The efforts of the King of Portugal were to repeat the voyage made by Hanno.

In 1441, Gonzales and Tristam sailed as far as Sierra Leone.

They brought back some blacks as slaves, and this was the beginning of the slave trade.
In 1446 the Portuguese took possession of the Azores, the most western points of the Old World.

Step by step they advanced southward, and became familiar with the African coast.

Bold navigators were eager to find the East, and at last success came.