In August 1482, the Portuguese sea captain Diogo Cão (c. 1452– c. 1486) reached the Congo River on the latest of many ocean voyages along the coast of West Africa. Beginning in 1418, Portuguese caravel ships had gradually sailed southward into territory that was then uncharted. The primary sponsor for these voyages of exploration and trade was Prince Henry the Navigator (1394– 1460), the third son of King John I of Portugal (1357– 1433), and the main purposes were, first, to make contact with the legendary West African civilizations, and, second, to ascertain if one could reach India and the Far East from Europe by sailing around the African continent. Under Henry’s auspices, the Portuguese settled Madeira and the Azores, and by the time of Henry’s death they had sailed almost as far as present- day Sierra Leone and had established lucrative trade relations with West African kingdoms. The voyages continued, slowly and by degrees, down the African coast until Cão’s expedition sailed into the Congo River, this time authorized and funded by King John II (1455– 1495). There, Cão encountered Africans who were subjects of the Kingdom of Kongo, and trade relations were established between Portugal and Kongo. (The Kingdom of Kongo remained an independent state until 1862, when it became a vassal state of Portugal. Starting in 1914 its territories were divided, and they now comprise parts of Angola, the Republic of the Congo, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.)