00:00 The beginning of the age of exploration in the late 15th century marked the start of European global domination, with ships setting out from Europe to explore the Americas, Africa, India, and beyond.

04:56 Pedro, a composite character, was born in a fishing village near Lisbon in the late 15th century, where his father and the other fishermen ventured out into the Atlantic to fish and occasionally trade with other ports in Europe.

09:21 The Portuguese kings actively collected revenue from mercantile activities and played a key role in maritime adventuring, leading to the largest armada carrying the largest army that a Portuguese king had ever assembled up to that point, which captured the Muslim-held city of Ceuta in North Africa.

13:39 Pedro, a young man raised in a maritime world, decides to go to sea and sets off on a ship owned by a merchant in Lisbon, which was a thriving port with strong ties to the royal household and well-heeled merchants, setting the stage for the famous voyages that would come later.

18:05 Pedro, a young sailor, embarks on his first long voyage to Bruges, learning his craft and experiencing the marvel of late medieval ship design, before later exploring the Atlantic Islands of the Azores and becoming part of the pool of talent and skill that enabled long-distance exploration.

22:31 Exploratory voyages along the African coast were initially driven by Prince Henry the Navigator's desire for glory, plundering Muslim ships and ports, and conquering the Canary Islands, but the ultimate goal was to find the source of gold and establish a base for future expeditions, with slave trading being a profitable interim solution until the gold trade could be established, and it wasn't until the mid-1450s that Portuguese ships finally reached the estuaries of the Senegal and Gambia rivers, where gold, ivory, slaves, and peppers could be found in great quantities, leading to a significant increase in trade and the emergence of Portugal as a maritime powerhouse.

27:06 With the Portuguese crown's monopoly on African trade secured, trading off the coast of Senegal without a royal license was met with severe penalties, including public torture and death, leading to an increase in profitability and the sale of the African monopoly to a Lisbon merchant named Fernão Gomes, who organized large annual fleets to sail south and continue exploring.

31:52 Pedro embarks on a long and challenging voyage south along the African coast, trading for ivory, gold, and slaves, before returning home to his village.

36:23 Pedro continues his voyages along the African coast, finding gold and establishing trade at El Mina, and later engaging in battles against Castilian fleets.

40:34 Pedro returns home to his village after exploring the coasts of the Congo and Angola, and prepares for a long-distance voyage to India, joining Vasco de Gama and enduring hardships such as scurvy and violence before finally making it back home.

45:02 The Age of Exploration was fueled by a combination of skilled labor, knowledge, technological innovation, political incentives, and investment capital, but it's important to recognize the role of humble sailors like Pedro who passed down knowledge and stories about the sea, contributing to maritime exploration and commercial expansion.