Navigating to statutory leaves

London is still sunny and I find myself in Belgravia. I wanted the statutory 'leaves of autumn' picture and thought 'why not make it literally statutory?'

So here's Prince Henry the Navigator, whose statue nestles in Belgrave Square. Henry was a visionary and an early believer in the world being round when most people believed the world was flat. He knew that Africa was more than endless land, and that if his sailors could circumnavigate the continent; he would find a water route to India. A ship could carry more goods to and from India than the largest overland caravans, but Europeans could only guess that sailors could go around the tip of Africa.

Prince Henry paid for many sailing expeditions out of the Portuguese treasury and also employed cartographers who created the most sophisticated maps of their time. It was twenty-eight years after his death that Bartholomeu Dias proved that Africa could be circumnavigated when he reached the southern tip of the continent via what is now known as the "Cape of Good Hope." Then later in 1499, Vasco da Gama was the first sailor to travel from Portugal to India.

And back to the plot...Here's the leaves of London Autumn - this one enlarges nicely if you click it! Feel free to ping, email, trackback, comment your 'leaves of autumn' links and I will "Navigate" to them as a link in this entry!

01 Mark, 02 Carmi, 03 Hanna, 04 Chuck, 05 Adam, 06 Cassie
07 Joel, 08 Christian, 09 Brian, 10 Steven, 11 Daz, 12 Bronxelf, 13 Suzanne, 14 Bill, 15 Heidi, 16 Cindy, 17 Tina, 18 Leanne

Tag: london, autumn, fall