About the same time Zheng He went to the Western Ocean, European countries began to explore the sea. It was Prince Henry of Portugal who first pushed Europeans to explore south along the coast of West Africa, so he was called "Henry the Navigator" by later generations. 14 15 years, led the Portuguese army to capture the city of Ceuta on the south bank of Gibraltar Strait. During the occupation, he learned from the local population that gold, ivory and slaves in the North African market were all shipped from sub-Saharan Africa through the desert, and he planned to go to sub-Saharan Africa by sea to plunder gold and wealth. He began to do some preparatory activities. 14 18 set up a navigation school and an observatory. He also hired knowledgeable geographers and astronomers from all over Europe with high salaries, trained a large number of Portuguese sailors, drew maps and studied whether it was possible to sail south along the west coast of Africa. A map is not enough. Henry and his team also designed and manufactured a light sloop with a load of 200 tons, which is suitable for ocean voyage. After a series of preparatory work, plus the compass has already spread to western Europe, Portugal has the conditions to formally organize ocean exploration. Henry's sailing school sends out sailing expeditions year after year.

Every sea expedition will occupy some places, and the next step is to plunder wealth. The most inhuman part of this plunder is the sale of black slaves. They either catch them themselves or start a war between tribes and then buy prisoners of war. 1443, Henry set up a slave trading post in Lagos to openly buy and sell slaves. Portuguese King Alfonso V even granted Henry the exclusive right to trade slaves, rewarding him for his sin of buying and selling slaves. By 1444, Henry established "Royal Africa Company" to monopolize the plundering activities in West Africa. The dirtiest, cruelest and most intolerable slave trade in human history began with the cheers of navigators.

Henry's exploration gained rich profits and aroused the envy of nobles, landlords and businessmen. Since then, the expedition has become bigger and bigger, and the voyage has become farther and farther. 1847, the excellent captain B. Diaz arrived at the southernmost tip of Africa. When the fleet sailed into these waters, it seemed that God was going to severely punish these slave traders, so suddenly there were strong winds and waves, lightning and thunder, and heavy rain. Diaz's fleet is like duckweed at sea, and everyone rushes forward, thinking about this life. But fortunately, they found a piece of land while drifting with the waves. After landing, the crew were frightened, so they called this corner "Storm Corner", which is the southernmost tip of Africa. When Portuguese King John II knew about it, he thought that since he could get here, he had the hope of reaching East India, so he renamed it the Cape of Good Hope. The name of the Cape of Good Hope has been used ever since. Later, Portuguese explorers crossed this corner and then entered the Indian Ocean and even the Pacific Ocean.