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Over the Edge of the World: Magellan's Terrifying Circumnavigation of the Globe
Ferdinand Magellan's daring circumnavigation of the globe in the sixteenth century was a three-year odyssey filled with sex, violence, and amazing adventure. Now in Over the Edge of the World, biographer and journalist Laurence Bergreen entwines a variety of candid, firsthand accounts, bringing to life this groundbreaking and majestic tale of discovery that changed both the way explorers would henceforth navigate the oceans and history itself.
438 pages, Paperback
First published October 14, 2003
About the author
Laurence Bergreen
18 books283 followersLaurence Bergreen is an award-winning biographer, historian, and chronicler of exploration. His books have been translated into over 20 languages worldwide. In October 2007, Alfred A. Knopf published Marco Polo: From Venice to Xanadu, a groundbreaking biography of the iconic traveler. Warner Brothers is developing a feature film based on this book starring Matt Damon and written by William Monahan, who won an Oscar for “The Departed.”
His previous work, Over the Edge of the World: Magellan’s Terrifying Circumnavigation of the Globe, was published to international acclaim by William Morrow/HarperCollins in October 2003. A New York Times “Notable Book” for 2003, it is also in development as a motion picture and is now in its tenth printing.
In addition, Bergreen is the author of Voyage to Mars: NASA’s Search for Life Beyond Earth, a narrative of NASA’s exploration of Mars, published in November 2000 by Penguin Putnam. Dramatic rights were acquired by TNT.
In 1997, Bantam Doubleday Dell published Louis Armstrong: An Extravagant Life, a comprehensive biography drawing on unpublished manuscripts and exclusive interviews with Armstrong colleagues and friends. It appeared on many “Best Books of 1997” lists, including those of the San Francisco Chronicle, the Philadelphia Inquirer, and Publishers Weekly, and has been published in Germany, Finland, and Great Britain. In 1994, Simon & Schuster published his Capone: The Man and the Era. A Book-of-the-Month Club selection, it has been published in numerous foreign languages, was optioned by Miramax, and was a New York Times “Notable Book.”
His biography, As Thousands Cheer: The Life of Irving Berlin, appeared in 1990. This book won the Ralph J. Gleason Music Book Award and the ASCAP-Deems Taylor award and received front-page reviews in major American and British newspapers and appeared on bestseller lists; it was also a New York Times “Notable Book” for 1990. His previous biography, James Agee: A Life, was also critically acclaimed and was a New York Times “Notable Book” for 1984. His first book was Look Now, Pay Later: The Rise of Network Broadcasting, published by Doubleday in 1980.
He has written for many national publications including Esquire, Newsweek, TV Guide, Details, Prologue, The Chicago Tribune, and Military History Quarterly. He has taught at the New School for Social Research and served as Assistant to the President of the Museum of Television and Radio in New York. In 1995, he served as a judge for the National Book Awards and in 1991 as a judge for the PEN/Albrand Nonfiction Award. A frequent lecturer at major universities and symposiums, he also serves as a Featured Historian for the History Channel.
Mr. Bergreen graduated from Harvard University in 1972. He is a member of PEN American Center, The Explorers Club, the Authors Guild, and the board of the New York Society Library. He lives in New York City and is represented by Suzanne Gluck of the William Morris Agency.
His previous work, Over the Edge of the World: Magellan’s Terrifying Circumnavigation of the Globe, was published to international acclaim by William Morrow/HarperCollins in October 2003. A New York Times “Notable Book” for 2003, it is also in development as a motion picture and is now in its tenth printing.
In addition, Bergreen is the author of Voyage to Mars: NASA’s Search for Life Beyond Earth, a narrative of NASA’s exploration of Mars, published in November 2000 by Penguin Putnam. Dramatic rights were acquired by TNT.
In 1997, Bantam Doubleday Dell published Louis Armstrong: An Extravagant Life, a comprehensive biography drawing on unpublished manuscripts and exclusive interviews with Armstrong colleagues and friends. It appeared on many “Best Books of 1997” lists, including those of the San Francisco Chronicle, the Philadelphia Inquirer, and Publishers Weekly, and has been published in Germany, Finland, and Great Britain. In 1994, Simon & Schuster published his Capone: The Man and the Era. A Book-of-the-Month Club selection, it has been published in numerous foreign languages, was optioned by Miramax, and was a New York Times “Notable Book.”
His biography, As Thousands Cheer: The Life of Irving Berlin, appeared in 1990. This book won the Ralph J. Gleason Music Book Award and the ASCAP-Deems Taylor award and received front-page reviews in major American and British newspapers and appeared on bestseller lists; it was also a New York Times “Notable Book” for 1990. His previous biography, James Agee: A Life, was also critically acclaimed and was a New York Times “Notable Book” for 1984. His first book was Look Now, Pay Later: The Rise of Network Broadcasting, published by Doubleday in 1980.
He has written for many national publications including Esquire, Newsweek, TV Guide, Details, Prologue, The Chicago Tribune, and Military History Quarterly. He has taught at the New School for Social Research and served as Assistant to the President of the Museum of Television and Radio in New York. In 1995, he served as a judge for the National Book Awards and in 1991 as a judge for the PEN/Albrand Nonfiction Award. A frequent lecturer at major universities and symposiums, he also serves as a Featured Historian for the History Channel.
Mr. Bergreen graduated from Harvard University in 1972. He is a member of PEN American Center, The Explorers Club, the Authors Guild, and the board of the New York Society Library. He lives in New York City and is represented by Suzanne Gluck of the William Morris Agency.
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October 27, 2023
I am a sucker for books like this—stories of survival and exploration—and this one must be among the best. It has everything: wild orgies, bloody battles, mutinies, shipwrecks, torture, disease, treasure—and all of this excitement is woven into a historically significant tale. Indeed, aside from being just a darn good story, Magellan’s voyage provides an insightful window into its time: the state of navigation, of European politics, and of global trade, as well as a snapshot of early European encounters with other cultures (it did not go well).
Magellan was arguably a victim of the same misconception that misled Columbus: namely, that the earth was significantly smaller than it really is. Just as Columbus believed that he could make it to Asia simply by heading straight across the Atlantic, so did Magellan believe that the spice islands would be within a few days or, at most, weeks sail beyond South America. Both were mistaken, though for Magellan’s crew the consequences were significantly more dire.
In the 99 days at sea between the strait which now bears the explorer’s name, and their first landfall at Guam, nineteen sailors died of scurvy, and many others fell gravely ill. (Of the 270 sailors who set out on the voyage, 173 would die, 55 would desert, 12 would be taken prisoner, and only 30 would successfully complete the circumnavigation.)
In retrospect, it is difficult to believe that Europeans could remain so ignorant for so long about the causes of scurvy (vitamin C deficiency). Somehow, it did not even cross the sailors’ minds that their diet of biscuits and dried meat could be the cause of their ill health. Even seemingly obviously sources of evidence—such as their quick recovery upon eating fresh fruit, or the seeming immunity from the disease of all those (like Magellan) who were eating preserved quince—did not provoke any sort of epiphany. Instead, the sailors vaguely chalked up the disease to “bad air.” This is an illustrative moment in the history of science, for it shows how background assumptions and beliefs shape the sorts of things we are inclined to view as pertinent evidence.
Indeed, many aspects of this voyage strike the modern reader as absurd. For one, the expedition’s main objective was the acquisition of spices—namely, cloves, nutmeg, and cinnamon. Considering that virtually anyone can now obtain each of these spices in a supermarket for a pittance, it beggars belief that so many sailors would risk their lives for such a purpose. At the time, these “exotic” spices were only grown in a few islands in the Pacific Ocean, and were thus rarer and more valuable than gold. Nowadays, in the age of factory farming, this is obviously not the case—a vivid lesson in supply and demand. What used to be the quintessential marker of extreme wealth are now the standard components of a pumpkin spice latte.
Another absurdity is that Magellan never intended to circumnavigate the globe. Thinking that the spice islands (the Moluccas) were not very far from South America, his plan was to return the way he came. Instead, he proved that his new route to Asia was entirely impractical, with virtually no commercial prospects whatsoever. The Pacific Ocean (which he named) proved to be both far too big and not at all “pacific.” Ironically, the main accomplishment of the voyage was intellectual—proving, for example, that the earth was far larger than previously thought—which had nothing to do with its original purpose. Certainly, Magellan himself was the furthest thing from a scientist.
If I have one criticism of the book, it is that Bergreen is far too laudatory of Magellan, using words like “heroic” to describe him and his men. The man was undoubtedly impressive: brave to the point of foolhardiness, determined to the point of stubbornness, and a highly skilled navigator. However, he was hardly an exemplary leader. Brutal, cruel, highhanded, he did not inspire any loyalty among his armada. He was almost the victim of a popular mutiny (and, in any case, one ship did sneak back to Spain), and he was possibly abandoned by the bulk of his men during the battle that claimed his life. One can clearly see the shape of European colonization to come in his attempts at mass conversion and his willingness to kill and enslave those he comes across.
It is yet another irony that the man most famous for circumnavigating the globe only got about halfway before dying in an ill-advised and unnecessary battle. Interestingly, though in Spain Juan Sebastián Elcano—the captain who led the survivors back to Spain after Magellan’s death—is almost as famous as Magellan himself, the Basque mariner does not feature prominently in this book. Elcano, for his part, is certainly a less colorful character than the Portuguese commander, though he must have been a skilled leader to have successfully completed the voyage. (He later died of scurvy on another expedition.) In celebration of the 500th anniversary of the voyage (completed on September 6, 1522), there was even a cantata written in Elcano’s honor and performed at the National Spanish Auditorium. Unfortunately, there were no more tickets available, and I missed it.
Yet if this strange and terrible voyage had a true hero, I would argue it was neither Magellan nor Elcano, but the Venetian nobleman, Antonio Pigafetta. A gentleman scholar, he kept a diary of the voyage that has proven to be a trove of information. He was endlessly curious, and made genuine attempts to understand the language and culture of some of the places they visited. It is largely thanks to him that we have such a vivid account of the voyage. And I think a good story is worth all the tea in China—or all the cloves in the Moluccas.
Magellan was arguably a victim of the same misconception that misled Columbus: namely, that the earth was significantly smaller than it really is. Just as Columbus believed that he could make it to Asia simply by heading straight across the Atlantic, so did Magellan believe that the spice islands would be within a few days or, at most, weeks sail beyond South America. Both were mistaken, though for Magellan’s crew the consequences were significantly more dire.
