My first entry of this blog was about Teira Del Fuego. In that post, I made a reference to Ferdinand Magellan, one of the world’s most revered explorers. I had always known Magellan to be the first human to circumnavigate the world. I have always considered that to be probably the greatest feat of human exploration, including our landing of the Moon. But, I recently learned that he may not have actually rounded the earth.
Magellan, like most explorers of his time, was motivated by economics. We like to think that the early explorers were motivated purely by adventure, pulled into the unknown by a wanderlust or innate desire to discover new lands. But, even in the 15th and 16th centuries, Capitalism was the primary motivator. Ocean-going exploration in this time was driven by the spice trade in the East Indies (Today’s Indonesia and vicinity). The spices, herbs and other exotics of the Far East were highly prized products of social stature in Europe, and the trade of these goods was big business.
Between the early 14th Century and early 16th Century, the products of the East Indies reached Western Europe by way of a complex system of sea-going and overland traders. One of the main trade routes would see the cargo make its way across India, over the Indian Ocean to East Africa, up the Red Sea, into the East Mediterranean and on to Europe. Each segment of this journey was controlled by a different group of traders, the price marked up a little each time the cargo changed hands (much like the cocaine trade from South America into the United States today).
During this time, Venice, Italy became one of Europe’s most prosperous cities, for the Venetians would receive this cargo from the East Mediterranean traders and control its distribution throughout Europe.
While Venice was enjoying its fortunate geographic position, Portugal was stuck on the other side of the continent, separated by rugged mountains, and facing west out over the little known Atlantic. So, naturally, Portugal, motivated by economics just like the rest of Europe, looked to the sea as a way to compete. They knew that, if they could reach the East Indies by way of sailing around Africa, they would open up a new and powerful trade route that would flip the economic distribution chain in Europe on its head and put Portugal, not Italy, in control of the spice trade.
Portugal achieved this feat when Vasco de Gama rounded the southern tip of Africa. After de Gama, Ferdinand Magellan led a number of forays around the Cape of Good Hope. This, historians claim, represents Magellan’s first leg of his global circumnavigation.
It was many years later that Magellan became obsessed with reaching the East Indies by sailing west, not east, through what he believed was a southern passage through the New World. He finally got that chance sailed through what is now called the Strait of Magellan in Tierra del Fuego, across the massive Pacific (which he is credited with naming), and the rest is history. Or is it?
The problem is that there is a “missing year” in the well-studied and documented history of Ferdinand Magellan, the year 1512. The prevailing historical opinion is that, during 1512, Magellan made an unauthorized trip to the southern tip of the Philippines. This has never been proven, however, and there is no real historical record of such a trip. Magellan’s status as having been the first to circle the globe depends on this being true. If he did not make this trip, then there is a small section of the Pacific that Magellan never crossed.
The other, more minor and more well-known, misconception is the fact that Magellan did not circumnavigate the planet in one trip. Rather it was the combination of his earlier work sailing east from Portugal with his later expedition sailing west.
Regardless of historical certainty, no one can deny Ferdinand Magellan’s place in history as one of the most remarkable, relentless and determined explorers in world history. The suffering and hardships that were endured on his westward journey are hard to imagine: Men were literally dying on board, succumbing to starvation and scurvy. They ate rats, leather and sawdust to keep alive. Most of Magellan’s men wanted to turn back at various points in the expedition and they conspired to commit mutiny on several occasions. One of Magellan’s five ships vanished in the night, turning up in Spain many months later, it’s crew having placed the captain of that boat under confinement and sailing the vessel all the way back across the Atlantic.
Magellan was killed in a big misunderstanding in the Philippines and never made it back to Europe to enjoy his sensational accomplishment. But, his last remaining vessel (out of five) was eventually sailed back to Spain along with all the journal entries from the voyage that provided us with a rich account of this amazing voyage.
