Every educated person can easily remember the name of the one who committed the first trip around the world and crossed Pacific Ocean... This was done by the Portuguese Fernand Magellan about 500 years ago.
But it should be noted that this formulation is not completely correct. Magellan thought over and planned the sailing route, organized and directed it, but he was destined to die many months before it was completed. So Juan Sebastian del Cano (Elcano) continued and completed the first round the world trip, Spanish navigator, with whom Magellan had, to put it mildly, not friendly. It was del Cano who eventually became the captain of the Victoria (the only ship that returned to his home harbor) and gained fame and fortune. However, Magellan made great discoveries during his dramatic voyage, which will be discussed below, and therefore he is considered the first traveler around the world.
The first trip around the world: prerequisites
In the 16th century, Portuguese and Spanish seafarers and merchants vied with each other for control of the spice-rich East Indies. The latter made it possible to preserve food, and it was difficult to do without them. There was already a proven route to the Moluccas, where there were the largest markets with the cheapest goods, but this route was long and unsafe. Due to the limited knowledge about the world, America, discovered not so long ago, seemed to sailors an obstacle on the way to rich Asia. No one knew if there was a strait between South America and the hypothetical Unknown South Land, but the Europeans wanted it to be. They did not yet know that America and East Asia shares a huge ocean, and it was thought that opening the strait would provide quick access to Asian markets. Therefore, the first navigator to circumnavigate the world would certainly have received royal honors.
Fernand Magellan's career
The impoverished Portuguese nobleman Magellan (Magalyans), by the age of 39, managed to repeatedly visit Asia and Africa, was wounded in battles with the natives and collected a lot of information about travels to the shores of America.
With his idea to get to the Moluccas by the western route and return the usual (that is, to carry out the first round the world trip), he turned to the Portuguese king Manuel. He was not at all interested in the proposal of Magellan, whom he also disliked for lack of loyalty. But he allowed Fernand to change his citizenship, which he immediately took advantage of. The navigator settled in Spain (that is, in a country hostile to the Portuguese!), Got a family and associates. In 1518 he achieved an audience with the young King Charles I. The king and his advisers became interested in looking for a shortcut for spices and "gave the go-ahead" to organize an expedition.
Along the coast. Riot
Magellan's first trip around the world, which was never completed for most of the crew, began in 1519. Five ships left the Spanish harbor of San Lucar, carrying 265 people from different European countries. Despite the storms, the flotilla reached the Brazilian coast relatively safely and began to "descend" along it to the south. Fernand hoped to find a strait in the South Sea, which, according to his information, was to be located in the region of 40 degrees south latitude. But in the indicated place was not the strait, but the mouth of the La Plata River. Magellan ordered to continue moving south, and when the weather turned bad, the ships anchored in the bay of St. Julian (San Julian) to spend the winter there. The captains of three ships (Spanish by nationality) rebelled, seized the ships and decided not to continue their first round the world voyage, but to head for the cape Good Hope and from him - to the homeland. The people, loyal to the admiral, managed to do the impossible - to recapture the ships and cut off the escape route for the rebels.
All Saints Strait
One captain was killed, another executed, and the third landed. Magellan pardoned ordinary rioters, which once again proved his foresight. Only at the end of the summer of 1520 did the ships leave the bay and continued searching for the strait. During the storm, the ship "Santiago" sank. And on October 21, the sailors finally discovered the strait, more reminiscent of a narrow crevice between the rocks. Magellan's ships sailed along it for 38 days.
The coast, which remained on the left, was called Tierra del Fuego by the admiral, since the Indians' fires were burning on it around the clock. It was thanks to the discovery of the Strait of All Saints that Fernand Magellan began to be considered the one who made the first trip around the world. Subsequently, the strait was renamed Magellan.
Pacific Ocean
Only three ships left the strait into the so-called "South Sea": "San Antonio" disappeared (simply deserted). The sailors liked the new waters, especially after the turbulent Atlantic. The ocean was named Pacific.
The expedition headed northwest, then west. For several months the sailors sailed without seeing any signs of land. Hunger and scurvy killed nearly half of the team. Only at the beginning of March 1521, the ships approached two still undiscovered inhabited islands from the Mariana group. From here it was already close to the Philippines.
Philippines. Death of Magellan
The discovery of the islands of Samar, Siargao and Homonkhon greatly delighted the Europeans. Here they recuperated and communicated with the locals, who willingly shared food and information.
Magellan's servant, a Malay, freely spoke the same language with the natives, and the admiral realized that the Molucca was very close. Incidentally, this servant, Enrique, eventually became one of those who made the first round the world trip, unlike his master, who was not destined to land on the Moluccas. Magellan and his people intervened in the internecine war of two local princelings, and the navigator was killed (either by a poisoned arrow, or by a boarding saber). Moreover, after a while, as a result of a treacherous attack by savages, his closest associates - experienced Spanish sailors - perished. The team thinned out so much that it was decided to destroy one of the ships, the Concepcion.
Moluccas. Return to Spain
Who directed the first voyage around the world after Magellan's death? Juan Sebastian del Cano, Basque sailor. He was among the conspirators who issued an ultimatum to Magellan in San Julian Bay, but the admiral forgave him. Del Cano commanded one of the two remaining ships, the Victoria.