In the 99 days at sea between the strait which now bears the explorer’s name, and their first landfall at Guam, nineteen sailors died of scurvy, and many others fell gravely ill. (Of the 270 sailors who set out on the voyage, 173 would die, 55 would desert, 12 would be taken prisoner, and only 30 would successfully complete the circumnavigation.)
In retrospect, it is difficult to believe that Europeans could remain so ignorant for so long about the causes of scurvy (vitamin C deficiency). Somehow, it did not even cross the sailors’ minds that their diet of biscuits and dried meat could be the cause of their ill health. Even seemingly obviously sources of evidence—such as their quick recovery upon eating fresh fruit, or the seeming immunity from the disease of all those (like Magellan) who were eating preserved quince—did not provoke any sort of epiphany. Instead, the sailors vaguely chalked up the disease to “bad air.” This is an illustrative moment in the history of science, for it shows how background assumptions and beliefs shape the sorts of things we are inclined to view as pertinent evidence.
Indeed, many aspects of this voyage strike the modern reader as absurd. For one, the expedition’s main objective was the acquisition of spices—namely, cloves, nutmeg, and cinnamon. Considering that virtually anyone can now obtain each of these spices in a supermarket for a pittance, it beggars belief that so many sailors would risk their lives for such a purpose. At the time, these “exotic” spices were only grown in a few islands in the Pacific Ocean, and were thus rarer and more valuable than gold. Nowadays, in the age of factory farming, this is obviously not the case—a vivid lesson in supply and demand. What used to be the quintessential marker of extreme wealth are now the standard components of a pumpkin spice latte.
Another absurdity is that Magellan never intended to circumnavigate the globe. Thinking that the spice islands (the Moluccas) were not very far from South America, his plan was to return the way he came. Instead, he proved that his new route to Asia was entirely impractical, with virtually no commercial prospects whatsoever. The Pacific Ocean (which he named) proved to be both far too big and not at all “pacific.” Ironically, the main accomplishment of the voyage was intellectual—proving, for example, that the earth was far larger than previously thought—which had nothing to do with its original purpose. Certainly, Magellan himself was the furthest thing from a scientist.
If I have one criticism of the book, it is that Bergreen is far too laudatory of Magellan, using words like “heroic” to describe him and his men. The man was undoubtedly impressive: brave to the point of foolhardiness, determined to the point of stubbornness, and a highly skilled navigator. However, he was hardly an exemplary leader. Brutal, cruel, highhanded, he did not inspire any loyalty among his armada. He was almost the victim of a popular mutiny (and, in any case, one ship did sneak back to Spain), and he was possibly abandoned by the bulk of his men during the battle that claimed his life. One can clearly see the shape of European colonization to come in his attempts at mass conversion and his willingness to kill and enslave those he comes across.
It is yet another irony that the man most famous for circumnavigating the globe only got about halfway before dying in an ill-advised and unnecessary battle. Interestingly, though in Spain Juan Sebastián Elcano—the captain who led the survivors back to Spain after Magellan’s death—is almost as famous as Magellan himself, the Basque mariner does not feature prominently in this book. Elcano, for his part, is certainly a less colorful character than the Portuguese commander, though he must have been a skilled leader to have successfully completed the voyage. (He later died of scurvy on another expedition.) In celebration of the 500th anniversary of the voyage (completed on September 6, 1522), there was even a cantata written in Elcano’s honor and performed at the National Spanish Auditorium. Unfortunately, there were no more tickets available, and I missed it.
Yet if this strange and terrible voyage had a true hero, I would argue it was neither Magellan nor Elcano, but the Venetian nobleman, Antonio Pigafetta. A gentleman scholar, he kept a diary of the voyage that has proven to be a trove of information. He was endlessly curious, and made genuine attempts to understand the language and culture of some of the places they visited. It is largely thanks to him that we have such a vivid account of the voyage. And I think a good story is worth all the tea in China—or all the cloves in the Moluccas.
August 5, 2016
When you're old like me, you hear stories about these explorers (if ya know what I mean...wink wink), but usually it's a truncated version handed down to you from a school teacher back in the 1970s, who wasn't much more well-versed in the subject than yourself...
"In 1521, Mr. Magellan was the first man to sail around the world. This was at a time when the world was flat, so it was very tricky!"
Okay, my miseducation wasn't as bad as all that. However, it is nice to fill in the gaps of knowledge with seemingly well-researched books like Laurence Bergreen's Over the Edge of the World: Magellan's Terrifying Circumnavigation of the Globe.
A good amount of time is spent on Magellan's struggle just to get the backing to begin his endeavor. Maybe that might bore some people, especially since it's right up front. Getting to the actual voyage takes some time, but once you on the ship, Bergreen does a good job of making you feel like one of the crew members. Great descriptions abound of ship life, the terrible food, and general hardships endured by sailors of the period.
Beyond the hardships, there was also the great unknown. Legends and horrors imagined and intentionally invented spooked the bejesus out of people back in a time when a good part of the world was still unknown by Europeans. Just having the gonads to try this sort of caper is impressive, and this book gets you to understand the monumental importance of it all.
Using various sources, Bergreen is also able to get inside the minds of the men and that is what makes this a truly good read. It's quite rare to have so many accounts with which to draw upon for corroboration and insight for an event that happened 500 years ago. The author puts it to good use in explaining motives or at least expostulating with a fairly high level of certainty on what moved the minds of not only Magellan, but many of the important figures associated with this incredible event.
While not a perfect book, it is perfectly good and recommended for those interested in the subject and willing to slog through the minutia of history in order to glimpse scenes from an incredible and often misguided voyage.
"In 1521, Mr. Magellan was the first man to sail around the world. This was at a time when the world was flat, so it was very tricky!"
Okay, my miseducation wasn't as bad as all that. However, it is nice to fill in the gaps of knowledge with seemingly well-researched books like Laurence Bergreen's Over the Edge of the World: Magellan's Terrifying Circumnavigation of the Globe.
A good amount of time is spent on Magellan's struggle just to get the backing to begin his endeavor. Maybe that might bore some people, especially since it's right up front. Getting to the actual voyage takes some time, but once you on the ship, Bergreen does a good job of making you feel like one of the crew members. Great descriptions abound of ship life, the terrible food, and general hardships endured by sailors of the period.
Beyond the hardships, there was also the great unknown. Legends and horrors imagined and intentionally invented spooked the bejesus out of people back in a time when a good part of the world was still unknown by Europeans. Just having the gonads to try this sort of caper is impressive, and this book gets you to understand the monumental importance of it all.
Using various sources, Bergreen is also able to get inside the minds of the men and that is what makes this a truly good read. It's quite rare to have so many accounts with which to draw upon for corroboration and insight for an event that happened 500 years ago. The author puts it to good use in explaining motives or at least expostulating with a fairly high level of certainty on what moved the minds of not only Magellan, but many of the important figures associated with this incredible event.
While not a perfect book, it is perfectly good and recommended for those interested in the subject and willing to slog through the minutia of history in order to glimpse scenes from an incredible and often misguided voyage.
June 17, 2022
Page 194 my book
No other voyage during the Age of Discovery would ever equal it for ambition and daring.
This is an eloquent and exuberant book on possibly one of the greatest sea adventures of all time.
In 1519 Magellan set out from Spain with five ships (the Armada de Moluccas) to circumnavigate the globe. They were in search of the Spice Islands (now called the Maluku Islands) off the coast of present-day Indonesia for cloves, nutmeg, mace … During that era these were incredibly valuable and desired (much like oil is today).
Magellan was the first to go around the tip of South America through the strait that now bares his name. When these ships (there were now just three; one was destroyed by a sea storm and another mutinied and went back to Spain) exited the strait into the vast Pacific Ocean, they had entered entirely new sea-faring territory. They were totally unaware of the vast distance they would have to travel to reach the Spice Islands.
Page 202-03 - after exiting the Strait of Magellan and entering the Pacific Ocean
The men of the Armada de Moluccas looked on the scene with foreboding. They knew the voyage was far from over, in a sense, it had only begun. No matter how great the feat of navigating the strait from one ocean to another, it would have little value unless the armada reached the Spice Islands wherever they were. No one on board the fleet’s three remaining ships suspected they were about to traverse the largest body of water in the world to get there.
Page 222 upon arrival at Guam in the Paific
Since leaving the western mouth of the strait [at Tierra del Fuego at the southern tip of South America] Magellan had travelled more than seven thousand miles without interruption: the longest ocean voyage recorded until that time.
This book is brimming with themes – like treachery and mutiny, individual conflicts and world struggles – a vast tension between Spain and Portugal (Magellan himself was Portuguese but was sailing for Spain) and the vast areas they wanted to trade with and to eventually try to control, first contact with divergent native inhabitants scattered in South America, and then across the Pacific Ocean. Some of this contact was brutal.
After landing on one of the Philippine Islands and trying to establish amiable relations with the inhabitants, Magellan became possessed with a Messianic fervour, wanting to convert the natives to Christianity. He overstepped himself and was hacked to pieces on a beach in Mactan in the Philippines by a rival tribal group.
The remaining crew continued on their way to the Spice Islands – where again they set-up uneasy alliances with the inhabitants. Finally, only one of the five boats made it back to Spain.
This is a thoroughly captivating true adventure epic. The author brings to life these characters and confrontations and their endurance on this long sea voyage. He gives us the historical background of the beginnings of the Age of Discovery. There is a swirl of events and power struggles in this immense exploration of the globe.
No other voyage during the Age of Discovery would ever equal it for ambition and daring.
This is an eloquent and exuberant book on possibly one of the greatest sea adventures of all time.
In 1519 Magellan set out from Spain with five ships (the Armada de Moluccas) to circumnavigate the globe. They were in search of the Spice Islands (now called the Maluku Islands) off the coast of present-day Indonesia for cloves, nutmeg, mace … During that era these were incredibly valuable and desired (much like oil is today).
Magellan was the first to go around the tip of South America through the strait that now bares his name. When these ships (there were now just three; one was destroyed by a sea storm and another mutinied and went back to Spain) exited the strait into the vast Pacific Ocean, they had entered entirely new sea-faring territory. They were totally unaware of the vast distance they would have to travel to reach the Spice Islands.
