Chapter 45 Magellan's voyage around the world

The Spanish ocean-going fleet led by the Portuguese navigator Magellan completed the feat of circumnavigating the world for the first time in human history. Magellan was born in a noble family and served as an attendant in the court of King João II of Portugal when he was young. In 1505, as a naval soldier, he followed Almeida, the first Portuguese governor in India, and participated in the colonial and plundering war against the East. Eight years of ocean warfare enabled Magellan to master the knowledge of navigation and familiarize himself with the situation in the East.During his investigations and tours in Sumatra, Java, Indonesia and the Moluccas (now the Maluku Islands), Magellan learned that there is a vast ocean to the east of the Moluccas. Not far from the Luka Islands should be the American continent discovered by Columbus.So Magellan came up with the idea of ​​sailing around the world. By reading a lot of nautical materials and geography books, and visiting the navigator Leshboa, the astronomer Faliro and others, he firmly believed that there was a strait between the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean, and that This strait is at the southern tip of the American continent.That is to say, start from the west coast of Europe, sail southwest along the west coast of Africa, cross the Atlantic Ocean, continue sailing southwest along the east coast of South America, find the strait, bypass South America, cross the Great South China Sea to the Moluccas, and then cross the Indian Ocean You can return to the west coast of Europe by circling the Cape of Good Hope in Africa.

In order to realize his plan, Magellan lobbied extensively inside and outside the Spanish court to win the support of the royal family, nobles and businessmen.After Magellan's request was repeatedly rejected, with the support of Magellan's father-in-law, the governor of Seville, and Bishop Fonseca, King Charles I of Spain finally made up his mind. On March 22, 1518, he announced his support for Magellan's voyage plan, and promised that if the voyage was successful, Magellan would share 5% of all income and serve as the administrator of the newly discovered territory. After more than a year of preparation, Spain equipped Magellan with 5 sailing ships and a fully armed crew of 265.The ship was loaded with food and goods such as glass mirrors, velvet and mercury.

On August 9, 1519, Magellan's fleet set off from Seville and entered the sea along the Guadalquivir River. On September 20, the fleet left the estuary and sailed into the vast Atlantic Ocean, starting the first round-the-world voyage in human history. After more than two months of sailing, Magellan's fleet crossed the Atlantic from Canary to the northeastern coast of Brazil.Then go south along the coast and carefully search for the strait leading to the "Great South China Sea". On December 13, the fleet entered Rio de Janeiro Bay. The crew thought it was the entrance of the strait at first, but later found out that it was a bay.Here, the exhausted expedition team took a rest before continuing to sail south.

In mid-January 1520, Magellan saw a wide waterway going west and thought it was a strait, but it turned out to be the outlet of a large river.This is the outlet of the Rio de la Plata in Uruguay today. The fleet continued southward.In March, South America is approaching winter, with heavy snow and wind, making navigation extremely difficult.At the end of the month, the fleet came to a calm harbor, Magellan named it San Julian Bay, and decided to anchor here for the winter.Most of the sailors were discouraged by the failure of several explorations of the strait, and three captains also took the opportunity to turn against Magellan.Magellan set up a plan to quell the rebellion and avoid the ending of the voyage being abandoned halfway.

After nearly 5 months of rest, in August, Magellan led the fleet to set off again.Because one ship hit a rock and sank, there were only 4 ships left at this time.Two months later, the fleet discovered another seaport at 52 degrees south latitude.The strait is tortuous, narrow and wide, and the waves are rough.Magellan sent a ship to explore, but the ship turned around and fled back to Spain.Magellan had no choice but to lead the remaining 3 ships to grope forward in the strait.After 38 days of intense sailing, on November 28, 1520, Magellan finally sailed out of the 550-kilometer strait.Later, in memory of Magellan, this narrow and winding strait was named "Magellan Strait".

Magellan commanded the remaining three ships to sail into the South China Sea, which he had been thinking about day and night. He believed that the waters of the South China Sea were not wide and would be easy to cross, so he did not make proper preparations. As a result, he sailed continuously for more than 100 days before reaching the west coast. With a range of more than 17,000 kilometers, it is much wider than the Atlantic Ocean.During this voyage, the expedition experienced unprecedented hunger, thirst and scurvy. On March 6, 1521, Magellan and his party received fresh water, food, vegetables and fruits from the natives of Guam.Starting from Guam, 10 days later, we found a larger land - Siargao Island, which is rich in tropical fruits.The next day, another nearby island was discovered.Because March 17 is the San Lazaro Festival, Magellan named the land he discovered "San Lazaro Islands". Twenty-two years later, it was renamed the Philippines.

During the voyage of more than three months, although he suffered all kinds of hardships, fortunately, the weather was fine and there were no storms. Therefore, Magellan named the last and largest ocean he discovered as "Pacific Ocean".The Pacific Ocean was the greatest discovery of Magellan's voyage. Before Magellan, no European explorer had been to the Philippines, and this huge archipelago could not be found on European world maps.When Magellan saw the Malays on the island, he knew that Molucca would not be far away.Magellan sailed among the islands of San Lazaro; at the same time spreading Christianity.In order to conquer Mactan Island across the water, the monarch of Cebu Island pretended to believe in Christianity and asked Magellan to send troops to help.In this way, Magellan was involved in the vortex of conflicts among the locals. On April 27, 1521, Magellan was killed on the beach by Mactan warriors in battle.

The leaderless European sailors continued to search for Moluccas on the remaining Victoria and Trinidad. On November 8, the guides took Magellan's remnants to Molucca.They acquired a large amount of valuable spices on a small island.The Trinidad was badly damaged and had to be left behind for repairs. At the end of January 1522, the Victoria sailed to Timor Island. On February 13, sailing from Timor towards the Cape of Good Hope, it had been 11 months since Magellan arrived at Siargao Island.The surviving crew rounded the Cape of Good Hope, but several more were arrested by Portuguese authorities in the Cape Verde Islands.In the end, 18 ragged and unrecognizable crew members returned to Seville, the starting point of the year.After the Trinidad was repaired, she left Molucca in April 1522, trying to go to Panama, but was forced back to Molucca by a storm and became a prisoner of Portugal. Only 4 people survived in Spain.