← Everything Everywhere Daily: History, Science, Geography & More
Everything Everywhere Daily: History, Science, Geography & More
Gil Eanes and the Volta do Mar
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For thousands of years, civilizations that rose along the Mediterranean or European Atlantic coast mostly stuck to the shore. They seldom sailed out into the open ocean, and they didn't sail very far down the African coast because parts of the coastline were considered to be unpassable. That was until an obscure 15th century Portuguese mariner figured out a solution that changed human history and opened the door to the age of exploration. Learn more about Gilles Ionech the man who conquered the edge of the world on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. This episode is sponsored by Mint Mobile. There are things in life that you do not want to be transparent, like your swimsuit or your search history. But when it comes to your wireless bill, transparency is everything. That's why Mint Mobile's wireless plans have no gimmicks and no gotchas, just high speed data and reliable coverage on the T Mobile 5G network. And right now, all plans are $15 a month, even the unlimited plan. 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Prior to the 15th century, Europeans seldom sailed far beyond their own shores. For thousands of years, various seafaring civilizations arose, but they seldom ventured beyond the Mediterranean or the shores of the Atlantic. While a very vibrant seafaring culture developed, it was very different from what arose in the Indian Ocean and the early navigators that set out from Asia into the Pacific Ocean. There were several reasons for this. In the Mediterranean, ships had sails, but they were often powered by oars, allowing them to move regardless of the wind. Sails all over Europe were square, which was fine when the wind was at your back, but they couldn't tack against the wind. Like the triangular lateen sail which was popularized in the Arab world. Portuguese mariners, who will be the focus for the rest of this episode, were still using antiquated ships called barcas. Equipped with Viking style square sails, barcas were slow, heavy, single mast vessels that provided very little maneuverability. In the early 15th century, European maps had not advanced beyond the Mediterranean. They were highly inaccurate and largely incomplete. 15th century Europeans were highly ignorant of the Atlantic Ocean, subscribing to the medieval idea of the Mare tenebrosum, or Sea of Darkness. The maps of the era reflected these dangers, depicting regions beyond the known world as simply wastelands and warning anyone who dared sail past them. Sailors believed in legends that beyond certain geographic points, such as Cape Bojador on the coast of northwest Africa, the lay an abyss. Common fears held by sailors were that if they traveled beyond these points, the oceans would boil and heavy fog would block their passage. The famous Catalan Atlas, a critical resource for early Portuguese mariners, simply stopped drawing the Atlantic Ocean altogether once it reached the coast of northwest Africa. Some maps, like the bronze cast Borgia map of the early 15th century, were not just inaccurate, they were intimidating. Issuing explicit warnings to those who dared sail beyond the map's edges by filling in the sea's outer edges of the map with terrifying razor toothed creatures straight out of mythology. The Borgia map even offers the following warning to sailors looking to test these boundaries. Here there are even men who have large four foot horns and there are even serpents so large that they could eat an ox whole. End quote. To be fair, there were reasons the west coast of Africa was so little known. Compared to the east coast, the west coast is largely a desert. It has no major population centers until you reach the Gambia river and has no Major natural harbors. The extent of Portuguese exploration in the Atlantic was limited to a trio of island systems off the Atlantic coast of modern day Morocco and Portugal. The Canary Islands, Madeira and the Azores. Two of these, Madeira and the Azores, became important Portuguese possessions. Portugal settled these archipelagos under the Donateria system, A framework in which the crown divided authority into hereditary estates. The Portuguese crown awarded these to brave and loyal knights who extracted wealth from these territories on its behalf. As Portugal's imperial ambitions grew, it also eyed the Canary Islands. Unfortunately, they weren't alone, as their neighbor, Castile, which would go on to become the core of the Kingdom of Spain, also coveted the archipelago. Portuguese maritime ambitions were driven entirely by their geographical limitations. They were a small territory on the western edge of the Iberian peninsula, Hemmed in by a larger neighbor to the east. To thrive in a Europe of expanding nation states, Portugal would have to become a powerful seafaring nation, Pushing past the unknown boundaries of Africa. The Canaries were the first test of this principle. Spain and Portugal fought a long war over control of the Canaries. Both kingdoms viewed the Canaries not only as a land rich in treasure, but also as a vital strategic location. Sitting just off the northwest coast of Africa, these islands were an absolute necessity for any nation hoping to expand into Africa. The conquest of the Canaries was a lifelong ambition of the famed Portuguese explorer and son of King John I of Portugal, Prince Henry the navigator. More than just a sailor, Prince Henry used his wealth and position to bring master mapmakers, scholars, shipbuilders, and astronomers from all over the Mediterranean and Arab world to directly to his court. Prince Henry surrounded himself with aspiring mariners who dreamt of obtaining the vast wealth that came with being awarded spoils under the Donateria system. The Canary Islands, however, were never Prince Henry's ultimate goal. They were only a stepping stone to a greater ambition. As his attention was fixed on what lay far beyond the Canaries. A major obstacle to achieving this was was Cape Bojador, located just south of Morocco, One of the locations at the edges of conventional maps of the era. The rounding of Cape Bojador doesn't receive much attention today because it really doesn't seem like that