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Magellan's Recovery of a Lost Cause Essay

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Magellan the now world famous leader of the voyage that circumnavigated the globe has died, yet there are eighteen men left continuing on a trip for home. Antonio Pigafetta is recording the voyage’s experiences post Magellan’s leadership and must salvage the remaining crew and ship in the most serviceable way to the King of Spain. It is 1521 and the Victoria is the only remaining ship of the expedition sailing in what is now the Philippines searching for islands to commence trade with, the primary reason they are on a voyage to circumnavigate the globe in search of a faster trade route than the commonly used route under Africa. Pigafetta primarily writes about the availability of food, the willingness to trade by the natives, and some of…show more content…
This voyage was not focused on trading large quantities of goods, but wanted to acquire enough to take home. Pigafetta notes the treatment of the explorers by the king such as:
“When we arrived at the city, we remained about two hours in the ship un til two elephants covered in silk came, and twelve men, each with a porcelain jai covered with silk, to carry our gifts. Then we mounted the elephants, and the twelve men marched ahead with the jars and gifts. And so we went to the governor’s house, where we were given a supper of divers viands, and at night we slept on cotton mattresses.” Later when speaking with the King of the island they say that they:
“And we told him that we were servants of the King of Spain, who desired peace with him and required no more than to trade. The king caused us to be told that, since the King of Spain was his friend, he was very willing to be his, and he ordered that we should be allowed to take water and wood and merchandise at our will.
Pigafetta has now shown that the voyage that although costly so far has found a viable trade route with food supply along with willing and friendly people. Not all of the people the voyage has come across have been friendly, as Magellan was killed in a skirmish. Pigafetta is showing that there are some viable options to successfully create a new trade route to Asia if more careful interaction with locals is taken on. Based on the fact that five ships were
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