Prince Henry used the revenues of the domains
of his religious order to equip several expeditions which explored
the hinterland of the Sahara and of the coast of Guinea.
But he was still very much a son of the Middle Ages and
spent a great deal of time and wasted a lot of money upon a
search for the mysterious ``Presser John,'' the mythical Christian
Priest who was said to be the Emperor of a vast empire
``situated somewhere in the east.'' The story of this strange
potentate had first been told in Europe in the middle of the
twelfth century. For three hundred years people had tried
to find ``Presser John'' and his descendants Henry took part
in the search. Thirty years after his death, the riddle was
solved.
In the year 1486 Bartholomew Diaz, trying to find the land
of Prester John by sea, had reached the southernmost point
of Africa. At first he called it the Storm Cape, on account of
the strong winds which had prevented him from continuing his
voyage toward the east, but the Lisbon pilots who understood
the importance of this discovery in their quest for the India
water route, changed the name into that of the Cape of Good
Hope.
One year later, Pedro de Covilham, provided with letters
of credit on the house of Medici, started upon a similar mission
by land. He crossed the Mediterranean and after leaving
Egypt, he travelled southward.
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