Portuguese Disaster at Tangier

1437

Prince Henry the Navigator led a catastrophic military expedition against the Moroccan fortress of Tangier that ended in complete defeat and humiliation. His younger brother Prince Ferdinand was left as a hostage in Moorish captivity and died in a dungeon five years later, never ransomed. The disaster taught Henry, painfully, that exploring the African coast by sea was both cheaper and safer than crusading against fortified North African cities by land.