Magellan's Recovery of a Lost Cause Essay

1519: a Spanish armada of five ships set sail that would soon be the first to circumnavigate the globe. Their captain, a Portuguese noble, was an accomplished student of cartography and astronomy. Europe’s cravings for spices sent Columbus to Asia, and into the barrier that was the Americas. Magellan’s expedition sought to find a way through, on a mission to bring a new trade route and immense wealth to Spain. Through the crew’s starvation, two mutinies against him, and his harsh personality and lack of accomplishment, Magellan proved his life was not worth saving.

Restall’s ultimate goal in writing this book is to provide readers and scholars alike with a more realistic viewpoint and history of the Spanish conquest. He wishes to dispel the many myths that accompany the epic tale so as to provide a better understanding of who the natives were and, more importantly to Restall, who the Spanish were. He does an excellent job of questioning the who, what, and where of the personalities and motives of the men involved in conquest. These questions are heartily answered in a well-written and easy to read history book.

Lastly the third reason why Magellan led himself to his deathbed. Magellan’s navigational skills were poor. According to Over the Edge of the World, By Harper Collins “he regularly sent small scouting parties in the long boats”, “they would go and come back with news of the findings.. And the rest would follow” Gines de Mafra recalled. This evidence shows that Magellan had planned the way easily, but doing it was difficult. Magellan purely relied on his search parties to go throughout the way. You might argue that he still got through and reached the spice islands, but he reached there with just a handful of men in his Armada.

Magellan was given credit for being the first to travelling around the world. He had begun his voyage on September 20th, 1519. Magellan was fascinated and determined by the idea of finding the Spice Island. Magellan had done many minor explorations before. The exploration of Columbus gave him the idea of a successful expedition to The Caribbean. Magellan had asked the Portuguese king to support his expedition but the king had denied his offer. So he went to Spanish Royalty to ask for help which was granted. The Spanish King agreed to give an armada of five ships. Magellan should have been defended because he is determined, he has good navigation skills and he was religious.

from sending out magicians and warlocks hoping that they could harm the Spaniards with their

Exploration of the oceans was very popular during the time of Spanish explorer Ferdinand Magellan and English explorer Sir Francis Drake. Ferdinand Magellan was a young Portuguese man who enlisted under the Spanish king before he began his expedition to go on a trip around the world on the 10th of August in 1519 (“Ferdinand” 1). Ferdinand Magellan was in search of both fortune and fame, and he left Spain with 5 ships in hopes of finding a western course for the Spice Islands (“Ferdinand Magellan”). Sir Francis Drake led the English voyage for maritime exploration, sailing off in 1577 with 5 ships to embark on a journey around South America via the Straits of Magellan (“Francis”). Both voyages and explorers were met with several challenges in which they had to quickly resolve.

Spain, being recently unified, wanted spices and gold. The gold to them could purchase anything. So they offered Christopher Columbus ten percent of the profit, if he would bring back gold and spices. Christopher Columbus was sent to Asia with three ships: the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria.

During Columbus’ journey, he had found the people of Espanola to be very generous with all of their possessions but they behaved very timorous. He perceives them as barbaric and uneducated because of their use of clothes and weapons, “… all go naked, men and women, as their mothers bore them… they

From the Spanish port of Palos, Italian explorer Christopher Columbus sets sail in command of three ships—the Santa Maria, the Pinta, and the Nina—on a journey to find a western sea route to China, India, and the fabled gold and spice islands of Asia.

Although he was able to use his cartography and navigational skills to discover the Magellan Strait, he did not fulfill his word to the fullest. As mentioned before, he did not return all of his men, not even a quarter of them. That is no circumstance that a king wants to support. As a leader, Magellan could not even keep his men alive, let alone content. When he later decided he had a higher calling, he failed again. He could not convert the people of Cebu in a peaceful way, which led to more negativity tainting his name. Most importantly, after three hard years, Magellan never made it to the Spice Islands, although he was close (Document A). The surviving eighteen men on the Victoria, who lasted under Magellan's leadership, are credited with returning to Spain rich in spices (Document A). Although he led the first voyage through the Magellan Strait, and the Victoria circumnavigated the globe, many after him would demonstrate it was achievable. Sir Francis Drake follow the same path as Magellan, showing that the world could have survived without the harsh

Christopher Columbus sailed across the Atlantic Ocean he was born in Italy thereafter, became a sailor in Portugal who had a passion for sailing. As he got older, he became a captain who desired to travel around the world with a map he come across with only continents parts of Africa, Europe, and Asia. There were plenty of European traders that wanted to sail west from the other side of the Ocean they thought they would find treasure valuable items spices, jewels and gold to trade. His plan was to sail west to China calculating his journey from Spain will take him approximately 21 days he underestimates his distance.

Christopher Columbus is one of the most famous explorers in history. An Italian explorer, born in 1451, Columbus would become famous for his exploration of the Atlantic that lead to the colonization of the Americas. However, Columbus had other explorations, many before his voyage to the Americas. Almost losing his life in his first voyage in the Atlantic, Columbus continued to explore, and sail to Africa. Eventually, in 1492, Columbus set sail west, towards what he hoped to be a route to India. Columbus’s first stop was an Island in the Bahamas, which he claimed for Spain. Columbus then returned to Spain, but quickly left for his second voyage, discovering more Islands and discovering the mainland of modern day Venezuela. Returning to Spain,

King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella saw something in Columbus that others didn’t see in funding his voyage. Columbus was born close to the seaport so his thrive of sailing came strong. Columbus started sailing at the age of fourteen. Columbus numerous trips before his first big voyage help him by giving him skills to prepare for his voyage. Columbus desire to find new undiscovered land emerged greatly as Columbus mastered his navigation skills. In Lisbon Columbus studied mathematics,astronomy,cartography and navigation. King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella saw a sailor that was thought young and that was well educated about the sea with a thrive for helping out in the sea.

To begin with, something that both Portuguese and Spanish explorers had in common was their desire for a better and wealthier future. With the Portuguese Prince Henry, "the Navigator" was mainly the head of his country's explorations. The reading mentions that the Portuguese quickly established trading stations in the region and soon were exporting gold and slaves to other parts. With the expansion of trade and Portuguese

First of all, Ferdinand Magellan’s early life holds many prized moments in his life. One example is that he got interested in exploring when he was a young boy. Some people told Ferdinand Magellan about the riches in Asia. In addition, he was also told stories about the rivalry between Portugal and Spanish. Ferdinand Magellan participated in several expeditions in India and Africa for 7 years. He joined a 500-ship with about 15,000 other soldiers who were sent to Morocco by the king. While he was in Morocco,