big of a deal. But at the time, it was a huge problem. Cape Bogador's coast Offers some of the most dangerous sailing conditions in the world. The shallow, rocky reefs produced incredibly turbulent seas, and the constant pounding produced a white, frothing foam, which made the ocean appear as if it were boiling. To make matters worse, the scorching, dry heat of the Sahara desert collided directly with the Cold, moist Atlantic currents producing a heavy fog. And there was one other huge problem. The prevailing winds along the northwest coast of Africa tend to blow north to south. This made it really easy to sail down the coast of Africa, but extremely hard to sail back home. This was actually the biggest problem, because even if the other problems of navigating Cape Bojador could be solved, the problem of sailing home would still remain. For 12 years, Prince Henry sponsored expeditions to try to round the Cape and failed. Finally, in 1433, Prince Henry dispatched a member of his court, Gilles Ioannes, to sail past the Cape. Ioanisch and his crew failed in their first attempt and returned to Prince Henry with nothing but stories of boiling water and impenetrable fog. Prince Henry, however, was uninterested in their excuses and sent Ionish and his crew back again in 1434. This time, Ionish was determined to try a new strategy. Rather than use coastal navigation as people had done for thousands of years, they did something that most sailors feared. They sailed into deeper waters to bypass the Cape entirely. This radical and simple new approach changed the course of history. In steering his ship west into the heart of the ocean, Ioneish unknowingly found the key to understanding Atlantic Ocean exploration. The Atlantic gyre. The conventional understanding of Atlantic wind patterns at the time was deeply flawed. As Ionish and other explorers understood it, wind patterns blew prominently in one direction, and sailing against them was catastrophic. What they didn't know was that the wind along the coast is only part of the equation. The Atlantic Ocean is governed by a powerful set of currents that don't simply flow in one direction. Rather, they operate like a huge gear that turns clockwise. This current pattern is the Atlantic gyre. The gyre flows southward along the west coast of Africa, then northward and westward into the Atlantic. By sailing west, Ionish and his crew found the gyre that propelled them southward along the African coast past Cape Bojador. After the ship rounded the Cape, Ionish and his crew found calm waters and much easier sailing. Recognizing the gravity of his discovery, Ionish claimed the land past the cape for Portugal. Even though he couldn't have known the full implication at the time, Gil Iones had just started the age of exploration. His expedition paved the way for others to sail past Cape Bojador, then the Cape of Good Hope and into the Indian Ocean and beyond. Ione opened the door for the establishment of the mighty Portuguese trading post empire and cemented the Portuguese as early leaders in maritime exploration. Despite the importance of his crew's accomplishment, Ionish and his Men still had to get back home to claim their glory. Sailing straight north along the African coast against the trade winds was simply not an option. Worse still, attempting that route would bring the hazards of Cape Bojador right back into the equation. And to solve this problem, Ionish decided to employ his radical open ocean strategy in reverse. He ordered his crew to steer even deeper into the uncharted Atlantic, sailing away from land to find the westwardly winds that would ultimately propel them in a massive sweeping arc back to the shores of Portugal. Ione had discovered the key to Portuguese exploration, the Volta do Mar, which means turn of the sea. By using the wheel of oceanic currents, the Portuguese unlocked exploration of the Atlantic Ocean. Their conquest of Cape Bojador had dispelled the myth that it was impossible to sail further south. The regions that were undocumented on maps simply had yet to be explored. At this point, Prince Henry's goal of simply gaining the Canary Islands seems small compared to the expanded possibilities that laid beyond Cape Bojador. To take full advantage of these new possibilities, the Portuguese developed a new type of ship, the Caravel. Caravels were lighter, more maneuverable, and used lateen sails, which provided greater flexibility in dealing with changing wind and current conditions. By adopting these triangular sails from Arab dhows, Portuguese mariners gained the flexibility to sail at an angle into a headwind. Portuguese mariners the now had the technology to conquer the sea within just a few decades. The Portuguese mapped the entire West African coast, reached the Cape of good hope in 1488, and arrived in India by the end of the 15th century. Gil Ionish did not establish the lucrative Portuguese trading post empire. He did not round the Cape of Good Hope, and he did not sail to India. All of these are better known feats by Portuguese explorers that get mentioned in all the history books. But he was the one who took the first crucial step. He did what was considered the hard part at the time. He went where no other sailor had gone before, and in the process, knocked down the barrier to European exploration of the rest of the world by sea. He proved that the world did not end at the maps, the sea did not contain monsters, and that it was possible to sail home after sailing down the coast of Africa. I'm guessing that the vast majority of you have never even heard of Gilles Ionich before, but perhaps more people should. While he didn't discover new lands or open new trade routes, his discovery of a navigation technique is what made everything else that came after possible. The executive producer of Everything Everywhere Daily is Charles Daniel. The associate producers are Austin Otkin and Cameron Kiefer. Research and writing for this episode was provided by Joel Hermanson. My big thanks go to everyone who supports the show over on Patreon. Your support helps make this podcast possible. I also want to remind everyone about the community groups on Facebook and Discord, as this is where everything happens outside of the podcast. As always, if you leave a review on any of the major podcast apps, you too can have it running the show.