Portuguese Capture of Ceuta
In August 1415 a Portuguese fleet of some 200 vessels commanded by King João I captured the Muslim-held city of Ceuta on the North African shore of the Strait of Gibraltar. The assault was swift and devastating, and the Portuguese garrison installed to hold the city never departed. Ceuta's capture was simultaneously a crusading enterprise, a commercial calculation—the city was a trans-Saharan gold and spice entrepôt—and the first step in a deliberate programme of Atlantic and African expansion championed by Prince Henry. Historians traditionally treat this event as the opening moment of the Age of Exploration.
- Year: 1415 CE
- Category: Military