He made sure that the ship returned to Spain loaded with spices. It was not easy to do this: the Portuguese were waiting for the Spaniards off the coast of Africa, who from the very beginning of the expedition did everything to frustrate the plans of their competitors. The second ship, the flagship Trinidad, was boarded by them; sailors fell into slavery. Thus, in 1522, 18 members of the expedition returned to San Lucar. The cargo delivered by them paid for all the expenses of the expensive expedition. Del Cano was awarded a personal coat of arms. If in those days someone had said that Magellan made the first round the world trip, he would have been ridiculed. The Portuguese were only charged with violating royal instructions.
The results of Magellan's journey
Magellan researched east coast South America and opened the strait from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. Thanks to his expedition, people received strong evidence that the Earth is really round, they became convinced that the Pacific Ocean is much larger than expected, and that it is not profitable to sail on it to Molucca. Also, the Europeans realized that the World Ocean is one and washes all continents. Spain satisfied its ambitions by announcing the discovery of the Mariana and Philippine Islands, and laid claim to the Moluccas.
All the great discoveries made during this voyage belong to Fernand Magellan. So the answer to the question of who made the first round the world trip is not so obvious. In fact, this man was del Cano, but nevertheless, the main achievement of the Spaniard was that the world generally learned about the history and results of this voyage.
The first round the world voyage of Russian sailors
In 1803-1806 Russian sailors Ivan Kruzenshtern and Yuri Lisyansky made a large-scale voyage across the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. Their goals were: exploration of the Far Eastern outskirts of the Russian Empire, finding a convenient trade route to China and Japan by sea, providing the Russian population of Alaska with everything necessary. Mariners (who set off on two ships) explored and described Easter Island, the Marquesas Islands, the coast of Japan and Korea, Kurile Islands, Sakhalin and the island of Iesso, visited Sitka and Kodiak, where Russian settlers lived, and in addition, they brought an ambassador from the emperor to Japan. During this voyage, domestic ships first visited high latitudes. The first round-the-world trip of Russian explorers had a huge public outcry and contributed to the rise of the country's prestige. Its scientific significance is no less great.
Geographic knowledge of the Earth has developed rapidly. There were suggestions that, having rounded South America, you can go to the South Sea (as they used to call it) and along it to reach the shores of Asia and. The first to undertake this was Fernand Magellan (1470-1531). He offered the king of Spain a hitherto unheard-of plan - to reach the shores of Asia, bypassing America from the south.
On September 20, 1519, a flotilla of five ships set out on a campaign. She crossed Atlantic Ocean and moved along the shores of South America in search of a passage to the South Sea. After long wanderings, the daredevils were finally lucky. The strait, later named Magellanic, was found, and the flotilla entered the South Sea. According to one of the expedition members, Magellan called the endless expanses of water the Pacific Ocean, "because we have never experienced the slightest storm." This name is a paradox, since calm in the Pacific Ocean is a rarity.
This crossing of the endless ocean lasted for more than three months. The crew suffered from thirst and disease. In the spring of 1521 Magellan reached the islands off east coast Asia, later called Filipino. An entry made by his hand in the logbook says that, after going around the Earth, the ship returned to old world... This was the last written message in the hand of Magellan himself.
In April 1521, the fearless navigator was killed in one of the battles in the midst of an inter-tribal war. Of all the ships back in, having rounded Africa, only one returned - "Victoria" ("Victory"). He entered his home harbor on September 6, 1522. The first trip around the world lasted three years. It finally proved the fact that the Earth is spherical.
Globe by Martin Beheim
With the development of geographical knowledge about the Earth, cartography also improved. In 1492, the German geographer and eminent navigator Martin Beheim (1459-1507) and the painter Georg Glockendon (born unknown - died 1553) made the first globe depicting the globe. Its diameter is 54 cm. The authors named their creation “Earth apple”. On it, Beheim placed the world map of the ancient Greek scientist Ptolemy. this small semblance of our planet came to be called later. Of course, the images on it were far from the truth: the creators of the "Earth Apple" did not know about the existence of the New World (Columbus just set sail in 1492). Later, however, when people appreciated their benefits, globes became very popular. They could be seen in the chambers of monarchs, in the offices of ministers, scientists. Pocket globes in special cases were intended for travel. Medium-sized globes made for offices were often equipped with a mechanism that set them in motion, rotating around an axis. There were even globes as tall as human height, and they contained not only colorful images of the Earth's surface, but also information about different countries... However, cards have always had their advantages and therefore still remain indispensable attributes of any traveler, explorer and scientist.
In 1569, Gerardus Mercator (1512-1594) created the first map of the world based on the latest cartographic and geographical knowledge of Europeans about the Earth and the outstanding discoveries of that time. The continents were drawn on it, with the exception of Australia (they were discovered and explored later), as well as the oceans washing them. Many geographic objects named after the navigators and explorers who discovered them. The name Amerigo Vespucci remained for descendants in the names of two continents: North and South America, in honor of Fernand Magellan the strait separating the continent of South America and the island of Tierra del Fuego is named. Thanks to the expeditions of the era of the Great geographical discoveries appeared on the world map New World(America), Pacific Ocean, Tierra del Fuego, Strait of Magellan, large islands in the Caribbean: Bahamas, Haiti, Cuba. For several centuries, entire generations of geographers and cartographers, researchers and travelers had to refine and supplement maps to draw precise contours of all continents and oceans, islands and peninsulas of bays and straits, and other geographical objects.
