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In 1415, a young European prince named Henry, who came from an obscure, foundling dynasty in what would later be known as Portugal, charged out ahead of the troops under his command during an invasion of the African mainland, at a little trading outpost called Ceuta.

The prince, who would eventually achieve fame as Henry the Navigator, was less of a hero in battle than his reckless sally would suggest, but the Portuguese land grab soon succeeded. The gambit jolted Europe with the news of a success against the Muslims of the Marinid dynasty and announced a Portuguese dynasty, the Aviz, as a new force to be reckoned with in the Christian world.

In 1415, a young European prince named Henry, who came from an obscure, foundling dynasty in what would later be known as Portugal, charged out ahead of the troops under his command during an invasion of the African mainland, at a little trading outpost called Ceuta.

The prince, who would eventually achieve fame as Henry the Navigator, was less of a hero in battle than his reckless sally would suggest, but the Portuguese land grab soon succeeded. The gambit jolted Europe with the news of a success against the Muslims of the Marinid dynasty and announced a Portuguese dynasty, the Aviz, as a new force to be reckoned with in the Christian world.

What Henry sought was not converts to Christianity, nor even so much territory to add to the Aviz realm. Rather, it was access to the huge wealth in gold that had flowed into Europe for centuries via Mediterranean Africa from points far to the south, below the Sahara Desert.

In recent days, developments in tiny Ceuta, which helped launch the Portuguese empire and the so-called Age of Exploration, have led the news again. But this time, there has been a rush in the opposite direction, with tens of thousands of citizens of Morocco and other African countries risking their lives and perishing by the dozens to use the Spanish-controlled exclave as a springboard toward more prosperous lives in wealthy Europe.

As someone who........

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