Interesting Facts About The Biography Of Fernand Magellan - Alternative View

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Interesting Facts About The Biography Of Fernand Magellan - Alternative View
Interesting Facts About The Biography Of Fernand Magellan - Alternative View

Video: Interesting Facts About The Biography Of Fernand Magellan - Alternative View

Video: Interesting Facts About The Biography Of Fernand Magellan - Alternative View
Video: Ferdinand Magellan - First Circumnavigation of the Earth 2024, March
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Fernand Magellan (Fernand de Magallays) - (born 20 November 1480 - died 27 April 1521)

What Magellan Fernand discovered

Outstanding Portuguese navigator Magellan Fernand, his expedition made the first ever round-the-world voyage, which involved the search for a western route to the Moluccas. This proved the existence of a single world ocean and provided practical proof of the spherical shape of the Earth. Magellan discovered the entire coast of South America south of La Plata, circled the continent from the south, discovered the strait that was named after him, and the Patagonian Cordillera; first crossed the Pacific Ocean.

Biography of Fernand Magellan

Among the people who made global upheavals in the minds of people and the development of mankind, travelers could also play a significant role. The most striking figure of them is the Portuguese Fernand de Magalhães, who became known to the whole world under the Spanishized name Fernand Magellan.

Fernand Magellan was born in 1470 in the Sabroza area, in the remote northeastern province of Portugal, Traz osh Leontis. His family belonged to a noble but impoverished knightly family and were respected at court. It was not for nothing that King João II of Fernand's father, Pedro Rui di Magallais, appointed the senior mayor * of the strategically important harbor of Aveiro.

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(* Alcalde - a judicial or municipal official who possessed executive power. His main task was to monitor the maintenance of public order).

Training

The connections at the court made it possible for the mayor in 1492 to attach the eldest son to the page of Queen Eleanor. So, Fernand received the right to be brought up in the royal residence. There, in addition to the knightly arts - horse riding, fencing, falconry - he was able to master astronomy, navigation and cartography. At the Portuguese court, these items have been compulsory for the study of young courtiers since the time of Prince Henry the Navigator. It was they who had to go on long sea expeditions with the aim of conquering and discovering new lands. It was not for nothing that King Manuel himself, who replaced João on the throne, watched their lessons.

The ambitious Fernand became seriously interested in sailing. In an effort to stay away from palace intrigues, in 1504 he asked the king to let him go to India under the leadership of the Viceroy of India Francisco de Almeida and, having received consent, left Lisbon in the spring of 1505.

Magalhäins' career as a navigator

Almeida's expedition was purely military in nature and aimed to pacify the rebellious Muslim rulers from Sofala to Hormuz and from Cochin to Bab el-Mandeb. It was necessary to wipe out Muslim fortifications from the face of the earth and lay Portuguese fortresses in their place.

Magalhaes took part in sea and land battles at Kilva, Sofal, Mombasa, Kannanur, Calicut, as well as in the plundering of these cities, and over time became a valiant warrior, experienced and accustomed to any cruelty and misadventures of his harsh era. He quickly gained a reputation as a brave captain, skilled in battle and navigation. At the same time, even then, caring for brothers in arms became one of the main features of the future pioneer of circumnavigation.

1509 - During the battles near Malacca, Magalhaes became famous, almost single-handedly coming to the aid of a handful of his compatriots who were attacked by the Malays. He did the same noble thing during his return from Malacca to India. At the head of only 5 people, Fernand rushed to the aid of the Portuguese caravel and helped to win.

At the very beginning of 1510, the career of Magalhäins as a navigator almost came to an end: during the unsuccessful assault on Calicut, he was seriously wounded, and again. The first wound he received during the campaign against Morocco made him lame for life. Dejected Fernand decided to return to his homeland.

Magellan's route
Magellan's route

Magellan's route

In the spring, a small flotilla of three ships set sail from Cochin for Portugal. On board one of the ships was also Magalhaes. But this time he never got home. A hundred miles off the Indian coast, two ships ran into the underwater rocks of the dangerous Padua shoal and sank. The officers and noble passengers decided to return to India on the remaining ship, leaving without water and food on a narrow sandy shoal their rootless companions, who had no place on the ship. Fernand refused to sail with them: nobility and high rank were a kind of guarantee that help could be sent for those who remained. In the end it happened. Two weeks later, the victims of the crash were rescued and upon arrival in India they told everywhere about the extraordinary firmness of their patron, who, in difficult conditions, managed to awaken hope in people and strengthen resilience.

