If two or three Christian
rulers united to seize Mohammedan territory and were victorious, the
Pope was to decide which one should own it. But the Crusades were
unsuccessful, and so the question of ownership of land outside of Europe
never came up until Prince Henry sent out his discoverers. Then, in
order to make Portugal's claim very sure to whatever she might find,
Pope Martin V. issued an order that all land which might be discovered
between Cape Bojador (on the most southerly point of the Morocco coast)
and the Indies should belong to Portugal, no matter what navigator
discovered it. This was in 1479. Naturally, when his turn came to
navigate, Columbus would not be interested in taking the Portuguese
path, since, by papal order, he would have to turn over to Portugal
whatever he might discover.
But to return to Prince Henry. His successes began in 1422 when a
Portuguese captain pushed past the high promontory of Cape Nun and did
not "turn again" till he had gone far enough to see that the Southern
Atlantic was as full of water as the Northern. After that these brave
people kept sailing farther and farther south, down past Guinea and the
mouth of the Congo, always asking for the India of Prester John; but the
savage blacks at whose coasts they touched had never heard of it.
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