When explaining his rationale to the church, Prince Henry would argue that, technically, he wasn’t an “enslaver” because true Christians would never do that. Instead, he allowed Portuguese “missionaries” to “save” Africans by converting them to Christianity. The argument worked. By 1446, more than thirty Portuguese ships had filed applications with Prince Henry for people-stealing licenses. In 1455, Pope Nicholas V granted Henry a monopoly on the African human market—as long as they baptized their cargo.3