Page 202-03 - after exiting the Strait of Magellan and entering the Pacific Ocean
The men of the Armada de Moluccas looked on the scene with foreboding. They knew the voyage was far from over, in a sense, it had only begun. No matter how great the feat of navigating the strait from one ocean to another, it would have little value unless the armada reached the Spice Islands wherever they were. No one on board the fleet’s three remaining ships suspected they were about to traverse the largest body of water in the world to get there.
Page 222 upon arrival at Guam in the Paific
Since leaving the western mouth of the strait [at Tierra del Fuego at the southern tip of South America] Magellan had travelled more than seven thousand miles without interruption: the longest ocean voyage recorded until that time.
This book is brimming with themes – like treachery and mutiny, individual conflicts and world struggles – a vast tension between Spain and Portugal (Magellan himself was Portuguese but was sailing for Spain) and the vast areas they wanted to trade with and to eventually try to control, first contact with divergent native inhabitants scattered in South America, and then across the Pacific Ocean. Some of this contact was brutal.
After landing on one of the Philippine Islands and trying to establish amiable relations with the inhabitants, Magellan became possessed with a Messianic fervour, wanting to convert the natives to Christianity. He overstepped himself and was hacked to pieces on a beach in Mactan in the Philippines by a rival tribal group.
The remaining crew continued on their way to the Spice Islands – where again they set-up uneasy alliances with the inhabitants. Finally, only one of the five boats made it back to Spain.
This is a thoroughly captivating true adventure epic. The author brings to life these characters and confrontations and their endurance on this long sea voyage. He gives us the historical background of the beginnings of the Age of Discovery. There is a swirl of events and power struggles in this immense exploration of the globe.
April 18, 2015
It was a dream as old as the imagination: a voyage to the ends of the earth.
I could hardly believe this is a non-fiction book. The way Lawrence Bergreen tells it, it rivals the greatest epics of literature, with Magellan a mythical figure to rival Jason or Ulysses. Every word of the book is supported by contemporary documents and whatever speculation was needed in the absence of facts is balanced by presenting the alternative points of view. Bergreen convinced me with his very first book I read that he belongs to the top of his class of historians, not mainly through the thoroughness of his research but mostly through the passion for the subject that jumps out of every page and for the clarity, ease and focus of his prose that informs without drowning the reader in trivia or footnotes.
... Victoria and her ravaged little crew were all that was left, a ghost ship haunted by the memory of more than two hundred absent sailors. Many had died an excruciating death, some from scurvy, others by torture, and a few by drowning. Worse, Magellan, the Captain General, had been brutally killed. Despite her brave name, Victoria was not a ship of triumph, she was a vessel of desolation and anguish.
And yet, what a story those few survivors had to tell – a tale of mutiny, of orgies on distant shores, and of the exploration of the entire globe. A story that changed the course of history and the way we look at the world. In the Age of Discovery, many expeditions ended in disaster and were quickly forgotten, yet this one, despite the misfortunes that befell it, became the most important maritime voyage ever undertaken.
His other strongpoint as a historian is in the presentation of context, painting with admirable conciseness the rivalry between Spain and Portugal for control of the expanding globe, the economical motivations that funded the expedition (the Oriental spices were more valuable than gold), the religious fervor battling greed and pragmatism in the decisions of the Captain General. Bergreen finds the root of the impulse for exploration in the philosophical revolution of Western Europe in the sixteenth century, the transition from medieval reliance on myths and gospel in our understanding of the world to the scientific method of direct observation and practical testing of theories:
Rabelais had a serious point to make; he was directing his readers back to the classical Greek concept of autopsis, seeing for one’s self (and the origin of our word “autopsy”). Autopsis stressed the value of firsthand reporting; the next best thing was obtaining a reliable account from an eyewitness with firsthand knowledge.
This was a revolutionary concept in the Age of Discovery, to go see for one’s self, to study the world as it was, not as myths and sacred texts suggested that it should be.
Magellan is nothing if not a controversial figure, and balancing the sources between his enemies and his apologists must have been no easy task for the author. I believe he found this balance, and the Magellan that is portrayed in this book is alternatively a visionary and a misguided egomaniac, his death the result of both the alienation of his officers and of his blind faith in his own mission from God (I don’t think we can worry about spoilers here, this is history, not fiction). Without going into the details of the voyage, Magellan is initially leading five ships with over two hundred and fifty sailors in search of a fabled passage West around the Americas. From the very beginning, his leadership is challenged by the other captains, mistrustful of his Portuguese origins and angered by his nepotism and inflexible style of command. Events culminate in Port Saint Julian, a small gulf in Patagonia, where he has to put down a mutiny, showing both resourcefulness and cruelty in the punisments he meted out to the rebels. Descriptions of the ‘strappado’ and of waterboarding, “official” methods of torture used by the Inquisition, remind this reader uncomfortably that he have not evolved much in the moral sense in the last 500 years.
Some of the punished officers escape from Magellan’s supervision and return to Spain with one of the remaining ships, and they are the primary source of the negative accounts about the navigator, interested parties who of course wanted to justify their desertion. What these mutineers were unable to describe is the Captain General’s greatest moment, the finding and the crossing of the straits that will come to bear his name for all posterity, a methodical and daring battle with one of the most desolate and destructive maritime passages in the whole world, subject to merciless storms, freezing waters and blinding mists.
The continuation of the expedition into the newly discovered Pacific ocean is mostly uneventul, with one major remark: the truly abominable conditions aboard the remaining two ships, componded by the killing scourge of scurvy, untreatable at the time.
Was it any wonder that the ship, with all its filth and noise and nauseating odor, was called ‘pajaro puerco’, a flying pig?
Controversy marks also the arrival of Magellan in what will come to be known as the Philippines. The navigator becomes the conquistador, with a God given mission to claim these new lands for his King and to convert the heathen to his own religion. Using the superiority of his steel armored soldiers and of their firearms, Magellan commands an indiscriminate killing spree around the islands. Some of the local kings accomodate Magellan, others fight back with wooden spears in an unequal struggle that nevertheless will result in the death of the leader of the expedition. This is one of the cases where I admired Bergreen’s effort to present both sides of the story:
Today, in the Philippines, the tragic encounter between Magellan and Lapu Lapu is seen from a radically different perspective. Magellan is not regarded as a courageous explorer; instead, he is portrayed as an invader and a murderer. And Lapu Lapu has been romanticized beyond recognition.
Around this section of the narrative I have discovered another key passage, another welcome broadening of perspective. Most history books we know about are written by Western European authors, but the Age of Exploration is richer and more diverse than what we are taught in schools. Did you know that before Marco Polo there was an Arab traveller who journeyed far wider than the celebrated Venetian? (Ibn Battuta). Did you know that the first person to circumnavigate the globe was not a Spaniard or a Portuguese, but a Philippino slave who acted as pilot and translator for the Armada de Molucca? Did you know that, a few decades before Magellan, the Chinese were sending out a fleet with hundreds of huge wooden ships and almost thirty thousand men to explore the shores of the Indian and Pacific Ocean?
For sheer size, the Treasure Fleet was unrivaled until the zenith of the British navy in the nineteenth century. Despite its importance and unique character, the Treasure Fleet is little known in the West, even today. It was the creation, in many respects, of one man whose accomplishments rivaled and in some ways surpassed the more celebrated exploits of Columbus and Magellan: Cheng Ho.
I didn’t really, or I read it somewhere in a footnote, and it is the merit of Bergreen to put the Chinese achievement into the correct perspective. He is also quick to point out the major source of difference between the Western and Oriental mentalities, a difference that resulted in long centuries of hardship and subjugation for the less military oriented ‘savages’.
Unlike the Armada de Molucca, the Treasure Fleet did not conquer or claimed distant lands. Although the Chinese considered themselves culturally superior to the outside world, they had no interest in establishing a colonial or military empire. Rather, the goal was to establish trade and diplomatic relations with the “barbarians” beyond their borders and to conduct scientific research.
I liked this section of the book so much, I almost wish that the historian will write a fully developed account of the Treasure Fleet, including more quotes from the Cheng Ho diaries, like this one here:
We have beheld in the ocean huge waves like mountains rising sky-high, and we have set eyes on barbarian regions far away hidden in a blue transparency of light vapors, while our sails, loftily unfurled like clouds, day and night continued their course like that of a star, traversing the savage waves as if treading a public thoroughfare.
There is more to the book: the final arrival to the Spice Islands, the game of cat and mouse with the Portuguese who considered them their own colony, the gruelling return trip to Spain and the ensuing trials blaming Magellan for most of the woes of the expedition. One man remains faithful to the great navigator, and this is actually the person who gives us the most detailed first-hand account of the trip, the primary source for Bergreen’s biography, and the main reason the voice of the detractors was pushed back in the history books - Antonio Pigafetta:
The reader of Pigafetta’s chronicle hears his voice, alternately bold, astonished, devastated, fascinated, and, in the end, amazed to be alive in the cruelly beautiful world of his time.
I probably could have read myself the Pigafetta journals directly, but I strongly believe that Bergreen did a much better job, setting a very high standard on how a non-fiction biography should be written. I also plan to find out what other subjects he has chosen to study and write about. (I think he has one book about Marco Polo)
August 2, 2009
This is a must read book for all Filipinos. In elementary school, we are taught to memorize some facts about Ferdinand Magellan and I can still recall having to memorize the date when Magellan landed in Limasawa (Samar) and the 5 ships that were part of his expedition: Trinidad, Victoria, San Antonio, Concepcion and Santiago. Before reading this book, I could hardly recall the differenting facts that happened with each of them. This book described all those together with who Magellan was and the difficulty that he and his men experienced in search of the Spice Island during the 16th century.
Our Lapu Lapu killed Magellan. Thus for us, Lapu Lapu is the hero and Magellan is the villain. However, this book puts Magellan in a different light. Laurence Bergreen says that Magellan is a better ocean navigator than Christopher Columbus who discovered America as this paragraph states:
"Magellan's skill in negotiating the entire length of the strait is acknowledged as the single greatest feat in this history of maritime exploration. It was, perhaps, an even greater accomplishment than Columbus's discovery of the New World, because the Genoan, thinking he had arrived in China, remained befuddles to the end of his days about where he was, and what he had accomplished,and as a result he mislead others. Magellan, in contrast, realized exactly what he had done; he had, at long last, begun to correct Columbus's great navigational error."