Fernand stayed in India for some time. According to the documents, he boldly expressed his opinion in cases where the other captains were silent. This, probably, could be the main reason for his disagreements with the new Viceroy Afonso di Albuquerque.

Portugal

Summer 1512 - Magalhaes returned to Portugal. This is evidenced by an entry in the payroll of the royal court, according to which he was assigned a monthly royal pension of 1,000 Portuguese reais. After 4 weeks, it was almost doubled, which may indicate that the merits of the valiant captain were recognized by the court.

During the war with the Moors Azamora (modern Azemmour in Morocco), Fernand was appointed major, that is, he received a rather prestigious and profitable position. The prisoners and all the captured trophies were at his complete disposal. The post provided unlimited opportunities for personal enrichment, so Magalhäns had no shortage of ill-wishers.

After some time, he was groundlessly accused of organizing an attack by the Moors on a herd and allowing him to steal 400 head of cattle, receiving a lot of money for this. After a while, the charge was dropped, but the offended Fernand resigned.

Left without sufficient means of subsistence, the warrior known for his valor hoped for the king's mercy. He asked Manuel to increase his pension by just R $ 200. But the king did not like people with a strong character and, according to the chronicler Barrusha, "… always disgusted him," and therefore refused. Outraged Magalhães in 1517 secretly left his homeland and moved to Spain.

Spain

From this time, the history of an unprecedented sea voyage around the Earth begins, the sphericity of which was then only assumed. And the merit of its organization and implementation belongs entirely to Fernand Magallains, who henceforth became Fernand Magellan.

Later, King Manuel caught himself and, with perseverance worthy of better use, began to prevent Magellan in the implementation of his plans. But the mistake could not be corrected, and Portugal, for the second time after the story with Christopher Columbus, lost the chance to benefit from the discoveries of their great sons, underestimating their potential.

"Moluccan Armada" - Magellan ships
"Moluccan Armada" - Magellan ships

"Moluccan Armada" - Magellan ships

It is known that while still in Portugal, he carefully studied nautical charts, made acquaintances with sailors and dealt with the problems of determining geographic longitude. All this helped him a lot in realizing his idea.

According to the papal bull Inter cetera of 1493, all new territories opened to the east of the demarcation line established in 1494 belonged to Portugal, and to the west to Spain. But the method of calculating geographic longitude, adopted at that time, did not provide an opportunity for a clear demarcation of the Western Hemisphere. Therefore, Magellan, as well as his friend and assistant, astrologer and cosmographer Ruy Faleiro, believed that the Moluccas should not belong to Portugal, but to Spain.

1518, March - they presented their project to the Council of India. After lengthy negotiations, it was accepted, and the Spanish king Carlos I (aka the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V) undertook to equip 5 ships and allocate supplies for 2 years. In the event of the discovery of new lands, companions were given the right to become their rulers. They also received 20% of the income. At the same time, the rights were to be inherited.

Not long before this significant event, serious changes took place in the life of Fernand. Arriving in Seville, he joined a colony of Portuguese emigrants. One of them, the commandant of the Seville fortress of the Alcazar, Diogu Barbosa, introduced the valiant captain into his family. His son Duarte became a close friend of Fernand, and his daughter Beatrice became his wife.

Magellan really did not want to leave his young, ardently loving wife and his newly born son, but duty, ambition and the desire to provide for his family persistently called him to sea. Faleiro's unfavorable astrological forecast could not stop him either. But it was because of this that Ryu refused to participate in the voyage, and Magellan became its sole boss and organizer.

Magellan's circumnavigation

In Seville, 5 vessels were trained - the flagship Trinidad, San Antonio, Concepcion, Victoria and Santiago. On September 20, 1519, Fernand Magellan said goodbye to the pregnant Beatrice and the newborn Rodrigo at the pier and ordered to raise the anchor. They were not destined to see each other again.

In the lists of the small flotilla there were 265 people: commanders and helmsmen, boatswains, gunners, ordinary sailors, priests, carpenters, caulkers, coopers, soldiers and people who did not have specific duties. All this motley multinational crew (in addition to the Spaniards and the Portuguese, it also included Italians, Germans, French, Flemings, Sicilians, British, Moors and Malays) had to be kept in check. And the dissatisfaction began almost from the first weeks of the voyage. The agents of the Portuguese king infiltrated the ships, and by the diligence of the Portuguese consul in Seville, Alvaris, the holds were partially filled with rotten flour, moldy breadcrumbs and rotten corned beef.

