Conquerors: How Portugal Forged the First Global Empire

by Roger Crowley

was when João became king, in 1481, that the Africa project received a whole new impetus. Black-bearded and long-faced, well-built, and somewhat melancholy in expression, with “an air of such gravity and authority that everyone recognized him as king,” João was “a man who commanded others and who was commanded by no one.” He was perhaps the most remarkable European monarch of the early modern age. To the Portuguese people he would pass into history as the Perfect Prince. His rival Isabella, queen of Castile and then the unified kingdom of Spain, gave him the ultimate accolade. She simply referred to him as “the Man.” João was preoccupied with “the deep desire to do great things,” and the first of the great things to which he stretched out his hand was the exploration of Africa. On his accession he embarked on an intense five-year period of state-funded exploration in which he hoped to fulfill two objectives: find a route to the Indies and reach the fabled kingdom of Prester John. It was Diogo Cão, erecting pillars along the west coast of Africa, to whom he had entrusted this task.