Without brave romantics, adventurers and adventure lovers, the world would be boring. And quite different, because much would have remained unopened, not discovered, not invented.
The Age of Geographical Discoveries
It covers the period of time when seafarers paved new ways, discovered continents and islands, changed the world map. The era covered several periods:
- The early one, during which seafarers settled in the Indian and Atlantic Ocean, the Mediterranean, Baltic, Yellow and Black Seas, circled Africa and made accurate maps of these places.
- The middle, when they discovered the American continent, found the sea route from Europe to Asia, made the first voyage around the world and discovered Australia.
- Late, during which Northwest America, Antarctica, and the World Ocean were explored.
The middle of the fifteenth to seventeenth centuries is called the Age of Great Discoveries. And speaking of this time, one cannot fail to mention the name of the navigator, who contributed to modern science. This is Magellan Fernando, the man who proved that the Earth is a ball.
A Brief Biography of Magellan
F. Magellan (Magallaines) was born in Portugal in 1470. However, he made the main achievements before science under the Spanish flag. The young man came from a noble family, so he received good training, as well as practice in the Navy. After resigning, Magellan Fernando moved to Spain, where he offered the king a draft sea voyage, which, after much thought, was nevertheless adopted. And the expedition of five ships went on a famous journey.
During this voyage, the coast of South America, the southern strait, which later received his name, Patagonian Cordillera, was discovered and mapped. The way of the wanderers ran through the Pacific Ocean, into which the ships of Europeans, the island of Guam, and the Philippines had not entered before. There, in a fight with the natives, Fernando died, but his team finished a great job.
As a result of the expedition of Magellan, it was established that there was a single oceans, it was proved that the planet has the shape of a ball. But this information was appreciated by society much later.
Strait of Magellan
The path of Magellan and his team began on September 20, 1519. Small vessels in the amount of five pieces, on board of which there were 265 people, went to sea. The captain used his unique alarm system, which allowed all ships to stick together. Fernando intended to cross the Atlantic, so around the end of December he reached La Plata. For more than a month they were looking for a passage to the South Sea, but were forced to stay for the winter. A riot began on three ships, but he was brutally crushed. Since the existence of a single ocean was established as a result of the Magellan expedition, the strait was found, and the journey continued. True, one ship crashed, and the other deserted.
Death of the leader
At the end of November 1520, the flotilla entered the South Sea, which was called the Pacific Ocean, because during the voyage it kept good weather. The team spent four months in the ocean, on the verge of survival. Starvation, scurvy, high mortality - this is what the participants of the first round-the-world trip had to endure. Finally, the expedition of Fernand Magellan clung to the Philippine archipelago. There, the Spaniards declared the islands the possession of their king and demanded subjugation.
But the natives had other plans. The ruler of Cebu allegedly held a feast in honor of the aliens, at which he attacked his guests. Magellan himself died in a skirmish. The team retreated to the boats, but there were not enough people, so one of the ships had to be burned.
Is the goal achieved?
Everyone now knows that as a result of the expedition of Magellan, the presence of a single ocean on the planet, connected by straits and channels, was established. But the islands of spices to which the seafarer kept his way were still not found.
For about four months, the ships wandered around the seas until they docked on the island of Tidore. Here, replenishing supplies and buying carnations, the ships continued their journey. But they were divided: one of them headed west along Africa, and the other was delayed for repairs. "Victoria" completed the world's first round-the-world trip on September 6, 1522. Only eighteen people remained on board. A little later, another seventeen people returned to Spain aboard the Trinidad. Selling spices, the team paid back all the costs of a long voyage.
Instead of an afterword
The value of the first journey is invaluable. As mentioned above, as a result of the expedition of Magellan, the presence of the World Ocean was established. Mariners also proved that on our planet there is less land than water. The name of the brave Portuguese is not only the strait discovered by him in the Pacific Ocean, but also two star clusters mentioned by Antonio Pifachetta, a member of the expedition and its historiographer. The sailor was dedicated to novels and scientific research.
But did the trip benefit Fernand himself and his family? He died while swimming, when he tried, like the conquistadors, to conquer the natives of the Philippine Islands. The crew of the deserting ship accused Magellan of high treason, so all privileges and payments were removed from him. The year before the last ship of the flotilla anchored at home, Fernando's son died. Six months later, his wife died, who only gave birth to a second son dead. That's the price a traveler had to pay for a great discovery!