He was a member of the portuguese royal family in the late 1400s and was responsible for funding the country's seaborne exploration around the cape of good hope in africa.

He is Prince Henry known as the navigator. Henry started his voyages with his father and brothers. After he experienced success with this journey he added more voyages on his own. He got interested in travel and the Sciences.
When his eldest brother became king, he gave all the traveling profits of their land to Prince Henry.  In one of the voyages that he handled in the North Atlantic, his crews tried to understand the wind movements in the ocean, which they studied. This discovery helped him understand voyaging to other far places. 

It’s much more different as the economy has changed drastically