February 12, 1908 the first in the world started in New York round the world motor rally- a very bold and risky event in the spirit of that era of great technical discoveries and achievements. But adventurers have always existed - they lived before 1908, they were after it, they feel great in our time. And today we will tell you about history of travel around the world from Magellan to the modern brave knights of the compass and map.
Magellan's circumnavigation (1519-1522)
Already at the very beginning of the sixteenth century, it became clear that discovered by Christopher Columbus lands are neither India nor China. But it was assumed that Asia, with all its many riches, was not so far from America. There is little to do - to find a strait, swim across the "South Sea" (this was the name of the reservoir that became known as the Pacific Ocean in those days) and get to the desired lands full of spices and silk. The Portuguese and Spanish navigator Fernand Magellan took up this business.
On October 20, 1519, five ships under his command left the Spanish port of Sanlúcar de Barrameda. On board the ships, there were a crew of more than two hundred people. The expedition led by Magellan, indeed, managed to round the American continent from the south, overcome the Pacific Ocean, reach the Moluccas (Spice Islands) and return on September 6, 1522 to Seville.
But during a round-the-world voyage, the expedition lost four ships, and out of 235 personnel, only thirty-six returned to Spain (18 on the last remaining ship and the same number in different ways over the next months and even years). Magellan himself and most of the commanders were killed in skirmishes with the natives. And the expedition was completed by Captain Juan Sebastian Elcano - the only surviving officer.
Cycling around the world (1884-1886)
Thomas Stephens became the first person to travel around the world by bicycle. And it should be understood that it was not a bike in the modern sense - light, sporty, ergonomic, but the standard for those times "penny and farthing" (when the front wheel is eight times larger than the rear). And the situation with the roads was much more complicated.
Starting his journey in San Francisco, Stevens crossed America from west to east to New York. Then he traveled pretty much through his native England, drove through Europe, Ottoman Empire, spent the winter in Tehran as a personal guest of the Shah, visited Afghanistan, returned to Istanbul, sailed by sea to India, checked into China and Japan, and then returned to the starting point of the journey, having spent more than two and a half years on the trip.
Yacht cruise around the world (1895-1898)
Joshua Slokam's legendary round-the-world trip started on April 25, 1895 in Boston. The 10-meter yacht Sprey, on which the Canadian-American traveler and adventurer sailed alone, first crossed the Atlantic Ocean, approached the Iberian Peninsula, then sailed along west coast Africa, crossed the Atlantic again, passed through the Strait of Magellan, reached Australia, traveled to New Guinea, circled the Cape of Good Hope, and on June 27, 1898 finished in Newport, Rhode Island.
But the traveler did not wait for magnificent honors upon his return to the United States. The raging American-Spanish War at that time drew all the attention of the press and the public. So they started talking about the achievement of Slokam only after the conclusion of peace. And in 1900 he published the book "Alone Sailing Around the World", which became a worldwide bestseller and is still reprinted today.
Joshua Slokam went missing while sailing on a yacht in 1909 in the Bermuda region, which was one of the reasons for the emergence of the legend of the Bermuda Triangle.
First round the world motor rally (1908)
On February 12, 1908, the first round-the-world motor rally started, organized by the American New York Times and the French Matin. This event was timed to coincide with the 99th anniversary of the birth of Abraham Lincoln. It was planned that 13 crews will take part in it, but seven of them were removed at the very last moment, before the start of the trip.
The main problem in the first weeks of the race was the cold. Cars of that time were not equipped with heaters, and some were without a roof at all. At the same time, it was originally planned that the crews would move from the United States to Russia through the frozen Bering Strait. But creepy weather in the North, they were forced to change the route - the cars were loaded onto a ship in Seattle and transported to Vladivostok.
The rally participants crossed all of Eurasia. The first to reach the finish line in Paris was a German crew in a Protos car. It happened on July 11, 169 days after the start. But it turned out that the Germans violated the terms of the competition, for which they received a fine of 15 days. So the winners were the Americans in a Thomas Flyer, who arrived at the last point on July 26th. For the American participants, the race became round the world - after the triumph in Paris, they returned to New York, thus closing the circle.
Travel around the world by plane (1924, 1957)
It is now possible to fly around the globe on an airliner in a little over a day. And in 1924, four Douglas World Cruisers took almost six months. Rather, it was four aircraft that took off from Seattle on April 6, and only two returned on September 28 - the rest crashed on the road.
And the first non-stop round-the-world flight was made in January 1957, spending 45 hours and 19 minutes on it. Along the way, they replenished fuel supplies from a refueling aircraft three times.
Travel around the world on foot (1970-1974)
On June 20, 1970, brothers David and John Kunsta left their home in Waseka, Minnesota, and hiked around the world. They reached New York, where they boarded a ship to Lisbon. Then they crossed the whole of Europe on foot and reached Afghanistan. But there they were attacked by bandits, John was killed, and David was hospitalized for four months.
Having recovered, Kunst continued his campaign exactly from the place where his relative died. But now their third brother, Peter, has joined him. However, he traveled "only" for a year - he had to return home to work.
David Kunst returned to his native Minnesota on October 5, 1974, having covered about 25 thousand kilometers on the way, becoming a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, having removed 21 pairs of shoes and met Australian teacher Jenny Samuel, who first became his travel companion, and then in life ...