The other important learning I had is that the Filipinos were not savages (as some foreigners would tend to believe and picture us) when Magellan and his crew landed on March 16, 1521. We were already civilized. We already had our form of government, our language (its good Magellan had a Malay, Enrique who served as his interpreter), our alphabet and we were friendly and ever hospitable. The Filipinos already knew how to make lambanog and coconut milk. Gold was everywhere! (We were rich in natural resources so foreigners took advantage of us). In the less serious side, couples were already using bolitas (although it was described differently in the book).
Also, even if Spain and Portugal were then considered as the world superpowers in that era, the book supports what other people already knew: that in our side of the globe, the civilization was alreay far advance in China. It was just that Chinese merchants were not able to go on the other side. The book says that the reason was that China was only after doing trade and scientific experiment. In contrast, Spain and Portugal's main objectives were to look for spices to make them reach (spices are as valuable then as oil now) and to expand their territories.
It was an extremely fascinating read. Thanks again, Tata J for lending another amazing book to me! Keep them coming.
Our Lapu Lapu killed Magellan. Thus for us, Lapu Lapu is the hero and Magellan is the villain. However, this book puts Magellan in a different light. Laurence Bergreen says that Magellan is a better ocean navigator than Christopher Columbus who discovered America as this paragraph states:
"Magellan's skill in negotiating the entire length of the strait is acknowledged as the single greatest feat in this history of maritime exploration. It was, perhaps, an even greater accomplishment than Columbus's discovery of the New World, because the Genoan, thinking he had arrived in China, remained befuddles to the end of his days about where he was, and what he had accomplished,and as a result he mislead others. Magellan, in contrast, realized exactly what he had done; he had, at long last, begun to correct Columbus's great navigational error."
The other important learning I had is that the Filipinos were not savages (as some foreigners would tend to believe and picture us) when Magellan and his crew landed on March 16, 1521. We were already civilized. We already had our form of government, our language (its good Magellan had a Malay, Enrique who served as his interpreter), our alphabet and we were friendly and ever hospitable. The Filipinos already knew how to make lambanog and coconut milk. Gold was everywhere! (We were rich in natural resources so foreigners took advantage of us). In the less serious side, couples were already using bolitas (although it was described differently in the book).
Also, even if Spain and Portugal were then considered as the world superpowers in that era, the book supports what other people already knew: that in our side of the globe, the civilization was alreay far advance in China. It was just that Chinese merchants were not able to go on the other side. The book says that the reason was that China was only after doing trade and scientific experiment. In contrast, Spain and Portugal's main objectives were to look for spices to make them reach (spices are as valuable then as oil now) and to expand their territories.
It was an extremely fascinating read. Thanks again, Tata J for lending another amazing book to me! Keep them coming.
May 31, 2022
There is no question that Ferdinand Magellan’s circumnavigation of the globe from 1519-1522 was a feat of unimaginable bravery and skill. The journal kept by Antonio Pigafetta on Magellan’s Trinidad and later the Victoria is a historical treasure that documents those Europeans’ first encounters with Pacific Islanders. It records Magellan’s arrogance and disrespect of the Natives’ customs and societies, and his conquering mentality which kept him from learning from his mistakes. It also is a wonderful archive of those cultures and European encounters with cannibalism, sex, food, nautical prowess, and language.
High adventure in this easy to read but well researched account.
High adventure in this easy to read but well researched account.
April 4, 2019
Are schoolkids taught about Ferdinand Magellan anymore? The reason I ask is because I do remember reading in a textbook about Magellan's around-the-world trip and how he had been the first person (at least documented) to do so. That led me, all these years later, to deciding to read this book and learn more than just some superficial facts about his voyage. I am glad I did so, and I think most people with an interest in world history or exploration will also find this to be an engaging read.
Laurence Bergreen begins the book by examining the state of the world in the late 1400s/early 1500s. Basically, with help from the Vatican, the world was cut into two spheres of influence: a Spanish half and a Portuguese half. The Spice Islands, halfway around the world in the Pacific Ocean, were coveted by both countries due to the lucrative cloves and spices that grew in abundance there. Bergreen then introduces Magellan: a man of strong convictions who managed to anger people easily. A Portuguese, he ultimately defected to Spain after numerous failed attempts to get funding from King Manuel. He found more interest from Spanish King Charles, despite the difference in nationality and the tense relations between the two countries. Indeed, Magellan's nationality would plague him throughout the voyage, despite his remaining loyal to King Charles.
The book really gets going with the voyage. Five ships set out, only two returned and one of those two never made it all the way around the world. Neither did Magellan, as he was foolishly killed in a completely unnecessary battle that he himself provoked with a tribe in the Philippines. Once Magellan got an idea into his head, it seemed impossible to get it out. The purpose of his mission was to obtain shiploads of spices and bring them back to Spain; conversion to Christianity was a distant second - something that would be nice if it could be accomplished amicably and if there was time, but not something that was imperative. But to Magellan it was, and when one tribe chose to rebuff his conversion efforts, he responded by torching one of their villages. As you can imagine, that did not go over too well, and the end result for him and some others was decidedly not pretty.
While I did not feel sorry for Magellan, it is too bad that he bumbled so foolishly into his own death. Afterwards, the remaining crew and ships (one had mutinied off the coast of South America and sailed back to Spain, another boat had been destroyed, and a third soon would be), did locate the Spice Islands and they did take on loads of the spices that they so eagerly sought. But the expedition lost its steadying hand, the one person that kept them on track. Discipline, incredibly harsh and sometimes gruesome by today's standards, deteriorated rapidly. Eventually, one of the ships did make it all the way back to Spain, but only after many men died (in fact, most of the men who set out from Seville, Spain never made it back), and endured incredibly hardships thanks to life at sea, notably scurvy.
Bergreen does a great job of mixing in cogent analysis about Magellan and the other major characters involved, including the expedition's chronicler, Antonio Pigafetta. Thanks to Pigafetta, who took copious notes throughout almost the entire length of the voyage, we are able to learn what happened. Bergreen parses these notes well, reading between the lines and, where possible, comparing Pigafetta's notes and descriptions to some of the others who kept ship logs. He also includes a good epilogue about what happened when the voyage ended, and how Magellan's travels impacted future expeditions.
Grade: A-
Laurence Bergreen begins the book by examining the state of the world in the late 1400s/early 1500s. Basically, with help from the Vatican, the world was cut into two spheres of influence: a Spanish half and a Portuguese half. The Spice Islands, halfway around the world in the Pacific Ocean, were coveted by both countries due to the lucrative cloves and spices that grew in abundance there. Bergreen then introduces Magellan: a man of strong convictions who managed to anger people easily. A Portuguese, he ultimately defected to Spain after numerous failed attempts to get funding from King Manuel. He found more interest from Spanish King Charles, despite the difference in nationality and the tense relations between the two countries. Indeed, Magellan's nationality would plague him throughout the voyage, despite his remaining loyal to King Charles.
The book really gets going with the voyage. Five ships set out, only two returned and one of those two never made it all the way around the world. Neither did Magellan, as he was foolishly killed in a completely unnecessary battle that he himself provoked with a tribe in the Philippines. Once Magellan got an idea into his head, it seemed impossible to get it out. The purpose of his mission was to obtain shiploads of spices and bring them back to Spain; conversion to Christianity was a distant second - something that would be nice if it could be accomplished amicably and if there was time, but not something that was imperative. But to Magellan it was, and when one tribe chose to rebuff his conversion efforts, he responded by torching one of their villages. As you can imagine, that did not go over too well, and the end result for him and some others was decidedly not pretty.
While I did not feel sorry for Magellan, it is too bad that he bumbled so foolishly into his own death. Afterwards, the remaining crew and ships (one had mutinied off the coast of South America and sailed back to Spain, another boat had been destroyed, and a third soon would be), did locate the Spice Islands and they did take on loads of the spices that they so eagerly sought. But the expedition lost its steadying hand, the one person that kept them on track. Discipline, incredibly harsh and sometimes gruesome by today's standards, deteriorated rapidly. Eventually, one of the ships did make it all the way back to Spain, but only after many men died (in fact, most of the men who set out from Seville, Spain never made it back), and endured incredibly hardships thanks to life at sea, notably scurvy.
Bergreen does a great job of mixing in cogent analysis about Magellan and the other major characters involved, including the expedition's chronicler, Antonio Pigafetta. Thanks to Pigafetta, who took copious notes throughout almost the entire length of the voyage, we are able to learn what happened. Bergreen parses these notes well, reading between the lines and, where possible, comparing Pigafetta's notes and descriptions to some of the others who kept ship logs. He also includes a good epilogue about what happened when the voyage ended, and how Magellan's travels impacted future expeditions.
Grade: A-
November 12, 2020
Captivating and educational. A surprisingly fun read.
October 18, 2017
I have sometimes idly wondered what it must have been like to have been with Columbus, Magellan, Cook, and others when they first encountered new lands, and when societies with no previous knowledge of each other met for the first time. This book provides some wonderful descriptions of how Magellan’s fleet encountered the natives of Patagonia, and of Guam, as well as their wonderment at the journey through what is now the Strait of Magellan. In contrast, when the Spanish fleet arrived at what is now the Philippines, they entered a world that was part of a trading network that covered the whole of Eastern and Southern Asia, and the local people showed no particular surprise at the arrival of a new trading fleet. When they eventually arrived at the fabled Spice Islands, they entered territory that the Portuguese had been visiting for some years, although of course the Portuguese sailed via the Indian Ocean. Magellan’s fleet was the first to have sailed west across the Atlantic before crossing the Pacific.
It was an astounding achievement, and the author honours it with an entertaining and at times a jaw-dropping narrative. It’s a story that combines casual cruelty and copious amounts of skulduggery alongside astonishing courage and resilience.
There was one little aside that especially appealed to me. The survivors of Magellan’s expedition are described as the first humans to circumnavigate the globe. They probably were, and were certainly the first to do so in a single voyage. However, it seems that Magellan brought with him a slave whom he called “Enrique”, whom he had purchased in Malacca many years before. When the fleet arrived amongst the islands of the Philippines, “Enrique” found he could immediately talk in the local language. It’s tempting to think that he had originally been taken from these islands to Malacca. If so, he would have been the first person to have made it back home after circumnavigating the globe, albeit his journey was made in stages over many years. Good for you Enrique!
