History Tells Us

The man who unlocked the World

WHEN men first to the moon, they planned with mathematical precision where they were going and how they would arrive. And they could communicate with home. But when Ferdinand Magellan five little wooden ships most of them about 70 feet [21 m] long, comparable in length to a modern semitrailer left Spain in 1519, which sailed into the unknown. And they were all alone.

Among the boldest, most courageous feats navigation of all time, Magellan travel are a monument to the Great Age of Exploration an age of courage and fear, elation and tragedy, God and Mammon. Let us, then, around 1480, when Ferdinand Magellan was born in northern Portugal, and take a look at the remarkable man who unlocked the world and their epic journey.

From Page to Fearless Mariner Court

At this low point in the life of Magallanes, who receives a visit from an old friend, the famous navigator João de Lisboa. The two discussed ways to reach the Spice Islands by going southwest, through a narrow passage rumored to cut through South America and then through Balboa ocean discovered recently when he crossed the Isthmus of Panama. They believe that the other side of this ocean lie the Spice Islands.

Magellan now aches to do what Columbus did not find that the western route to the East, which he believes is shorter than the eastern route. But he needs financial support. Therefore, still smarting from the heat of anger Manuels, does the same Columbus made some years before, he seeks the patronage of the King of Spain.

Will Spains King Listen?

Displayed graphically, Magellan presents his arguments in Spains young sovereign, Charles I, who is more interested in Magallanes western route to the Spice Islands, for this prevents illegal entry into the Portuguese shipping routes. What is more, Magellan tells him that the Spice Islands may actually be in Spanish territory, not Portuguese! See the box "The Treaty of Tordesillas."

Charles is won over. He gives Magellan five old ships to reassemble for the issue, makes the captain general of the fleet, and promises him a share of profits brought home spices. Magellan immediately start working. But because King Manuel slyly attempts to sabotage the project, it takes more than a year before the fleet is finally ready for your trip epic.

"The Greatest Feat browsing history"

On September 20, 1519, San Antonio, the Concepcion, the Victoria, Santiago and the largest to smallest are flagship Magellan, the Trinity, the second largest ship and the sail for South America. On 13 December, come to Brazil, and under the majestic gaze of Pão de Açúcar, or Sugarloaf Mountain, entering the bay from Rio de Janeiro for repairs and provisions. Then further south in what is now Argentina, always alert for the passage, the passage difficult to achieve in other ocean. Meanwhile, the coldest days and icebergs appear. Finally, on March 31, 1520, Magellan decided to cold winter in the port of San Julian.

The trip took six times longer than Columbus' voyage Atlantic and still no strait! Morale is as cold as the climate of San Julian, and men, including some of the captains and officers are desperate to return home. It is no surprise when mutiny erupts. But through quick and decisive action by the Magellan, an error occurs, and two the ringleaders are killed.

The presence of strange ships in the harbor naturally piques the curiosity of locals stronger and bigger. Feeling like midgets next to these giants, the visitors who land called Patagonia, from a Spanish word meaning "big feet" its name to this day. They also point out the "wolves sea calves resembles in size, and black and white geese that swim underwater fish, eat and have beaks like crows. Yes, you guessed it seals and penguins!

Polar latitudes are prone to sudden and violent storms, and before winter is over, the fleet suffered its first casualty the tiny Santiago. Fortunately, however, the crew were rescued from the remains of land. Thereafter, the four boats that remain, like battered little winged moths in the bondage of incessant winds ice cream, pound their southward in increasingly cold waters until 21 October. Through spray and sleet, all eyes are fixed on an opening to the west. El Paso? Yes! Finally, they turn and enter the strait that is later known as the Strait of Magellan! However, even this moment of triumph is tarnished. The San Antonio deliberately disappears in the maze of the strait and returned to Spain.

The three remaining ships, flanked by bleak fjords and snowcapped, stubbornly make their way through the tortuous strait. To the south spot countless fires, possibly from the fields of India, so they call that land Tierra del Fuego, "Land of Fire."

Pacific ordeal

After five weeks terrible that deep into a sea so peaceful that Magellan names in the Pacific. The men pray, sing hymns, and salute their conquest with their cannons. But the euphoria is short. Woe beyond of what until now have seen their hopes, this is not the small sea waiting that goes on and on and on, and men get hungrier and weaker and sick.

Antonio Pigafetta, a hardy Italian, keeps a journal. He writes: "On Wednesday, November 28, 1520, which entered … the Pacific Ocean, where he remained three months and twenty days without taking in provisions … Ate only old biscuit reduced to powder, and full of worms, and stank of land that had rats in it. . . And we drank water that was yellow and smelly. We also ate the ox hides. . . , Wood sawdust, and rats that cost half a crown each, moreover many of them would not be achieved. "Thus, as fresh trade winds fill their sails and clear water slips below her keel, the men are rotting from scurvy. Nineteen die by the time they reach the Marianas Islands, on March 6, 1521.

But here, because of the hostilities with the islanders, they manage to get just a little fresh food before sailing on. Finally, in March 1916, viewed the Philippines. Finally, all the men to eat well, rest and regain his health and strength.

Trailer A dream collapses

A deeply religious man, Magallanes becomes a lot of local people and their rulers to Catholicism. But his zeal is also his undoing. He is involved in a dispute between tribes and with only 60 men, attacks by about 1,500 natives, believing crossbow, rifle, and God will ensure victory. Instead, he and several of his men are killed. Magellan is about 41. Loyal Pigafetta laments: "They killed our mirror, light, comfort and guidance of truth. A few days later, some 27 officers who had done nothing but watch from the safety of their vessels are sentenced to death by an environmental turn heads.

When Magellan died, fell into the familiar waters. Just south lay the Spice Islands and west, Malacca, where he had fought in 1511. If, as some historians think, he sailed to the Philippines after the battle at Malacca, then indeed, around the world but not, of course, on a trip. He had come to the Philippines from the east and west.

Name in the life of Magallanes

For years Magellan is denied his true place in history. Influenced by the reports of the mutinous captains, the Spanish smear his name, saying he was hard and incompetent. The Portuguese label him a traitor. Sadly, his record is shattered when he died, probably destroyed by those who are exposed. But thanks to the indomitable Pigafetta circumnavigators one of 18 and about 5 other members of the expedition, at least we have some record of this tragic, yet extraordinary, voyage.

Over time, history revised its ruling, and today the name Magellan is properly honored. A strait bears his name, like the Magellanic Clouds two faint galaxies Southern first described by its crew and the space probe Magellan. And, of course, we owe the name of the world's largest Pacific Ocean to Magallanes.

In fact, nonhuman travel would be so important until Apollo 11 landed on the Moon 447 years later, "writes Richard Humble, in The Voyage of Magellan. Why travel so important? First, showed that the Americas were not included or near Asia, as Columbus thought. Secondly, at journey's end, a difference of a day of dates indicating the need for international date line. And finally, as the writer Isaac Asimov said science showed that the earth is a sphere. Yes, in this last aspect, Magallanes demonstrated in a practical way what the Bible itself had been saying for 2250 years. (Isaiah 40:22; compare Job 26:7.) Indeed, the deeply religious man who unlocked the world have been satisfied with that.

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