In 1462 an expedition reached Sierra Leone, almost half way down the continent. Before his death, 1460, his Portuguese mariners, in successive voyages, had worked their way well down the western coast of Africa. Soon afterward discoveries were undertaken by Prince Henry, called the Navigator," whose whole life was given to these enterprises. They began, therefore, to send out expeditions, and in 1410 discovered the island of Madeira. Ia the early years of the fifteenth century the Portuguese, overshadowed by the Spanish kingdom, which almost enclosed their country, realized that they could extend their territory only by colonizing beyond seas. The same goal which attracted the Spaniards westward drew the Portuguese south, the desire to find a sea route to India, and thus garner the enormous profits of the trade in spices and other Indian wealth.
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