Hans
It is not surprising to pass interesting historical places without giving them even a second look. Take the case of the new Coastal Cultural Museum in Malindi. How many people know that it was once the District Officer’s office? How many people know that on the left side of the museum stands a monument locally called the Mast Pond or Sail Monument of Portugal?
A portrait of Prince Henry the Navigator |
With the help of donors, Malindi Museum Society repainted the monument to mark the occasion. The mast and empty pond needed urgent renovations to bring back the glory as a historical site in Malindi.
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In 1959, during the Malindi festival, the Portuguese Consul in Mombasa came up with the idea to put up a memorial to mark 500 years since the death of Prince Henry the Navigator and also to honour the Sultan of Malindi and Ahmed Ibn Majid, the Malindi pilot who navigated the flotilla of Vasco da Gama for the first time to India. A fundraising was done named the ‘Vasco da Gama Memorial Fun’. Over 1,500 people donated enough money to realise this monument.
Age of discovery
Prince Henry, born in 1394, was the third son of King Joao of Portugal. His mother was Queen Philippa of Lancaster, the daughter of John of Gaunt. This was the beginning of what was known as the ‘age of discovery’ and thanks, to the influence of Prince Henry, the Portuguese Treasury funded many exploration trips.
Though he never travelled, Prince Henry sent many expeditions down to West Africa. All ships had on their sail a big red cross of ‘The Order of Christ’. The voyages were not always profitable, but Vasco da Gama returned from his voyage to India in 1498-1499 with much profit.
The Mast Pond or Sail Monument of Portugal in Malindi |
Henry the Navigator was a staunch Catholic and had no interest in personal comfort and never married, but was at that time one of the richest men in Portugal. In 1418, he started the first school for Oceanic Navigation, with astronomical observatory and ship-building techniques. A new type of ship, the caravel, was one of the results.
Sailors from Genoa, Venice, Germany and Scandinavia arrived in Sagres, at the west coast of Portugal. In this school, people were trained in navigation, mapmaking, science and shipbuilding.
In the last years of his life Prince Henry spent most of his time at the royal court, Sagres, and at the headquarters of the Order of Christ in Tomar.
