OPINION: Prince Henry the Navigator was one of the founders of the slave trade

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“Let me give you guys a crash course on the monument that’s preventing the opening of Whisk and Jane’s shop at 161 Pope’s Island.

Prince Henry the Navigator, has the dubious distinction of being a founder of the Atlantic slave trade. He sponsored Nuno Tristao’s exploration of the African coast, and Antao Goncalves’s hunting expedition there in 1441.

The two men captured several Africans and brought them back to Portugal. One of the captured men, a chief, negotiated his own return to Africa, promising in exchange to provide the Portuguese with more Africans.” – Justin Kennedy

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2 comments

  1. More agenda driven liberal drivel. You should not judge a historical figure by today’s standards. Most Europeans at that time were slaves to the aristocracy so let’s just destroy everything in a hissy fit of political correctness.

    • Anonymous-does-not-live-in-bedford-middle-schooler

      While I believe that this is hardly enough evidence to prove their claim, I do agree with them. Prince Henry was often portrayed as a great person who was credited for many navigational and other accomplishments. He was, however, the first Racist person, or rather one of his subordinates. Loyal commander to Prince Henry, Gomes Eanes de Zurara portrayed Prince Henry as a great savior of the African people he enslaved. He stated that by enslaving the “savage” Africans and Christianizing them, he was saving their souls. In reality, he was kidnapping them from their home without their consent (usually kidnapping is without consent) and forcing them into a life of forced labor. How can you deem these actions as acceptable with a straight face? If someone looked at everything with the mindset that mass enslavement, brainwashing, and genocide is acceptable, then then they would say 9/11 was fine(which it absolutely is not). In the same way that 9/11 is not okay, what Prince Henry and many other European conquerors did was not either. The fact that you simply dismiss these facts and blame it on what I assume is a political idea in which you disagree with is truly very discouraging about our society in which we live in. I guess a similar thing to say would be “I’m not angry with you, just disappointed”. I hope you learn from your mistakes and begin to think more critically. -Sincerely, A disappointed 7th grader

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