The Volta do Mar and Exploration

For thousands of years, civilizations that rose along the Mediterranean or European Atlantic coast mostly stuck to the shore They seldom sailed out into the open ocean, and they didn't sail very far down the African coast because parts of the coastline were considered to be unpassable That wasn until an obscure fifteenth century Portuguese mariner figured out a solution that changed human history and opened the door to the age of exploration Learn more about Gill Lanish, the man who conquered the Edge of the world on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily This episode is sponsored by MintMobile. There are things in life that you do not want to be transparent, like your swimsuit or your search history. But when it comes to your wireless bill, transparency is everything. That's why MintMobile's wireless plans have no gimmicks and no gches. Just high speed data and reliable coverage on the TMobile five G network. All plans are fifteen dollars a month, even the unlimited plan. 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Now available in Canada too That's QuInCE dot com slash daily for free shipping and three hundred and sixty five day returns. Qince. com slash daily Prior to the fifteenth century, Europeans seldom sailed far beyond their own shores For thousands of years, various seafaring civilizations arose, but they seldom ventured beyond the Mediterranean or the shores of the Atlantic. While a very vibrant seafaring culture developed, it was very different from what arose in the Indian Ocean and the early navigators that set out from Asia into the Pacific Ocean There were several reasons for this In the Mediterranean, ships had sails, but they were often powered by oars, allowing them to move regardless of the wind Sails all over Europe were square, which was fine when the wind was at your back, but they couldn't tack against the wind like the triangular Latine sail, which was popularized in the Arab world Portuguese mariners, who will be the focus for the rest of this episode, were still using antiquated ships called Baras, equipped with Viking style square sails Barkas were slow, heavy, single mast vessels that provided very little maneuverability In the early fifteenth century, European maps had not advanced beyond the Mediterranean They were highly inaccurate and largely incomplete Fifteenth century Europeans were highly ignorant of the Atlantic Ocean, subscribing to the medieval idea of the Mer tenabrosum, or Sea of Darkness. The maps of the era reflected these dangers, depicting regions beyond the known world as simply wastelands and warning anyone who dared sail past them Sailors believed in legends that beyond certain geographic points, such as Cape Bojador on the coast of Northwest Africa, lay in abyss Common fears held by sailors were that if they traveled beyond these points, the oceans would boil and heavy fog would block their passage The famous Cotalon Atlas, a critical resource for early Portuguese mariners, simply stopped drawing the Atlantic Ocean altogether once it reached the coast of Northwest Africa Some maps, like the brronze Cast Borgia map of the early fifteenth century, were not just inaccurate, they were intimidating, issuing explicit warnings to those who dared sail beyond the map's edges, by filling in the sea's outer edges of the map with terrifying razor tooothed creatures straight out of mythology The Borgia map even offers the following warning to sailors looking to test these boundaries, Here there are even men who have large fourfoot horns, and there are even serpents so large that they could eat an ox hole. E quote. To be fair, there were reasons the West cooast of Africa was so little known compared to the east coast The west cooast is largely a desert. It has no major population centers until you reach the Gambia River and has no major natural harbors. The extent of Portuguese exploration in the Atlantic was limited to a trio of island systems off the Atlantic coast of modern day Morocco and Portugal the Canary Islands, Madeira, and the Azores Two of these, Madeira and the Azs, became important Portuguese possessions Portugal settled these archipelagos under the Donataria systemstem, a framework in which the crrown divided authority into hereditary estates The Portuguese crown awarded these to brave and loyal knights who extracted wealth from these territories on its behalf As Portugal's imperial ambitions grew, it also eyed the Canary Islands Unfortunately, they weren't alone, as their neighbor Castile, which would go on to become the core of the Kingdom of Spain, also coveted the archipelago Portuguese maritime ambitions were driven entirely by their geographical limitations. They were a small territory on the western edge of the Iberian peninsula, hemmed in by a larger neighbor to the east. To thrive in a Europe of expanding nation states, Portugal would have to become a powerful seafaring nation, pushing past the unknown boundaries of Africa The Canaries were the first test of this principle. Spain and Portugal fought a long war over control of the canaries. Both kingdoms viewed the Caries not only as a land or rich and treasure, but also as a vital strategic location Sitting just off the northwest coast of Africa, these islands were an absolute necessity for any nation hoping to expand into Africa The conquest of the Canaries was a lifelong ambition of the famed Portuguese explorer and son of King John I of Portugal, Prince Henry the Navigator More than just a sailor, Prince Henry used his wealth and position to bring master map makers, scholars, shipbuilders, and astronomers from all over the Mediterranean and Arab world directly to his court Prince