Horace Peskin, 14, of Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada, for his question:

WHO WAS HENRY THE NAVIGATOR?

Henry the Navigator, son of King John I of Portugal, was the leading promoter of exploration and the study of geography during the 1400s. Although he never made voyages himself, the trips he sponsored actually prepared the way for later journeys of Christopher Columbus.

When Henry was young, he gave up court life and surrounded himself with scholars, mapmakers and sea captains. He worked to perfect navigational instruments and planned expeditions.

Henry sent out expeditions which discovered the Madeiras,

the Azores and the Cape Verde islands. He also arranged for the exploration and mapping of the African coast.

Although much of the West African coast had been explored during the 1300s, the knowledge gained from early expeditions had been lost. Henry's sailors corrected this with new information.