent over 30 ships to explore the western coast of Africa.

• the last voyage he sponsored sent a ship 1500 miles down the western coast of Africa. Portugal was now getting closer to sailing all the way around Africa.

• Portugal surged to the top of world power with these voyages, and later years would see other voyages go even farther, all inspired by Henry's vision of the future.

• ONE VERY NEGATIVE OUTCOME: the growth of the African slave trade can be traced to these voyages.