Gil Eanes Rounds Cape Bojador

Timeline

1. 1420–1433Lagos and the waters off Cape Bojador · AlgarvePrince Henry long dispatched fleets in attempts to round Cape Bojador, but sailors repeatedly turned back because of the shallow reefs, strong winds, and legends of a 'boiling sea.' In 1433 he entrusted a ship to his attendant Gil Eanes, who failed to round the cape, strayed to the Canary Islands to seize captives, and received a cold reception at the court in Sagres.
2. 1434Cape Bojador · Western SaharaEanes was granted permission to sail again, and taking a barca or early caravel-type vessel far from the coastal shallows, he rounded Cape Bojador, sailed some distance south, and returned safely. He reported to Henry on the hydrography and land beyond the cape and presented wild roses and other plants, proving the sea there was not an impassable sea of death.
3. 1434–1435Coast south of Cape Bojador · Western SaharaThe successful rounding eliminated the psychological taboo from the Portuguese court and its sailors. The following year Eanes and Baldaia sailed again to some thirty to fifty leagues south of the cape, finding traces of human activity and naming a harbor after their catch. Thereafter Portuguese fleets pushed south year by year, reaching the coasts of Mauritania and Senegal.