Even though I already knew the broad outline of the events in this book, the author succeeds in conveying the kind of excitement that normally comes with fiction. A great adventure story.
It was an astounding achievement, and the author honours it with an entertaining and at times a jaw-dropping narrative. It’s a story that combines casual cruelty and copious amounts of skulduggery alongside astonishing courage and resilience.
There was one little aside that especially appealed to me. The survivors of Magellan’s expedition are described as the first humans to circumnavigate the globe. They probably were, and were certainly the first to do so in a single voyage. However, it seems that Magellan brought with him a slave whom he called “Enrique”, whom he had purchased in Malacca many years before. When the fleet arrived amongst the islands of the Philippines, “Enrique” found he could immediately talk in the local language. It’s tempting to think that he had originally been taken from these islands to Malacca. If so, he would have been the first person to have made it back home after circumnavigating the globe, albeit his journey was made in stages over many years. Good for you Enrique!
Even though I already knew the broad outline of the events in this book, the author succeeds in conveying the kind of excitement that normally comes with fiction. A great adventure story.
July 24, 2016
3.5 stars.
This book is well researched and makes for relatively interesting reading. But I think it suffers from a misleading subtitle. I mean, there's nothing PARTICULARLY terrifying about the circumnavigation, other than the fact that no one knew where they were going. And, like, the fact that a bunch of their ships sank. But that almost seems to be glossed over and therefore has very little impact.
The part that was most interesting for me is the sections where the armada reached the Philippines. Because Magellan really went and got himself killed. "A society that caters to female sexual pleasure and where female virginity isn't considered sacred? WE MUST BURN IT TO THE GROUND. Oh, shit. They're angry now." *slow clap with resting bitch face*
I mean...SERIOUSLY.
So anyway, Magellan dies like 3/4 of the way through the book. The rest felt kind of rushed to me?? I mean, they didn't run into any major dramas on the way back to Spain, but STILL. When it took them like a year to get from the Philippines back to Spain, you'd have thought there'd be more dedicated to it than three chapters. And yet.
So ultimately, it was well written and well researched. But it wasn't always the most attention grabbing story.
This book is well researched and makes for relatively interesting reading. But I think it suffers from a misleading subtitle. I mean, there's nothing PARTICULARLY terrifying about the circumnavigation, other than the fact that no one knew where they were going. And, like, the fact that a bunch of their ships sank. But that almost seems to be glossed over and therefore has very little impact.
The part that was most interesting for me is the sections where the armada reached the Philippines. Because Magellan really went and got himself killed. "A society that caters to female sexual pleasure and where female virginity isn't considered sacred? WE MUST BURN IT TO THE GROUND. Oh, shit. They're angry now." *slow clap with resting bitch face*
I mean...SERIOUSLY.
So anyway, Magellan dies like 3/4 of the way through the book. The rest felt kind of rushed to me?? I mean, they didn't run into any major dramas on the way back to Spain, but STILL. When it took them like a year to get from the Philippines back to Spain, you'd have thought there'd be more dedicated to it than three chapters. And yet.
So ultimately, it was well written and well researched. But it wasn't always the most attention grabbing story.
February 25, 2008
A great adventure by the daring men who first circumnavigated the globe. Interesting lessons that some parties ought to have paid attention to. For example, torture was commonly used for discipline on board ships in the early 16th century--one of the techniques used was adopted from the Spanish Inquisition--it involved pouring water into a man's nose and mouth to make him think he's drowning--sound familiar?
I had long known Magellan didn't complete the voyage--he was killed in the Phillipine Islands, but I didn't know the circumstances. Essentially, he took his eye off the ball. The mission of his voyage was to reach the Spice Islands and return laden with cloves. Before finding them, he got sidetracked in trying to convert Phillipine Islanders to Christianity and involving his armada in political intrigue between the cheiftains of neighboring islands, the nuances of whose culture he clearly did not understand. On behalf of one chief he launched an invasion of another island, eschewing the use of the first chief's troops in favor of his own small force with its superior weapons--armor, crossbows, and crude guns. Upon reaching the target island he found himself greatly outnumbered, and in ingnominious defeat was literally hacked to death in the surf. This sounded just too much like a more recent ill-conceived adventure by someone who veered from the proper target.
I had long known Magellan didn't complete the voyage--he was killed in the Phillipine Islands, but I didn't know the circumstances. Essentially, he took his eye off the ball. The mission of his voyage was to reach the Spice Islands and return laden with cloves. Before finding them, he got sidetracked in trying to convert Phillipine Islanders to Christianity and involving his armada in political intrigue between the cheiftains of neighboring islands, the nuances of whose culture he clearly did not understand. On behalf of one chief he launched an invasion of another island, eschewing the use of the first chief's troops in favor of his own small force with its superior weapons--armor, crossbows, and crude guns. Upon reaching the target island he found himself greatly outnumbered, and in ingnominious defeat was literally hacked to death in the surf. This sounded just too much like a more recent ill-conceived adventure by someone who veered from the proper target.
May 13, 2013
This is the third Bergreen book I've read. While all are good and recommended, neither this book on Magellan nor his recent book Marco Polo: From Venice to Xanadu meet the very high standards of his earlier Louis Armstrong: An Extravagant Life.
The lay out of chapters, divided every page or so, makes this a faster read than its 400 pages imply. While it's easily readable, it is not totally satisfying. I can't fully identify the problem in separating why this good book (4 star) shouldn't be a very good (5 star) book.
The prose seems to be weaker than that of the Armstrong biography... and having given my copy of Armstrong away, I can't fully or verify this. Like the Polo biography, this kind of travel book should have MAPS. The NASA maps seem to be filler, as though the publisher could not or would not find and label maps that fit the text.
The portrait of Magellan is not consistent. While his navigational skills are unparalleled on this mission, his Christianity is warped. He is burning huts of people who can't even understand his language because they won't bow to his god. This is not insignificant for Magellan, the voyage or the afthermath. Bergreen seems to want to avoid a discussion of Magellan's hubris.
The lay out of chapters, divided every page or so, makes this a faster read than its 400 pages imply. While it's easily readable, it is not totally satisfying. I can't fully identify the problem in separating why this good book (4 star) shouldn't be a very good (5 star) book.
The prose seems to be weaker than that of the Armstrong biography... and having given my copy of Armstrong away, I can't fully or verify this. Like the Polo biography, this kind of travel book should have MAPS. The NASA maps seem to be filler, as though the publisher could not or would not find and label maps that fit the text.
The portrait of Magellan is not consistent. While his navigational skills are unparalleled on this mission, his Christianity is warped. He is burning huts of people who can't even understand his language because they won't bow to his god. This is not insignificant for Magellan, the voyage or the afthermath. Bergreen seems to want to avoid a discussion of Magellan's hubris.
July 5, 2023
Biography of Ferdinand Magellan (1480-1521) and his attempt in 1519 to circumnavigate the globe. It explains how Magellan (from Portugal) became the leader of an expedition for the King of Spain. He sailed in search of spices, conversions of native peoples to Christianity, and claiming land for Spain. The journey was filled with perils. The mainly Spanish crew did not trust Magellan, and a mutiny occurred with severe repercussions. It tells about the discovery of the straits named after him and sailing the vast expanse of the Pacific Ocean. They had no idea it was so large. They reached the Philippines, and initially met peacefully with the native people, but a later encounter with another leader turned violent.
I initially wondered about the sub-title, as I knew that Magellan did not actually make it all the way around the world. He started out with 5 ships and a crew of 260. Only 1 ship and 18 men circumnavigated the globe, returning in 1522, after Magellan had died in the Philippines. His death did not need to occur. It was due to a combination of hubris and religious zealotry.
I have never before read such a detailed account. This is due to the author’s heavy reliance on the journals kept by the scholar Antonio Pigafetta, one of the eighteen who returned. The book thoroughly documents the voyage, and the major events along the way. It is vividly told and easily kept my attention. I had recently read Straits: Beyond the Myth of Magellan by Felipe Fernández-Armesto, which criticizes Magellan rather severely, so I found this an interesting companion piece to gain a more complete picture.
I initially wondered about the sub-title, as I knew that Magellan did not actually make it all the way around the world. He started out with 5 ships and a crew of 260. Only 1 ship and 18 men circumnavigated the globe, returning in 1522, after Magellan had died in the Philippines. His death did not need to occur. It was due to a combination of hubris and religious zealotry.
I have never before read such a detailed account. This is due to the author’s heavy reliance on the journals kept by the scholar Antonio Pigafetta, one of the eighteen who returned. The book thoroughly documents the voyage, and the major events along the way. It is vividly told and easily kept my attention. I had recently read Straits: Beyond the Myth of Magellan by Felipe Fernández-Armesto, which criticizes Magellan rather severely, so I found this an interesting companion piece to gain a more complete picture.
May 27, 2016
When I was about eight I became obsessed with Magellan. I have no idea why as I was an uncurious kid other than my interest in WWII (all the Dads in town were vets including mine) and late-model cars, of which I had an idiot savant's ability to identify by the smallest detail (my sisters would actually try to stump me by cutting out a taillight section or fin from a magazine ad, but I would promptly respond, "62 Rambler Classic in the special trim edition. Obviously").
My Magellan kick abruptly ended with my grandma Archangela Leccese, a lovely, calm, quiet woman who could kick your butt at any word game or crossword puzzle, crafted me a realistic Captain General Halloween costume complete with pantaloons, a breastplate and a papier mache sword. She must have worked it for hours at her foot-pedal sewing machine and at Grandpa Mike's workbench.
Though it broke my heart to tell her this (and probably hers to my rue to this day), I could not wear the outfit. The thought of approaching the doorstep of all those VFW dads who served in Guadalcanal and Normandy and Iceland (my Dad) and whose sons were about to march off to 'Nam--the thought of approaching them as a semi-obscure Portugese explorer in tights--I just couldn't do it. Among my peers I was already suspected to be a "fem" (their word). What can I say, I was a gentle soul. I provisioned Halloween at the Army Navy Store and went with gas mask bag, fatigues and helmet as Vic Morrow's sergeant in "Combat." That was 1963.
But I never forgot Magellan. He was like the slatternly, semi-psychotic girlfriend of yore who you were lucky to escape from, but you always, wonder, What if? (Well maybe not quite.)