On September 26, the sailors reached the Canary Islands, on October 3 they headed for Brazil, and on December 13 they entered the bay of Rio de Janeiro. From here, travelers headed south along the South American coast in search of a passage to the "South Sea", while moving only during the day, so as not to miss it in the dark. 1520, March 31 - the ships entered the San Julian Bay off the coast of Patagonia for wintering.

Mutiny

Soon Magellan had to give the order to reduce the diet. But part of the crew opposed this decision and began to demand a return to Spain, but received a decisive refusal. Then, during the celebration of Easter, the leaders of the rebels, taking advantage of the fact that the bulk of the crews went ashore, were able to capture three ships.

Fernand Magellan - suppression of insurrection
Fernand Magellan - suppression of insurrection

Fernand Magellan - suppression of insurrection

Magellan decided to use force and cunning. He sent several loyal men to Victoria with a letter to the rebellious treasurer Luis de Mendoza. He was stabbed to death while reading the letter, and the crew offered no resistance. The next day, two rebel captains, Gaspar de Quesada and Juan de Cartagena, tried to withdraw their ships from the bay, but their way was blocked by the Trinidad, Santiago and the Victoria, which was repulsed from the rebels. San Antonio surrendered without resisting. Quesada, who commanded them, was immediately arrested, and after a while Cartagena was also captured.

By order of Fernand Magellan, Mendoza's dead body was quartered, Quesada's head was cut off, and Cartagena and the traitor-priest Pedro Sanchez de la Reina were left on the shore. But the rebel sailors were not hurt. They were given life, mainly because they were needed for ship work.

Strait of Magellan

Soon the squadron, which had lost the Santiago during reconnaissance, moved further south. But the betrayal did not stop there. On November 1, when the squadron was already navigating the desired strait, later named Magellanov, the helmsman Ishteban Gomish, taking advantage of the fact that his ship was out of sight from the rest of the ships, seized the San Antonio and fled to Spain. Magellan never learned about the betrayal, nor did he learn what fateful role Gomesh played in the fate of his family. Arriving in Spain, the deserter accused his captain-general of treason to the king. As a result, Beatrice and her children were placed under house arrest and interrogation. She was deprived of state benefits and left in dire need. Neither she nor her sons lived to see the return of the expedition. And Gomes for "outstanding services rendered to the Magellan flotilla"was awarded the knighthood by the king.

Discovery of the Mariana Islands

On November 28, Fernand Magellan's ships entered the ocean, on which no European had yet sailed. The weather, fortunately, remained good, and the navigator called the ocean Pacific. Crossing it, he traveled at least 17 thousand km and discovered many small islands, but inaccurate calculations did not allow identifying them with any specific points on the map. Only the discovery at the beginning of March 1521 of two inhabited islands, Guam and Rota, the southernmost of the Mariana Islands group, is considered indisputable. Magellan called them the Rogues. The islanders stole a boat from the sailors, and the captain-general, having landed with a detachment ashore, burned several native huts.

This voyage lasted almost 4 months. Despite the absence of hurricanes characteristic of this area, people had a very hard time. They were forced to feed on biscuit dust mixed with worms, drink rotten water, eat cowhides, sawdust and ship rats. These creatures seemed to them almost a delicacy and were sold for half a ducat apiece.

The crew was tortured by scurvy, many people died. But Magellan continued to confidently lead the squadron forward and somehow, on the offer to return, declared: "We will go forward, even if we had to eat all the cowhide."

Discovery of the Philippine Islands

1521, March 15 - the expedition ended up near the island of Samar (Philippines), and a week later, moving as before to the west, arrived to the island of Limassava, where Magellan's slave, Malay Enrique, heard his native speech. This meant that the travelers were somewhere near the Spice Islands, that is, they had almost completed their task.

And yet the navigator strove to reach the cherished islands. But he decided to stay for a while to convert Filipinos to Christianity.

1521, April 7 - The flotilla anchored off the island of Cebu, where a large port and the residence of the Rajah were located. The sincerely religious Magellan insisted that the islanders accept Christianity without relying on any material benefits, but, unwillingly, convinced the natives that they could count on a favorable attitude from the powerful Spanish king only if they renounce the old faith and worship the cross.