Non-stop hot air balloon round the world (1999)
Late twentieth century Balloons practically ceased to exist. There were only those that were used for advertising, tourism, sports and scientific (stratospheric) purposes. But there were also balloons created specifically to set records. For example, Breitling Orbiter 3, on which in March 1999 Bertrand Picard and Brian Jones made a non-stop round-the-world flight 45755 kilometers long and lasting 19 days 21 hours and 47 minutes.
But this record is not enough for Picard! An adventurer worthy of his grandfather, father and uncle is going in 2015 to make the first ever round-the-world flight in an airplane powered exclusively from solar panels installed on it.
Fernand Magellan (Fernand de Magallanche)- a Portuguese (Spanish) navigator who circled the Earth on his ship "Victoria", and, as the official history says, he was the first to do so. One strait was even named after him.
So Fernand Magellan is a man, he commanded the first expedition that made the first round the world trip around the Earth. You need to understand one thing, that only the official versions and sources that have come down to us, perhaps there were still expeditions before. But only Fernand Magellan's historically confirmed trip around the world.
The round-the-world expedition was preparing for several years and on September 20, 1519, a squadron consisting of 5 ships and 256 people, led by Magellan, left the port of Sanlúcar de Barrameda (the mouth of the Guadalquivir River) and moved in the direction of South America and on November 29 the squadron reached the shores of Brazil.
On March 6, 1521, the squadron saw the island of Guam the most big Island from the archipelago Mariana Islands, which now belongs to the United States, it is next to it that the deepest place on Earth is located - the Mariana Trench. At that time, the island was already inhabited. It makes no sense to write about the details of Magellan's finding on the island, they say, most of this is a story of fiction.
Then there was today's Philippines, where on April 7, 1521, the flotilla entered the port of the island of Cebu, Philippines.
On April 27, on the island of Mactan in the Philippines, Magelan died at the hands of the rebellious Filipinos.
Then there was the Moluccas and the possible purchase of spices.
Only the ship "Victoria" made it back under the leadership of Juan Sebastian Elcano, which with difficulty rounded the Cape of Good Hope and then for two months went straight northwest along the African coast to Spain.
And on September 6, 1522, "Victoria" nevertheless reached Spain, arriving in Seville. The only remaining ship had eighteen surviving crew members. Later, in 1525, four more of the 55 crew members of the Trinidad ship were brought to Spain. Then the members of the crew of the ship "Victoria", who were captured by the Portuguese during their forced stay in July on the Cape Verde Islands in Portugal, were bought and returned.
And the purpose of Magellan's travel according to the stories of historians was banal and simple, he did not want to be a discoverer or the first person to travel around the world, he just went for spices: pepper, cinnamon and others growing on the Moluccas in the Pacific Ocean.
But there is a more sensible reasoning about this at that time, bronze was of value, and it, in turn, cannot be obtained without tin, it was for the fishing that Fernand Magellan went. He sailed not only to the Moluccas, but also to Malaysia, where there was tin on the coast in the beach sands. There was also tin ore in Yemen, Singapore. Therefore, according to another version of historians, this reason for the trip was more rational than, for example, spices.
Fernand Magellan's circumnavigation map 1519 -1522
Modern copy of the ship "Victoria" Fernand Magellan
BBC documentary in the best tradition of Fernand Magellan's journey
: reach Asia following west. The colonization of America had not yet had time to bring significant profits, unlike the colonies of the Portuguese in India, and the Spaniards wanted to sail to the Spice Islands themselves and get benefits. By that time, it became clear that America was not Asia, but Asia was supposed to lie relatively close to the New World. In 1513, Vasco Nunez de Balboa, passing the Isthmus of Panama, saw the Pacific Ocean, which he named South Sea... Since then, the strait into the new sea has been looking for several expeditions. Around those years, Portuguese captains João Lisboa and Isteban Froisch reached about 35 ° S latitude. and opened the mouth of the La Plata River. They could not seriously investigate it and took the huge flooded estuary of La Plata for the strait.
Magellan, apparently, had detailed information about the search by the Portuguese for the strait and, in particular, about La Plata, which he considered a strait into the South Sea. This confidence played an important role in planning his expedition, but he was ready to look for other routes to India if this turned out to be false.
Back in Portugal, Magellan's companion astronomer Rui Faleru played an important role in preparing the expedition. He created a method for calculating longitude and made calculations from which it followed that the Moluccas are easier to reach by going west, and that these islands lie in a hemisphere "belonging" to Spain under the Treaty of Tordesillas. All his calculations, as well as the method of calculating longitude, subsequently turned out to be incorrect. For some time, Faleru was listed in the documents on organizing the voyage in front of Magellan, but later he was increasingly pushed into the background, and Magellan was appointed commander of the expedition. Faleru drew up a horoscope, from which it followed that he could not go on an expedition, and remained on the shore.
Training
The equipment of the expedition was played by European merchants who did not have the opportunity to participate in the lucrative trade with the East Indies because of the monopoly of the Portuguese. Juan de Aranda, who was entitled to an eighth of the profits under an agreement with Magellan, is pushed back from the trough, declaring that this agreement "is not in the interests of the nation."
Under an agreement with the king dated March 22, 1518, Magellan and Faleru received one fifth of the net income from navigation, the rights of governorship to open lands, one-twentieth of the profits from the new lands, and the right to two islands if more than six islands are discovered.
