ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Gago Coutinho

Gago Coutinho was a smart man who was born a long time ago in Portugal. He was really interested in flying and wanted to be a pilot. He studied a lot about airplanes and how they work. He learned how to use special maps called "charts" to navigate an airplane in the air.

Gago Coutinho was also very clever when it came to inventing things that pilots could use to help them fly better. He invented a special tool called a "sextant." This tool helped pilots measure how high they were flying when they were in the air. This was really important because it helped the pilots know where they were and where they were going.

One day, Gago Coutinho was asked to go on a really important trip with a famous Portuguese explorer named Vasco da Gama. They were going to travel by airplane to a place far away called Brazil. This was a very long trip and it was very hard to know where they were going because there weren't any roads or signs like there are today.

Gago Coutinho used his special sextant and maps to help Vasco da Gama know where they were going. They were able to fly across the ocean and land safely in Brazil.

Gago Coutinho was a really smart guy who helped invent things that made it easier for pilots to fly and helped them find their way when they were up in the air. And that is the story of Gago Coutinho!