On April 14, the ruler of Cebu, Humabon, decided to be baptized. The cunning raja, now called Carlos, enlisted the support of Magellan against his pagan enemies and, thus, in one day subdued all who challenged his power. In addition, Humabon secured a promise that when Magellan returned to the Philippines at the head of a large fleet, he would make him the sole ruler of all the islands as a reward for the Raja's first adoption of Christianity. Moreover, the rulers of the nearby islands began to be brought into obedience. But the chieftain of one of these islands, Mactana, by the name of Silapulapu, did not want to submit to Carlos-Humabon. Then the navigator decided to use force.

Death of Magellan

1521, April 27 - 60 armed men in armor, with several small guns, boarded boats and headed for Mactan. They were accompanied by several hundred of Humabon's warriors. But luck turned away from the Spaniards. The captain-general underestimated the enemy, not remembering in time the history of the conquest of Mexico by Hernan Cortez, when a handful of Spaniards were able to capture an entire country. In the battle with the warriors of Mactan, his battle-hardened companions were defeated, and the captain-general himself laid down his head. During the retreat to the boats, the natives overtook him in the water. Wounded in the arm and leg, the already lame Magellan fell. Further eloquently described by the chronicler of the expedition Antonio Pigafett:

“The captain fell face down, and immediately they threw iron and bamboo spears at him and began to strike with the cleavers until they ruined our mirror, our light, our joy and our true leader. He kept turning back to see if we all had time to plunge into the boats …"

Death of Magellan
Death of Magellan

Death of Magellan

The further fate of the sailors

Subsequent events testified to the correctness of Pigafetta, who called Magellan "the true leader." Apparently, only he could keep in check this greedy pack, ready to betray at any time.

His successors were unable to hold onto the positions they had won. The first thing they did with feverish haste was to deliver the traded goods to the ships. Then one of the new leaders thoughtlessly insulted the Malay Enrique, and he persuaded Humabon to betray. The raja lured some of the Spaniards into a trap and ordered them to be killed, and demanded a ransom for the surviving captain of the Concepción, Juan Serrau. Seeing him as a rival, João Carvalu, temporarily appointed commander of the flotilla, abandoned his comrade and ordered the sail to be set.

About 120 people survived. On three ships, by touch, often changing course, they nevertheless reached the Moluccas, destroying the worm-eaten Concepcion along the way. Here they, not thinking about the possible danger from the local population, where the Spaniards were not very fond of, and the difficulties of the way to their homeland, rushed to buy spices. In the end, the Victoria, under the command of Esteban Elcano, left Molucca, while the heavily laden Trinidad remained to be repaired. Finally, his crew, who made an unsuccessful attempt to get to Panama, was captured. For a long time, its members languished in prisons and plantations, first in the Moluccas, and then on the Banda Islands. Later they were sent to India, where they lived on alms and were under the watchful eye of the authorities. Only five in 1527 were lucky enough to return to their homeland.

And "Victoria" under the command of Elcano, diligently bypassing the route of the Portuguese ships, crossed the southern Indian Ocean, rounded the Cape of Good Hope and through the Cape Verde Islands on September 8, 1522 arrived in the Spanish harbor of San Lucar. Only 18 people survived from her crew (according to other sources - 30).

At home, the sailors had a hard time. Instead of honors, they received public repentance for one "lost" day (as a result of movement in time zones around the earth). From the point of view of the churchmen, this could only happen as a result of breaking the fast.

Elcano, however, was honored. He received a coat of arms depicting a globe with the inscription “You were the first to go around me,” and a pension of 500 ducats. And no one remembered Magellan.

The true role of this remarkable person in history was appreciated by descendants, and, unlike Columbova, she was never disputed. His voyage revolutionized the concept of Earth. After this travel, any attempts to deny the sphericity of the planet were completely stopped, it was proved that the world ocean is one, ideas about the true dimensions of the globe were obtained, it was finally established that America is an independent continent, and a strait was found between the two oceans. And it is not for nothing that Stefan Zweig wrote in his book “The Feat of Magellan”: “Only he enriches humanity, who helps him to know himself, who deepens his creative self-awareness. And in this sense, the feat accomplished by Magellan surpasses all the feats of his time."

G. Shcherbak