So I was delighted to find this book on a remainder table and it was quite okay. Bergeen is a thoughtful and scrupulous historian who puts you in the place of of a hapless Spanish crewman put out to sea for more than three years under the ruthless rule of a Portugese religious zealot and military ultradisciplinarian, a kind of Christian Brother for the 16th century.
I won't tell you more about the voyage lest "spoiler alert," but it did not turn out the way I remember from age eight and it's hard to imagine why I fixated on Magellan as a hero.
"Over the Edge of the WOrld" was informative, meticulous researched and written in clear prose, although full of colorful arcane terms like arquebus and maravedi. Yet it's chore to read. Bergeen is handed the narrative gift of a voyage and he follows it from A to Z. He might have done better to shuffle the sequence. The voyage is full of Sargasso Seas and often reads like one damn thing after another. Magellan as a main character is a problem. He's 400 pages of churl and we can't get that close to him since his own journals were lost. (Bergeen relies primarily on the diaries of the wonderfully named Italian chronicleer Pigafetta, a supernumerary and Magellan loyalist during one or two mutinies and the subsequent inquiries upon the voyage's return to Seville.) For all the adventure at high seas and encounters with exotic (and sexually kinky) natives in South America, Africa, and Indonesia, the story lacks voltage; although in its documentarian dryness it does convey the advanced boredom and privation that realistically accompanies such a voyage.
The producers of "The Tudors" might have been brought in as consultants to volt things up a bit. (TV miniseries available on Netflix. Formula: Three minutes of horses and swordplay and then sex with chambermaids. Just before closing credits, another one of Henry VIII's wives loses her head.)
Still if you have had a half-century hankering to get the inside dip on Magellan--"Over the Edge of the World" is your man.
My Magellan kick abruptly ended with my grandma Archangela Leccese, a lovely, calm, quiet woman who could kick your butt at any word game or crossword puzzle, crafted me a realistic Captain General Halloween costume complete with pantaloons, a breastplate and a papier mache sword. She must have worked it for hours at her foot-pedal sewing machine and at Grandpa Mike's workbench.
Though it broke my heart to tell her this (and probably hers to my rue to this day), I could not wear the outfit. The thought of approaching the doorstep of all those VFW dads who served in Guadalcanal and Normandy and Iceland (my Dad) and whose sons were about to march off to 'Nam--the thought of approaching them as a semi-obscure Portugese explorer in tights--I just couldn't do it. Among my peers I was already suspected to be a "fem" (their word). What can I say, I was a gentle soul. I provisioned Halloween at the Army Navy Store and went with gas mask bag, fatigues and helmet as Vic Morrow's sergeant in "Combat." That was 1963.
But I never forgot Magellan. He was like the slatternly, semi-psychotic girlfriend of yore who you were lucky to escape from, but you always, wonder, What if? (Well maybe not quite.)
So I was delighted to find this book on a remainder table and it was quite okay. Bergeen is a thoughtful and scrupulous historian who puts you in the place of of a hapless Spanish crewman put out to sea for more than three years under the ruthless rule of a Portugese religious zealot and military ultradisciplinarian, a kind of Christian Brother for the 16th century.
I won't tell you more about the voyage lest "spoiler alert," but it did not turn out the way I remember from age eight and it's hard to imagine why I fixated on Magellan as a hero.
"Over the Edge of the WOrld" was informative, meticulous researched and written in clear prose, although full of colorful arcane terms like arquebus and maravedi. Yet it's chore to read. Bergeen is handed the narrative gift of a voyage and he follows it from A to Z. He might have done better to shuffle the sequence. The voyage is full of Sargasso Seas and often reads like one damn thing after another. Magellan as a main character is a problem. He's 400 pages of churl and we can't get that close to him since his own journals were lost. (Bergeen relies primarily on the diaries of the wonderfully named Italian chronicleer Pigafetta, a supernumerary and Magellan loyalist during one or two mutinies and the subsequent inquiries upon the voyage's return to Seville.) For all the adventure at high seas and encounters with exotic (and sexually kinky) natives in South America, Africa, and Indonesia, the story lacks voltage; although in its documentarian dryness it does convey the advanced boredom and privation that realistically accompanies such a voyage.
The producers of "The Tudors" might have been brought in as consultants to volt things up a bit. (TV miniseries available on Netflix. Formula: Three minutes of horses and swordplay and then sex with chambermaids. Just before closing credits, another one of Henry VIII's wives loses her head.)
Still if you have had a half-century hankering to get the inside dip on Magellan--"Over the Edge of the World" is your man.
July 4, 2023
Rating: 4.5 stars (extra maps would have made it a 5 star read)
Over the Edge of the World is a well-researched, exciting and comprehensive exploration of Ferdinand Magellan's attempt to reach the Spice Islands by sailing west, instead of east, and circumnavigating the globe. Magellan wasn't the most congenial of people, but he wasobsessed with dedicated to his mission, having to deal with unscrupulous bureaucrats, mutinous shipmates (and the consequences thereof), shipboard politicking, a vengeful Portuguese King, diplomatic blunders and ticked-off island natives, lack of water, scurvy, storms, shoals, and generally only having a vague idea of where he was going. Magellan set sail in 1519 with 270 men in five ships. Only 18 survivors in one dilapidated ship circumnavigated the world and made it back to Spain in 1522. Magellan was not among them. The majority of this account makes use of the journal a scholarly Italian passenger, Antonio Pigafetta, distributed to Europe once he made it back to Spain. Bergreen includes quotes from Pigafetta's journal, which are fairly interesting, and sometimes amusing, to read. An interesting account of a fascinating, if arrogant, man and his determination to accomplish his mission.
Over the Edge of the World is a well-researched, exciting and comprehensive exploration of Ferdinand Magellan's attempt to reach the Spice Islands by sailing west, instead of east, and circumnavigating the globe. Magellan wasn't the most congenial of people, but he was
April 6, 2009
(If you don't know the story of Magellan, there are spoilers here.)
Where to begin? This book was terrible. The story of Magellan is interesting, but this author completely ruined it, in my opinion.
First, the author skips around in time so often that I found myself having to stop reading in the middle of a chapter just so I would forget the jarring transitions from being on the ships to loading them with swine before leaving port to suddenly being 1000 miles further along in their journey. Some people can do non-linear well; this author did not.
Magellan was such a horrid person that I find the author's sympathetic tone to be bothersome. Yes, Magellan helped accomplish something extraordinary, but:
1) Magellan had so little regard for humanity that he hardly hesitated to torture and murder his own crew and the peoples he met on his travels; he just doesn't deserve to be lauded as a hero.
2) Magellan himself didn't circumnavigate the globe---he died from arrogance well before the end of the trip.
3) Magellan was doing this for fame and fortune, not out of scientific curiosity or for any great ambition for humankind or to increase human knowledge of the world. I don't find such people to be very endearing.
The author doesn't understand the science he inserts to try to make the story more harrowing, so the story is often frustrating rather than tense.
Much of the story is obviously fabrication by the author. I was expecting a history, not historical fiction, so was bothered by the level of detail that was clearly not in any historical record.
I plan on not reading any more work by this author. :(
Where to begin? This book was terrible. The story of Magellan is interesting, but this author completely ruined it, in my opinion.
First, the author skips around in time so often that I found myself having to stop reading in the middle of a chapter just so I would forget the jarring transitions from being on the ships to loading them with swine before leaving port to suddenly being 1000 miles further along in their journey. Some people can do non-linear well; this author did not.
Magellan was such a horrid person that I find the author's sympathetic tone to be bothersome. Yes, Magellan helped accomplish something extraordinary, but:
1) Magellan had so little regard for humanity that he hardly hesitated to torture and murder his own crew and the peoples he met on his travels; he just doesn't deserve to be lauded as a hero.
2) Magellan himself didn't circumnavigate the globe---he died from arrogance well before the end of the trip.
3) Magellan was doing this for fame and fortune, not out of scientific curiosity or for any great ambition for humankind or to increase human knowledge of the world. I don't find such people to be very endearing.
The author doesn't understand the science he inserts to try to make the story more harrowing, so the story is often frustrating rather than tense.
Much of the story is obviously fabrication by the author. I was expecting a history, not historical fiction, so was bothered by the level of detail that was clearly not in any historical record.
I plan on not reading any more work by this author. :(
April 27, 2008
Synopsis:
In 1519 Spain and Portugal dominated the seas, and spice, which the author states was the oil of the time, enveloped both countries in an intense rivalry for control of the spice trade. Why couldn't both countries share the wealth? Well, after Columbus had reported his New World discoveries back in 1493 to the Pope, both countries got into it over territory. A bit later the Pope divided the world into two parts, half belonging to Spain and half belonging to Portugal. I had to go and look this up because it is somewhat confusing & I studied East Asian history, not medieval Spanish history. Anyway, the Treaty of Tordesillas was born, and this line of demarcation meant that within the Portuguese zone, the Portuguese could claim lands newly discovered & the same for Spain within theirs. However, the spice trade was incredibly lucrative, according to the author, bringing more money than gold ever could. Thus the equivalent of the arms race was born, with Spain wanting control of lands yielding spices and the Portuguese in control of maps with routes leading to the sources of spice kept under lock and key, highly guarded state secrets.
Portuguese Ferdinand Magellan wanted to lead an expedition for his king to the spice Islands and a new way of getting there. However, politically, Magellan was on the wrong side of the fence; so every time he asked the king turned him down. Finally out of exasperation, he begged the king to let him seek his fortune elsewhere, the king relented and Magellan went to Spain to offer his services. Not knowing what to make of this, those in charge in Spain listened, ruminated, and allowed Magellan his expedition, yet with some controls. For example, one of the "nephews" (a euphemism for illegitimate sons of high-ranking bishops, popes, etc) of a bishop with ties to ther oyal house was sent on the mission, because even though Magellan had turned over Portuguese charts, etc, and declared his loyalty to Spain, the Spanish could never be certain of him. So...to make a long story short, eventually Magellan and his little fleet began their adventure, not only to find the spice islands & claim them for Spain, but to try to discover a water route of which the Portuguese had no knowledge. The result of his voyage was tragic for everyone but Spain, in the long run. You've all heard of the Straits of Magellan, so the outcome is no big surprise...but the story of the fleet getting to that point and then to the death of Magellan is the meat of this book.