The Portuguese tried to oppose the organization of the expedition, but did not dare to direct murder. They tried to denigrate Magellan in the eyes of the Spaniards and force them to give up sailing. At the same time, the fact that the expedition would be commanded by a Portuguese aroused the discontent of many Spaniards. In October 1518, a clash occurred between the members of the expedition and a crowd of Seville. When Magellan raised his standard on ships, the Spaniards mistook it for Portuguese and demanded that it be removed. Fortunately for Magellan, the conflict was settled without much sacrifice. To muffle the controversy, Magellan was ordered to limit the number of Portuguese on the expedition to five participants, but due to the lack of sailors, about 40 Portuguese were in it.
Expedition composition and equipment
The expedition was preparing five ships with a supply of food for two years. Magellan personally supervised the loading and packing of food, goods and equipment. As provisions were taken on board crackers, wine, olive oil, vinegar, salted fish, dried pork, beans and beans, flour, cheese, honey, almonds, anchovies, raisins, prunes, sugar, quince jam, capers, mustard, beef and fig. In case of collisions, there were about 70 cannons, 50 arquebusses, 60 crossbows, 100 sets of armor and other weapons. For trade, they took matter, metal products, women's jewelry, mirrors, bells and (it was used as a medicine). The expedition cost more than 8 million maravedis.
| Ship | Tonnage | Captain |
| Trinidad | 110 (266) | Fernand de Magellan |
| San Antonio | 120 (290) | Juan de Cartagena |
| Concepcion | 90 (218) | Gaspard de Cassada |
| Victoria | 85 (206) | Luis de Mendoza |
| Santiago | 75 (182) | Juan Serran |
According to the staffing table, more than 230 sailors were supposed to be on the ships, but besides them, there were many supernumerary members on the expedition, among whom was the Rhodes knight Antonio Pigafetta, who made detailed description travels. As well as servants and slaves up to blacks and Asians, among which it is worth mentioning Magellan's slave Enrique, who was born in Sumatra and taken by Magellan as a translator. It was he who would become the first person to return home, circumnavigating the globe. Despite the ban, several female slaves (probably Indian women) were illegally on the expedition. The recruitment of sailors continued in the Canary Islands. All this makes it difficult to calculate the exact number of participants. Various authors estimate the number of participants to be from 265 to at least 280.
Magellan personally commanded Trinidad. Santiago was commanded by João Serran, the brother of Francisco Serran, who was rescued by Magellan in Malacca. Three other ships were commanded by representatives of the Spanish nobility, with whom Magellan immediately began conflicts. The Spaniards did not like the fact that the expedition was commanded by a Portuguese. In addition, Magellan concealed the intended route of the voyage, and this caused the captains to displease. The confrontation was pretty serious. Captain Mendoza was even given a special request from the king to stop the bickering and submit to Magellan. But already in the Canary Islands, Magellan received information that the Spanish captains had agreed among themselves to remove him from his post if they thought he was interfering with them.
Atlantic Ocean
Captain San Antonio Cartagena, who was the representative of the crown on the voyage, during one of the reports demonstratively violated the chain of command and began to call Magellan not "captain-general" (admiral), but simply "captain". Cartagena was the second person in the expedition, almost equal in status to the commander. For several days, he continued to do so despite Magellan's remarks. Tom had to endure this until the captains of all the ships were summoned to Trinidad to decide the fate of the criminal sailor. Forgotten, Cartagena again broke discipline, but this time he was not on his ship. Magellan personally grabbed him by the collar and declared him arrested. Cartagena was not allowed to be on the flagship, but on the ships of captains sympathetic to him. A relative of Magellan, Alvar Mishkita, became the commander of San Antonio.
On November 29, the flotilla reached the coast of Brazil, and on December 26, 1519 - La Plata, where the search for the alleged strait was carried out. Santiago was sent west, but soon returned with the message that this was not a strait, but the mouth of a giant river. The squadron began to slowly move south, exploring the coast. On this journey, the Europeans saw penguins for the first time.
The advance to the south proceeded slowly, storms interfered with the ships, winter was approaching, and there was still no strait. March 31, 1520, reaching 49 ° S lat. the flotilla stands up for the winter in the bay called San Julian.
Mutiny
Family of Magellanic penguins in Patagonia
Having risen for the winter, the captain ordered to cut the norms for the distribution of food, which caused a murmur among the sailors, already exhausted by the long difficult voyage. A group of officers dissatisfied with Magellan tried to take advantage of this.
Magellan finds out about the mutiny only in the morning. At his disposal are two ships Trinidad and Santiago, which had almost no combat value. In the hands of the conspirators are three large ships San Antonio, Concepcion and Victoria. But the rebels did not want further bloodshed, fearing that they would have to answer for it upon arrival in Spain. A boat was sent to Magellan with a letter stating that their goal was only to force Magellan to correctly carry out the orders of the king. They agree to consider Magellan the captain, but he must consult with them on all his decisions and not act without their consent. For further negotiations, they invite Magellan to come to them for negotiations. Magellan responds by inviting them to his ship. They refuse.
