Local man writes book on Prince Henry
BY STACEY M. PERLMAN / FOR THE NORTH ATTLEBORO MA SUN CHRONICLE

Attleboro resident Carlos Carreiro had the American people in mind when he wrote about his native Portugal in his self-published book, "Portugal's Golden Years: The Life and Times of Prince Henry The Navigator''.

With most of Americans crediting Christopher Columbus for discovering the Americas and for opening the door to exploration, Carreiro wanted to remind people that Portugal's Prince Henry played an important role in history.

"This book is not for the Portuguese,'' Carreiro said. "The Portuguese have hundreds of books about this period and on this subject. Americans or the English language just have a few and some of them are very academic, meaning they have footnotes...

 "This book is just an interpretation of history that I think Americans will find fascinating because it's very clear, very simple and they would know how this period started -- the Period of the Discoveries -- that eventually culminated with Columbus crossing the Atlantic and coming to America.''

Carlos Carreiro of Attleboro (Staff photo by Keith Nordstrom)

Carreiro moved from the Azores to the United States when he was 28 years old and has been an Attleboro resident for the past 14 years. Formerly working as an in-flight service manager for Trans-World Airlines, he used his traveling advantages to fly to Portugal and study about Prince Henry.

What started only as a personal interest turned into two years of research and eventually became his published book. Feeling that there were too many academic books about the subject that people may become easily bored with, he set out to write a book that was simple and would introduce people to Portugal's history as well as speak to the younger generations.

Carreiro's  book discusses how, despite the lack of instruments and maps along with the religious and superstitious reasons why people were scared to sail, Prince Henry funded and organized voyages around the tip of Africa and established a route to the Indies. It took 15 years of expeditions before his sailors rounded the tip of Africa in 1434. The book also discusses the trading of goods between the Portuguese and native peoples, helping to open better trade routes.

Despite the great discovery, Carreiro notes that Prince Henry didn't fund explorations in hopes of becoming richer.

"Prince Henry the Navigator died bankrupt, big time,'' he said. `` That's how expensive all of these trips were.''

Now working for United Airlines, Carreiro had no writing experience prior to authoring "Portugal's Golden Years,'' which was released this January.

"It's a lot of headaches, but it's worth it,'' he said. " I'm still going and learning. I learned about the writing, I learned about the editing on my own.''

He also learned about the process of looking for a publisher on his own. He was turned down by 50 before Dorrance Publishing Co. in Pittsburgh decided to give him a chance.

Although he has lived in Massachusetts for 29 years, Carreiro has still been working to confront some of Portugal's transportation issues in the Azores. Because there is no transportation system to connect any of the nine islands that make up the Azores, Carreiro has tried to set up a system of fast boats known as wave piercers to improve travel. He is also the founding member of LusoAir, the first airline to offer non-stop flights between the United States and the Azores. Carreiro has been a business consultant to Portuguese and American organizations and has made many efforts to establish a Portuguese museum here in Massachusetts.

With his first book only covering the first 40 years of the Age of Discoveries, Carreiro would like to write a continuation to "Portugal's Golden Years'' if there is a public demand for it.

He hopes that his book will not only open American eyes but help people with Portuguese heritage take pride in their ancestors.

" When people read the book, I know that they will say something like, `I didn't know the Portuguese had done this. It's such a small nation, coming out of nowhere with nothing prepared and they all of did this?''  he said. "It just shows that the ancestors of the modern Portuguese were really people of courage; brave people who did beautiful things. This is the reason that was behind of all my efforts to write the book.''

This article was published by  "The Sun Chronicle" of Attleboro, Massachusets, U. S. A.

http://www.thesunchronicle.com/articles/2006/02/28/feature/feature77.txt