In fact, the book to the point of Magellan's death is perfect. I was so into the story that another long night of reading ensued until I realized at 3 am that I had to be up at 6:30 and probably needed rest. Not only did the author use a great source in the voice of the voyage's chronicler, Antonio Pigafetta, to give details, but he also supplied references to works that would have been familiar at the time to sailors, including fantastic stories of Pliny and Marco Polo of sea monsters & cyclopean-type natives, etc etc. I have to go find those now & read them for myself. After seeking out and reading reviews of this book, I noticed that many current readers thought that Bergreen failed to provide answers to certain details Pigafetta had mentioned, such as "giants" among the Patagonian natives. Well, you can't have everything & that certainly didn't spoil the reading for me, although I did find myself wondering. What wasn't explained was certainly more than made up for in the author's story of the voyage up to Magellan's death.
It seems to me, though, that after that point, the book lapsed. Of course, Bergreen has to get the survivors of the skirmishes back to Spain and tell what happened, but IMHO, the ardor & depth with which the author told the story up to that time just vanished. That doesn't mean it wasn't good, by any stretch.
I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who is interested in the subject matter. The details of the problems caused by the need to convert the poor natives along the way to Catholicism are great; without armchair quarterbacking from the view of time & knowledge you can just see what this led to in later voyages and with what zeal the missionaries were going to screw up the rest of the the islanders/natives not yet discovered.
In 1519 Spain and Portugal dominated the seas, and spice, which the author states was the oil of the time, enveloped both countries in an intense rivalry for control of the spice trade. Why couldn't both countries share the wealth? Well, after Columbus had reported his New World discoveries back in 1493 to the Pope, both countries got into it over territory. A bit later the Pope divided the world into two parts, half belonging to Spain and half belonging to Portugal. I had to go and look this up because it is somewhat confusing & I studied East Asian history, not medieval Spanish history. Anyway, the Treaty of Tordesillas was born, and this line of demarcation meant that within the Portuguese zone, the Portuguese could claim lands newly discovered & the same for Spain within theirs. However, the spice trade was incredibly lucrative, according to the author, bringing more money than gold ever could. Thus the equivalent of the arms race was born, with Spain wanting control of lands yielding spices and the Portuguese in control of maps with routes leading to the sources of spice kept under lock and key, highly guarded state secrets.
Portuguese Ferdinand Magellan wanted to lead an expedition for his king to the spice Islands and a new way of getting there. However, politically, Magellan was on the wrong side of the fence; so every time he asked the king turned him down. Finally out of exasperation, he begged the king to let him seek his fortune elsewhere, the king relented and Magellan went to Spain to offer his services. Not knowing what to make of this, those in charge in Spain listened, ruminated, and allowed Magellan his expedition, yet with some controls. For example, one of the "nephews" (a euphemism for illegitimate sons of high-ranking bishops, popes, etc) of a bishop with ties to ther oyal house was sent on the mission, because even though Magellan had turned over Portuguese charts, etc, and declared his loyalty to Spain, the Spanish could never be certain of him. So...to make a long story short, eventually Magellan and his little fleet began their adventure, not only to find the spice islands & claim them for Spain, but to try to discover a water route of which the Portuguese had no knowledge. The result of his voyage was tragic for everyone but Spain, in the long run. You've all heard of the Straits of Magellan, so the outcome is no big surprise...but the story of the fleet getting to that point and then to the death of Magellan is the meat of this book.
In fact, the book to the point of Magellan's death is perfect. I was so into the story that another long night of reading ensued until I realized at 3 am that I had to be up at 6:30 and probably needed rest. Not only did the author use a great source in the voice of the voyage's chronicler, Antonio Pigafetta, to give details, but he also supplied references to works that would have been familiar at the time to sailors, including fantastic stories of Pliny and Marco Polo of sea monsters & cyclopean-type natives, etc etc. I have to go find those now & read them for myself. After seeking out and reading reviews of this book, I noticed that many current readers thought that Bergreen failed to provide answers to certain details Pigafetta had mentioned, such as "giants" among the Patagonian natives. Well, you can't have everything & that certainly didn't spoil the reading for me, although I did find myself wondering. What wasn't explained was certainly more than made up for in the author's story of the voyage up to Magellan's death.
It seems to me, though, that after that point, the book lapsed. Of course, Bergreen has to get the survivors of the skirmishes back to Spain and tell what happened, but IMHO, the ardor & depth with which the author told the story up to that time just vanished. That doesn't mean it wasn't good, by any stretch.
I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who is interested in the subject matter. The details of the problems caused by the need to convert the poor natives along the way to Catholicism are great; without armchair quarterbacking from the view of time & knowledge you can just see what this led to in later voyages and with what zeal the missionaries were going to screw up the rest of the the islanders/natives not yet discovered.
March 14, 2023
“They had circled the globe, only to demonstrate that the world was now a larger place than previously imagined, not smaller. Seven thousand miles had been added to the globe's circumference, as well as an immense body of water, the Pacific Ocean. They had learned that beyond Europe, people existed in astonishing profusion and variety, as tall as the giants of Patagonia and as short as the pygmies of the Philippines, as generous as the courtiers of Brunei, and as violent as the inhabitants of Mactan. Banished were phenomena such as mermaids, boiling water at the equator, and a magnetic island capable of pulling the nails from passing ships. All these discoveries came at the cost of over two hundred lives and extreme hardship. No other voyage had been as prolonged and complicated as this one; no other voyage during the Age of Discovery would ever equal it for ambition and daring.”
Prior to reading this book, I’m ashamed to admit that all I knew about Magellan’s exploits was what I learned in 4th grade: that he was the first to circumnavigate the globe. Well, good for him. I suppose somebody had to be the first to do it, right? But this elementary school summation elides so much excitement and drama. It nearly beggars belief that I’ve never heard anything beyond the barest outline of this astonishing voyage before. The story is amazing—it’s full of adventure, discovery, intrigue, mutinies, and marvels. And Bergreen tells the story exceedingly well, with the all the flair and attention to detail it deserves.
As an aside, it’s hard to for me to understand why these maritime explorers would risk their lives for something as seemingly trivial as spices. It’s crazy to consider how much people of that era must have been willing to pay to add some cloves or nutmeg into their dinners. Apparently it was quite a bit. The street value of 17 lbs of cinnamon was enough to pay for an entire ship. I just don’t get it. Was the food in Europe really so intolerable without these additional spices? I would imagine that in the 16th century most people would have been content to eat almost anything. How many wealthy picky eaters would be required to fund this dangerous enterprise? Sure, I really enjoy adding cracked red pepper to my food, but if it cost $100 per serving I think I’d probably just settle for bland food. And I’m pretty sure that the complete elimination of cloves, cinnamon, and nutmeg from my diet would have a negligible impact on my life. But, hey, De gustibus non est disputandum.
I loved reading that when the bedraggled remnant of Magelllan’s crew finally returned to Spain, minus Magellan who was killed in the Philippines, they were completely flummoxed when their records showed they had somehow lost a calendar day. It reminded me of Jules Verne’s Around the World in 80 Days.
The mission set out from Spain with 270 men in 5 ships. Besides one ship-full of mutineers that bailed out prior to reaching the Pacific and went back home, only a single ship returned. With just 18 scurvy-ridden survivors. But the hold was full of cloves, so it was regarded a commercial success.
Roy wrote a great review. I’d like to state for the record that I had already used the phrase “beggars belief” in my review before I saw that Roy had used it too. Kinda weird.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Prior to reading this book, I’m ashamed to admit that all I knew about Magellan’s exploits was what I learned in 4th grade: that he was the first to circumnavigate the globe. Well, good for him. I suppose somebody had to be the first to do it, right? But this elementary school summation elides so much excitement and drama. It nearly beggars belief that I’ve never heard anything beyond the barest outline of this astonishing voyage before. The story is amazing—it’s full of adventure, discovery, intrigue, mutinies, and marvels. And Bergreen tells the story exceedingly well, with the all the flair and attention to detail it deserves.
As an aside, it’s hard to for me to understand why these maritime explorers would risk their lives for something as seemingly trivial as spices. It’s crazy to consider how much people of that era must have been willing to pay to add some cloves or nutmeg into their dinners. Apparently it was quite a bit. The street value of 17 lbs of cinnamon was enough to pay for an entire ship. I just don’t get it. Was the food in Europe really so intolerable without these additional spices? I would imagine that in the 16th century most people would have been content to eat almost anything. How many wealthy picky eaters would be required to fund this dangerous enterprise? Sure, I really enjoy adding cracked red pepper to my food, but if it cost $100 per serving I think I’d probably just settle for bland food. And I’m pretty sure that the complete elimination of cloves, cinnamon, and nutmeg from my diet would have a negligible impact on my life. But, hey, De gustibus non est disputandum.
I loved reading that when the bedraggled remnant of Magelllan’s crew finally returned to Spain, minus Magellan who was killed in the Philippines, they were completely flummoxed when their records showed they had somehow lost a calendar day. It reminded me of Jules Verne’s Around the World in 80 Days.
The mission set out from Spain with 270 men in 5 ships. Besides one ship-full of mutineers that bailed out prior to reaching the Pacific and went back home, only a single ship returned. With just 18 scurvy-ridden survivors. But the hold was full of cloves, so it was regarded a commercial success.
Roy wrote a great review. I’d like to state for the record that I had already used the phrase “beggars belief” in my review before I saw that Roy had used it too. Kinda weird.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
March 10, 2015
Portuguese Navigator, first to sail around the world to establish a westbound route to the spice-rich Moluccas. That’s the schoolbook snap-shot of Magellan. Maybe you also know he didn’t actually make it. Killed in the Philippines. But do you know he had been a soldier who fought in Morroco, India, and the Far East, was many times wounded, and walked with a limp as a result? That he had actually gone to the Moluccas as a member of a Portuguese expedition sailing east? That he tried for years and years to get an exploration fleet funded to sail to the Spice Islands by sailing west? Or that he didn’t sail for Portugal, but for Spain? How about that once his expedition was at sea in September of 1519, he faced almost constant mutiny from his largely Spanish officers, Castilians to boot?
Here, the Captain General of the five-ship Armada de Molucca emerges as both a subtle, keenly intelligent, and utterly ruthless strategist and tactician. The mutinous officers took over three of his ships while the fleet was wintering in 1520 in Port Saint Julian on the east coast of South America. Magellan brilliantly retook them one by one. He had the mutineers tortured and two of their bodies drawn and quartered and displayed for the crews to see for the remainder of the time in port. The lesson was unmistakable: the only thing worse than the misery of obeying Magellan, and freezing or sailing into storms or even over the edge of the world (as some crew members still believed possible, despite a round earth being accepted among navigators), was disobeying him.