Henry surrounded himself with aspiring mariners who dreamt of obtaining the vast wealth that came with being awarded spoils under the Donatoria system The Canary Islands, however, were never Prince Henry's ultimate goal. They were only a stepping stone to a greater ambition, as his attention was fixed on what lay far beyond the Canaries A major obstacle to achieving this was Cape Bogjador, located just south of Morocco, one of the locations at the edges of conventional maps of the era. The rounding of Cape Bogjidor doesn't receive much attention today because it really doesn't seem like that big of a deal. But at the time, it was a huge problem Cape Bogjador's coast offers some of the most dangerous sailing conditions in the world The shallow rocky reefs produced incredibly turbulent seas, and the constant pounding produced a white frothing foam which made the ocean appear as if it were boiling To make matters worse, the scorching dry heat of the Sahara desesert collided directly with the cold, moist Atlantic currents, producing a heavy fog And there was one other huge problem The prevailing winds along the Northwest coast of Africa tend to blow north to south This made it really easy to sail down the coast of Africa but extremely hard to sail back home This was actually the biggest problem, because even if the other problems of navigating Cape Bojador could be solved, the problem of sailing home would still remain For twelve years, Prince Henry sponsored expeditions to try to round the Cape and failed. Finally, in fourteen thirty three, Prince Henry dispatched a member of his court, Giles Ianes, to sail past the cape Yanish and his crew failed in their first attempt and returned to Printennerry with nothing but stories of boiling water and impenetrable fog Prince Henry, however, was uninterested in their excuses and sent Ionish and his crew back again in fourteen thirty four This time, Yonish was determined to try a new strategy Rather than use coastal navigation, as people had done for thousands of years They did something that most sailors feared They sailed into deeper waters to bypass the cape entirely This radical and simple new approach changed the course of history. In steering his ship west into the heart of the ocean Ionish unknowingly found the key to understanding Atlantic ocean exploration. The Atlantic Gyre The conventional understanding of Atlantic wind patterns at the time was deeply flawed. As Yonish and other explorers understood it, wind patterns blew predominantly in one direction and sailing against them was catastrophic What they didn't know was that the wind along the coast is only part of the equation. The Atlantic Ocean is governed by a powerful set of currents that don't simply flow in one direction, Rather they operate like a huge gear that turns clockwise This current pattern is the Atlantic Gryyre The dryer flows southward along the west coast of Africa, then northward and westward into the Atlantic By sailing west, Iones and his crew found the gyre that propelled them southward along the African coast past Cape Bojidor After the ship rounded the cape, Yonish and his crew found calm waters and much easier sailing Recognizing the gravity of his discovery, Ionichch claimed the land past the Cape for Portugal. Even though he couldn't have known the full implication at the time, Gilles Ionich had just started the age of exploration His expedition paved the way for others to sail past Cape Bogjidor, then the Cape of Good Hope, and into the Indian Ocean and beyond. Ionh opened the door for the establishment of the mighty Portuguese trrading post Empire and cemented the Portuguese as early leaders in maritime exploration Despite the importance of his crew's accomplishment, Ionish and his men still had to get back home to claim their glory. Sailing straight north along the African coast against the trade winds was simply not an option. W're still attempting that route would bring the hazards of Cape Bogjidor right back into the equation. And to solve this problem, Ionish decided to employ his radical open ocean strategy in reverse He ordered his crew to steer even deeper into the uncharted Atlantic, sailing away from land to find the westwardly winds that would ultimately propel them in a massive, sweeping arc back to the shores of Portugal Iones had discovered the key to Portuguese exploration The Volta Domar which means turn of the sea By using the wheel of Oceanic cururrents, the Portuguese unlocked exploration of the Atlantic Ocean Their conquest of Cape Boogjidor had dispelled the myth that it was impossible to sail further south. The regions that were undocumented on maps simply had yet to be explored At this point, Prince Henry's goal of simply gaining the Canary Island seems small compared to the expanded possibilities that laid beyond Cape Bojidor To take full advantage of these new possibilities, the Portuguese developed a new type of ship Cavel Caravs were lighter, more maneuverable, and used lateine sails, which provided greater flexibility in dealing with changing wind and current conditions By adopting these triangular sails from Arab Dos, Portuguese mariners gain the flexibility to sail at an angle into a headwind Portuguese mariners now had the technology to conquer the sea. Within just a few decades, the Portuguese mapped the entire West African coast, reached the Cape of Good Hope in fourteen eighty eight, and arrived in India by the end of the fifteenth century. Gio Ionesh did not establish the lucrative Portuguese trrading post Empire. He did not round the caape of Good Hope, and he did not sail to India All of these are better known feats by Portuguese explorers that get mentioned in all the history books.