Portuguese sailor Gil Eanes, on behalf of King Henry, rounded Cape Bojador, in what is now Western Sahara. This was considered the end of the world for sailors: no one who had rounded it had ever returned. He then continued, passing Cape Blanc, the island of Arguim, Cape Verde, Dakar, and the great Gambia River. Henry financed the mission and shared the profits upon his return with Gil. Henry was Grand Master of the Order of Christ, a military monastic order that inherited the role and vast estates of the more famous Order of the Templars, suppressed in Europe in 1312.