Having lulled the enemy's vigilance, Magellan seizes the boat carrying the letters and puts the oarsmen in the hold. The rebels feared a blow to San Antonio most of all, but Magellan decided to attack Victoria, where there were many Portuguese. The boat, which contains the alguazil Gonzalo Gomez de Espinoza and five reliable people, is sent to Victoria. Climbing on the ship, Espinoza presents Captain Mendoza with a new invitation from Magellan to come to the negotiations. The captain begins to read it with a grin, but does not have time to finish. Espinoza stabs him in the neck, one of the arriving sailors finishes the rebel. While Victoria's crew was in complete confusion, another group of Magellan's supporters, led by Duerte Barboza, jumped aboard, this time well armed, and stealthily approached on another boat. Victoria's crew surrenders without resistance. Three ships of Magellan: Trinidad, Victoria and Santiago - stand at the exit from the bay, blocking the escape route for the rebels.
After the ship was taken away from them, the rebels did not dare to engage in an open confrontation and, waiting for night, tried to slip past Magellan's ships in open ocean... It failed. San Antonio was shelled and boarded. There was no resistance, no casualties. Concepcion surrendered after him.
A tribunal was set up to try the rebels. 40 participants in the mutiny were sentenced to death, but immediately pardoned, since the expedition could not lose such a number of sailors. Only the one who committed the murder of Quesado was executed. Magellan did not dare to execute the representative of the king Cartagena and one of the priests who actively participated in the rebellion, and they were left on the shore after the departure of the flotilla. Nothing more is known about them.
In a few decades, Francis Drake will enter the same bay, who will also have to make a round-the-world voyage. A conspiracy will be uncovered on his flotilla and a trial will take place in the bay. He will offer the rebel a choice: execution, or he will be left on the shore, like Magellan Cartagena. The defendant will choose execution.
Strait
In May, Magellan sent Santiago, led by João Serran, south to scout the area. The bay of Santa Cruz was found 60 miles south. A few days later, in a storm, the ship lost control and crashed. The sailors, except for one person, escaped and ended up on the shore without food and supplies. They tried to return to their wintering place, but due to fatigue and exhaustion, they connected with the main detachment only after a few weeks. The loss of a vessel specially designed for reconnaissance, as well as the supplies on it, caused great damage to the expedition.
Magellan made João Serran the captain of Concepcion. As a result, all four ships ended up in the hands of Magellan's supporters. San Antonio was commanded by Mishkita, Victoria Barbosa.
Strait of Magellan
During the winter, the sailors came into contact with local residents. They were tall. To protect from the cold, they wrapped their legs large quantity hay, therefore they were called Patagonians (big-legged, born with paws). The country itself was named after them Patagonia. By order of the king, it was necessary to bring representatives of the peoples of the expedition that met to Spain. Since the sailors were afraid of a fight with tall and strong Indians, they went for a trick: they gave them a lot of gifts, and when they could no longer hold anything in their hands, they offered them leg shackles, the purpose of which the Indians did not understand. Since their hands were busy, the Patagonians agreed to have the shackles hooked to their feet, using this the sailors shackled them. So they managed to capture two Indians, but this led to a clash with the local residents with victims on both sides. None of the captives survived to return to Europe.
On August 24, 1520, the flotilla left the Bay of San Julian. During the winter, she lost 30 people. Two days later, the expedition was forced to stop in the bay of Santa Cruz due to bad weather and damage. The flotilla set out only on 18 October. Before leaving, Magellan announced that he would look for the strait up to 75 ° S., but if the strait was not found, the flotilla would go to the Moluccas around the Cape of Good Hope.
October 21 at 52 ° S the ships ended up at a narrow strait leading into the interior of the mainland. San Antonio and Concepcion are sent out on reconnaissance. Soon a storm flies in, lasting two days. The sailors feared that the ships sent for reconnaissance were lost. And they really almost died, but when they were carried to the shore, a narrow passage opened up in front of them, into which they entered. They ended up in a wide bay, followed by more straits and bays. The water remained salty all the time, and the lot often did not reach the bottom. Both ships returned with the good news of a possible strait.
The flotilla entered the strait and for many days walked along a real labyrinth of rocks and narrow passages. The strait was later named Magellanic. Southern land, on which lights were often seen at nights, was called Tierra del Fuego. A council was convened at the "Sardine River". The helmsman of San Antonio Esteban Gomes spoke in favor of returning home due to the small amount of provisions and the complete unknown ahead. The other officers did not support him. Magellan remembered well the fate of Bartolomeo Dias, who discovered the Cape of Good Hope, but lost to the team and returned home. Dias was removed from the leadership of future expeditions and never got to India. Magellan announced that the ships would go forward.
At Dawson Island, the strait is divided into two channels, and Magellan again divides the flotilla. San Antonio and Concepcion sail southeast, the other two remain to rest, and a boat departs southwest. Three days later, the boat returns and the sailors report that they have seen the open sea. Conspicion returns shortly, but there is no word from San Antonio. They have been looking for the missing ship for several days, but everything is useless. It was later revealed that the helmsman of San Antonio, Esteban Gomes, raised a mutiny, chained Captain Mishkita in chains and went home to Spain. In March, he returned to Seville, where he accused Magellan of treason. The investigation began, the whole team was imprisoned. Magellan's wife was under surveillance. Subsequently, the rioters were released, and Mishkita remained in prison until the return of the expedition.
On November 28, 1520, Magellan's ships leave for the ocean. The journey through the strait took 38 days. For many years Magellan will remain the only captain who passed the strait and did not lose a single ship.
