He was their third son, but still a prince. His interest in navigation in general and Africa specifically began when his father conquered the Muslim port of Ceuta on the northern coats of Africa, across the Straits of Gibraltar from Portugal, in 1415. Other navigational goals he had, such as locating the source of gold in the West African gold trade, finding the legendary Christian kingdom of Prester John in the Middle East, and stopping pirate attacks on the Portuguese coast were not possible with the large, slow ships used to sail the Mediterranean, which led to the development of the lighter and faster caravel under Henry's direction. Henry received much of the funding for his expeditions not from the coffers of the Portuguese government but from his position as governor of the immensely wealthy Order of Christ,...

Henry also obtained money from his brother Duarte, who had the authority to grant Henry the rights to profits made from the trade routes and areas he discovered. He became involved in the early days of the African slave trade, using conversion to Christianity as an excuse for his capture and transportation of the Africans. His expeditions went further south than any other in recorded history, and his explorers mad discoveries of navigable currents and many previously uncharted islands off he coast of Africa. Henry's navigators were among the first to effectively sail for long periods in the open Atlantic. Prince Henry the Navigator died November 13, 1460, but his legacy of exploration was already a strong Portuguese tradition.