Pacific Ocean
Coming out of the strait, Magellan walked north for 15 days, reaching 38 ° S, where he turned north-west, and on December 21, 1520, reaching 30 ° S, turned north-west.
Strait of Magellan. Sketch of a map of Pigafetta. North is below.
The flotilla passed through the Pacific Ocean for at least 17 thousand km. Such a huge size of the new ocean was unexpected for sailors. When planning the expedition, they proceeded from the assumption that Asia is relatively close to America. In addition, at that time it was believed that the main part of the Earth is land, and only a relatively small - the sea. During the crossing of the Pacific Ocean, it became clear that this was not the case. The ocean seemed endless. The South Pacific is home to many inhabited islands, on which fresh supplies could be obtained, but the route of the flotilla passed away from them. Unprepared for such a transition, the expedition experienced enormous hardships.
“During three months and twenty days, - noted in his travel notes the chronicler of the expedition Antonio Pigafetta, - we were completely deprived of fresh food. We ate breadcrumbs, but those were no longer breadcrumbs, but breadcrumbs mixed with worms that ate the best breadcrumbs. She smelled strongly of rat urine. We drank yellow water, which had been rotting for many days. We also ate the cowhide covering the mainsail so that the shrouds would not fray; from the action of the sun, rain and wind, it became incredibly hard. We soaked it in seawater for four to five days, then put it on hot coals for a few minutes and ate it. We often ate sawdust. The rats were sold for half a ducat apiece, but even at that price it was impossible to get them. "
In addition, scurvy raged on the ships. Killed, according to various sources, from eleven to twenty-nine people. Fortunately for the sailors, during the entire voyage there was not a single storm and they named the new ocean the Pacific.
During the voyage, the expedition reached 10 ° C. lat. and turned out to be noticeably north of the Moluccas, to which it was striving. Perhaps Magellan wanted to make sure that the open South Sea of Balboa was part of this ocean, or perhaps he feared an encounter with the Portuguese, which would end in disaster for his battered expedition. On January 24, 1521, the sailors saw uninhabited island(from the Tuamotu archipelago). There was no way to land on it. After 10 days, another island was discovered (in the Line archipelago). They also failed to land, but the expedition caught sharks for food.
On March 6, 1521, the flotilla sighted the island of Guam from the Mariana Islands group. It was inhabited. The boats surrounded the flotilla and trade began. It soon became clear that locals they steal from ships everything that comes to hand. When they stole the boat, the Europeans could not stand it. They landed on the island and burned the islanders' village, killing 7 people in the process. After that, they took the boat and grabbed fresh food. The islands were named Thieves (Landrones). When the flotilla left, the locals chased the ships in boats, throwing stones at them, but without much success.
A few days later, the Spaniards were the first Europeans to reach the Philippine Islands, which Magellan called the archipelago of Saint Lazarus. Fearing new clashes, he searches for a deserted island. On March 17, the Spaniards landed on Homonkhom Island. The Pacific crossing is over.
Death of Magellan
On the island of Homonkhom, an infirmary was set up, where all the sick were transported. Fresh food quickly cured the sailors, and the flotilla set off on a further journey among the islands. On one of them, Magellan's slave Enrique, who was born in Sumatra, met people speaking his language. The circle is complete. For the first time, man walked around the earth.
A lively trade began. For iron products, the islanders easily gave gold and food. Impressed by the strength of the Spaniards and their weapons, the ruler of the island, Raja Humabon, agrees to surrender under the protection of the Spanish king and is soon baptized under the name Carlos. After him, his family, many representatives of the nobility and ordinary islanders are baptized. Patronizing the new Carlos-Humabon, Magellan tried to bring as many local rulers as possible under his rule.
Death of Magellan
Monument to Lapu-Lapu on the island of Cebu
The expedition historiographer, Antonio Pigafetta, wrote about the death of the admiral:
... The islanders followed us on the heels, fishing spears that had already been used from the water, and thus threw the same spear five or six times. Having recognized our admiral, they began to aim mainly at him; twice they had already managed to knock the helmet off his head; he remained with a handful of men at his post, as befits a brave knight, without trying to continue the retreat, and so we fought for more than an hour, until one of the natives managed to wound the admiral in the face with a reed spear. Furious, he immediately pierced the attacker's chest with his spear, but it got stuck in the body of the dead man; then the admiral tried to draw out the sword, but could no longer do this, since the enemies severely wounded him in the right hand with a dart, and it ceased to act. Noticing this, the natives rushed at him in a crowd, and one of them wounded him in the left leg with a saber, so that he fell on his back. At the same moment, all the islanders pounced on him and began stabbing with spears and other weapons that they had. So they killed our mirror, our light, our consolation and our faithful leader.
Completion of the expedition
The defeat killed nine Europeans, but the damage to reputation was enormous. In addition, the loss of an experienced leader immediately made itself felt. João Serran and Duarte Barbosa, who stood at the head of the expedition, entered into negotiations with Lapu-Lapu offering him a ransom for the body of Magellan, but he replied that the body would not be given out under any circumstances. The failure of the negotiations finally undermined the prestige of the Spaniards, and soon their ally Humabon lured them to dinner and staged a massacre, killing several dozen people, including almost the entire command staff. The ships had to leave urgently. Almost there, the flotilla spent several months reaching the Moluccas.
Spices were purchased there, and the expedition was to set off on a return route. On the islands, the Spaniards learned that the Portuguese king had declared Magellan a deserter, so his ships were subject to capture. The ships were dilapidated. "Concepcion" was previously abandoned by the team and burned. There were only two ships left. Trinidad was repaired and headed east to the Spanish possessions in Panama, and "Victoria "- to the west, bypassing Africa. Trinidad fell into a strip of headwinds, was forced to return to the Moluccas and was captured by the Portuguese. Most of his crew died in hard labor in India. "Victoria" under the command of Juan Sebastian Elcano continued the route. The crew was replenished with a number of Malay islanders (almost all of them died on the way). The ship soon began to lack provisions (Pigafetta noted in his notes: “Apart from rice and water, we have no food left; due to lack of salt, all meat products went bad "), and part of the crew began to demand that the captain take a course for Mozambique, which belongs to the Portuguese crown, and surrender into the hands of the Portuguese. However, most of the sailors and Captain Elcano himself decided to try to reach Spain at any cost. “Victoria” with difficulty rounded the Cape of Good Hope and then for two months without stopping went north-west along the African coast.
On July 9, 1522, a worn-out ship with an emaciated crew approached the islands Cape Verde, Portuguese possession. It was impossible not to make a stop here due to an extreme disadvantage. drinking water and provisions. Here Pigafetta writes:
“On Wednesday, July 9, we reached the St. James Islands and immediately sent the boat to the shore for provisions, inventing a story for the Portuguese that we had lost our foremast under the equator (in fact, we lost it at the Cape of Good Hope) , and during this time that we were restoring it, our captain-general left with two other ships for Spain. By placing them in this way, and also giving them our goods, we managed to get from them two boats loaded with rice ... When our boat again approached the shore for rice, thirteen crew members were detained along with the boat. Fearing that some of the caravels would not detain us as well, we hastily moved on. "
It is interesting that Magellan himself did not at all intend to make a round-the-world expedition - he just wanted to find a western route to the Moluccas and return back, in general, for any commercial flight (and Magellan's flight was like that), a round-the-world trip is meaningless. And only the threat of an attack by the Portuguese forced one of the ships to continue to follow to the west, and if Trinidad made my route safely, and "Victoria" would have been captivated, there would have been no round-the-world travel.
Thus, the Spaniards opened the western route to Asia and Spice Islands... This first ever voyage around the world proved the correctness of the hypothesis about the sphericity of the Earth and the inseparability of the oceans washing the land.
Lost day
In addition, the expedition members were found to have "lost the day." In those days, there was still no concept of the difference between local and World time, since the most distant trade expeditions took place in both directions along almost the same route, crossing the meridians first in one direction, then in the opposite direction. In the same case, recorded for the first time in history, the expedition returned to the starting point, so to speak, "not returning", but moving only forward, to the west.
On ships with a Christian crew, as expected, to maintain the order of watches, reckoning of movement, keeping records, but, first of all, to observe church Catholic holidays, the time was kept. There were no chronometers in those days, the sailors used an hourglass (from this in the fleet there was a counting of time by flasks). The countdown of the daily time began at noon. Naturally, every clear day the sailors determined the moment of noon when the Sun was at the highest point, that is, it crossed the local meridian (using a compass or along the length of the shadow). From this, the days of the calendar were also counted, including Sundays, Easter and all other church holidays. But after all, every time the sailors determined the time local noon corresponding to the meridian on which the ship was at that moment. The ships sailed to the west, following the movement of the Sun across the sky, catching up with it. Therefore, if they had a modern chronometer or a simple clock set to the local noon of the port of Sanlúcar de Barrameda, sailors would notice that their day is slightly longer than the usual 24 hours and their local noon is more and more behind their native Spanish, gradually moving to Spanish evening, night, morning and day again. But, since they did not have a chronometer, their sailing was extremely unhurried and more important and terrible incidents happened to them, no one thought about this "trifle" over time. Church holidays were celebrated by these brave Spanish sailors with the utmost care, like zealous Catholics, but, as it turned out, their own calendar. As a result, when the sailors returned to their native Europe, it turned out that their ship calendar lagged behind the calendar of their homeland and the Church for a whole day. This happened on the Green Cape Islands. This is how Antonio Pigafetta described it:
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That is, they incorrectly celebrated Sundays, Easter and other holidays.
Thus, it was discovered that when traveling along the parallels, that is, in the plane of the Earth's daily rotation around its axis, time, as it were, changes its duration. If you move to the west, following the Sun, catching up with it, the day (day) seems to be lengthening. If we move to the east, towards the Sun, lagging behind it, the day, on the contrary, is shortened. To overcome this paradox, a time zone system and the concept of a date line were later developed. The effect of changing time zones is now experienced by everyone who undertakes long, but fast, latitudinal travel on airplanes or high-speed trains.
Notes (edit)
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- Like the sun ... The life of Fernand Magellan and the first voyage around the world (Lange P. V.)
- , With. 186
- SURRENDER
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- , With. 192
- Like the sun ... The life of Fernand Magellan and the first voyage around the world (Lange P. V.)
- , With. 126-127
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- , With. 192-193
- Like the sun ... The life of Fernand Magellan and the first voyage around the world (Lange P. V.)
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- , With. 128
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