He succeeded in becoming the first to sail from the Atlantic to the Pacific and the first European to cross the Pacific. Landing on several Philippine islands, Magellan accepted warm welcomes but demonstrated the utter folly of opposing him by showing off the explosive force of the fleet’s guns and his soldiers’ immunity to arrows and swords when wearing suits of armor. But on Mactan Island, in April 1521, he was either too over-confident or suffered lapses in his tactics, and the author takes you right inside the battle scene.
Then the book shifts back to Seville where a mutinous ship of the fleet returns and describes Magellan’s actions in the worst possible terms. Meanwhile, the remaining two ships strive to complete the expedition to the Spice Islands. Although they do, only the Victoria with just eighteen survivors returns to Seville in September of 1522. Even though Victoria brought back the true story in the diary of one the officers, the mutineers’ version dominated Magellan’s reputation for many years. The degree of Magellan’s accomplishment perhaps appears clearest in the simple fact that, despite numerous attempts, it was not duplicated until eighty years later by Sir Francis Drake.
Really well paced. Richly detailed. Definitely holds your interest from start to finish.
Here, the Captain General of the five-ship Armada de Molucca emerges as both a subtle, keenly intelligent, and utterly ruthless strategist and tactician. The mutinous officers took over three of his ships while the fleet was wintering in 1520 in Port Saint Julian on the east coast of South America. Magellan brilliantly retook them one by one. He had the mutineers tortured and two of their bodies drawn and quartered and displayed for the crews to see for the remainder of the time in port. The lesson was unmistakable: the only thing worse than the misery of obeying Magellan, and freezing or sailing into storms or even over the edge of the world (as some crew members still believed possible, despite a round earth being accepted among navigators), was disobeying him.
He succeeded in becoming the first to sail from the Atlantic to the Pacific and the first European to cross the Pacific. Landing on several Philippine islands, Magellan accepted warm welcomes but demonstrated the utter folly of opposing him by showing off the explosive force of the fleet’s guns and his soldiers’ immunity to arrows and swords when wearing suits of armor. But on Mactan Island, in April 1521, he was either too over-confident or suffered lapses in his tactics, and the author takes you right inside the battle scene.
Then the book shifts back to Seville where a mutinous ship of the fleet returns and describes Magellan’s actions in the worst possible terms. Meanwhile, the remaining two ships strive to complete the expedition to the Spice Islands. Although they do, only the Victoria with just eighteen survivors returns to Seville in September of 1522. Even though Victoria brought back the true story in the diary of one the officers, the mutineers’ version dominated Magellan’s reputation for many years. The degree of Magellan’s accomplishment perhaps appears clearest in the simple fact that, despite numerous attempts, it was not duplicated until eighty years later by Sir Francis Drake.
Really well paced. Richly detailed. Definitely holds your interest from start to finish.
December 24, 2014
The circumnavigation of the globe by the expedition of Ferdinand Magellan was an amazing odyssey, an incredible story sometimes reading like fiction. Of course, as most may know,if they know anything about Magellan, Magellan himself did not make it around the world. He was killed in the Philippines after the long crossing of the Pacific. Only one ship out of his five made it back to Spain after the 6000 mile ocean voyage, a crew of only 18 left of the 260 men who had set sail three years before.
A remarkable story in which Bergreen provides a wealth of information about the world of the Age of Exploration in the 16th Century, still a very brutal and barbaric time but a time when humanity was first learning it lived in one interconnected world..
A remarkable story in which Bergreen provides a wealth of information about the world of the Age of Exploration in the 16th Century, still a very brutal and barbaric time but a time when humanity was first learning it lived in one interconnected world..
May 31, 2020
This is the best account of life aboard a ship in the Age of Sail that I’ve come across, and I’ve read dozens and dozens of books on the subject, including many of the Patrick O’Brian novels. His descriptions of the perils inherent in a life at sea were so convincing that I actually went out and stocked up on fresh fruit so that I wouldn’t get scurvy, because, you never know.
Spoiler Alert! Magallanes (his name in Spanish which was a bastardization of the Portuguese Fernão de Magalhães) was an asshole, just so history gets it straight, but he also had some cojones (no translation needed, I’m sure). I’m sure that as I write this there is some historian judging him by today’s standard of conduct, but for his time, being a heartless asshole was par for the course for ship captains. This is why it was Magellan and not Gandhi to be the first to circumnavigate the globe, or most of it until he was stabbed to death on an island in what we now know as the Philippines. Those people obviously thought that he was a huge asshole.
There is so much great information for anyone interested in the sailing age, probably more than in any other book I have ever read. He gives a great medical explanation of scurvy, as well as other things that plagued sailors in this era, like how they had to lean overboard just to take a dump and then wipe with a length of rough rope. I know that’s gross, but it’s history, so buck up.
This was no three-island cruise, this wasn’t the Love Boat, this was man against nature with nature coming out on top, for the most part. Only 18 of his original 237 men ever set foot in Europe again when the last of the boats, Victoria, arrived in Spain on September 6, 1522.
Spoiler Alert! Magallanes (his name in Spanish which was a bastardization of the Portuguese Fernão de Magalhães) was an asshole, just so history gets it straight, but he also had some cojones (no translation needed, I’m sure). I’m sure that as I write this there is some historian judging him by today’s standard of conduct, but for his time, being a heartless asshole was par for the course for ship captains. This is why it was Magellan and not Gandhi to be the first to circumnavigate the globe, or most of it until he was stabbed to death on an island in what we now know as the Philippines. Those people obviously thought that he was a huge asshole.
There is so much great information for anyone interested in the sailing age, probably more than in any other book I have ever read. He gives a great medical explanation of scurvy, as well as other things that plagued sailors in this era, like how they had to lean overboard just to take a dump and then wipe with a length of rough rope. I know that’s gross, but it’s history, so buck up.
This was no three-island cruise, this wasn’t the Love Boat, this was man against nature with nature coming out on top, for the most part. Only 18 of his original 237 men ever set foot in Europe again when the last of the boats, Victoria, arrived in Spain on September 6, 1522.
October 23, 2009
An incredible story. If, like me, you are only vaguely familiar with Magellan's journey, I highly recommend this book. Cannibals, mutiny, starvation, orgies, murder, torture, scurvy, battles...it is all here.
October 10, 2021
A well-written, accessible and enjoyable history of Magellan’s circumnavigation.
Bergreen provides a vivid portrait of Magellan and really fleshes out his resolution and thirst for greatness, as well as his poor judgment and vindictiveness. He vividly describes the huge obstacles Magellan faced and how they ended up destroying most of his fleet and men. There were few maps at the time (most of them were wrong), the food supply was inadequate, the politics within the fleet could be vicious, and their dealings with natives were tense. Magellan also seems to have forgotten why he was making the trip in the first place (find the strait, circle the globe, and take on spices) His decision to spread Christianity to the Philippines ended up costing him his life (and making his slave Enrique the first real circumnavigator), and the Spanish and Portuguese eventually came to see him as a traitor.
The narrative is rich and compelling, but can bog down a bit at times, and some more maps would have helped. At one point Bergreen also refers to “termites” infesting a ship; elsewhere he writes that Magellan displayed Behaim’s globe to King Charles and thus inspired the search for the strait, but then writes (in the same paragraph) that Magellan’s ever seeing the globe is “unlikely.” Some more explanation of the papal demarcation line would have helped. There are no endnotes. On a whole, though, the narrative is intense and cinematic. Bergreen doesn’t get sentimental, and you get a good feel for the era as you read.
A well-researched, dramatic and engaging work.
Bergreen provides a vivid portrait of Magellan and really fleshes out his resolution and thirst for greatness, as well as his poor judgment and vindictiveness. He vividly describes the huge obstacles Magellan faced and how they ended up destroying most of his fleet and men. There were few maps at the time (most of them were wrong), the food supply was inadequate, the politics within the fleet could be vicious, and their dealings with natives were tense. Magellan also seems to have forgotten why he was making the trip in the first place (find the strait, circle the globe, and take on spices) His decision to spread Christianity to the Philippines ended up costing him his life (and making his slave Enrique the first real circumnavigator), and the Spanish and Portuguese eventually came to see him as a traitor.
The narrative is rich and compelling, but can bog down a bit at times, and some more maps would have helped. At one point Bergreen also refers to “termites” infesting a ship; elsewhere he writes that Magellan displayed Behaim’s globe to King Charles and thus inspired the search for the strait, but then writes (in the same paragraph) that Magellan’s ever seeing the globe is “unlikely.” Some more explanation of the papal demarcation line would have helped. There are no endnotes. On a whole, though, the narrative is intense and cinematic. Bergreen doesn’t get sentimental, and you get a good feel for the era as you read.
A well-researched, dramatic and engaging work.
December 28, 2022
Excelente obra sobre la primera vuelta al mundo. La labor de documentación de Bergreen es extraordinaria, pues no solo utiliza el relato de Antonio Pigafetta —importantísimo e imprescindible testimonio aunque algo sesgado por el marcado posicionamiento del italiano en favor de Magallanes—, sino que utiliza otras fuentes también esenciales para componer el relato de esta gran gesta en aras de ser lo más fiel posible a los hechos reales: testimonios de otros marineros de la flota, innumerables documentos consultados, etc.
Tal vez por la dificultad y lo que significó podamos hablar como mínimo de esta travesía como la más importante en la historia del ser humano, me atrevo a decir que por encima de la llegada del hombre a la luna. Y el relato, por supuesto, es tan increíble como apasionante, de lectura necesaria para todo aquel que esté interesado en el tema y quiera conocer de forma pormenorizada las aventuras vividas por la flota de las molucas en esta gesta que hay que calificar de verdadera proeza realizada por unos hombres que se jugaron la vida —perdiéndola en la mayoría de los casos— por una causa imposible.
Tal vez por la dificultad y lo que significó podamos hablar como mínimo de esta travesía como la más importante en la historia del ser humano, me atrevo a decir que por encima de la llegada del hombre a la luna. Y el relato, por supuesto, es tan increíble como apasionante, de lectura necesaria para todo aquel que esté interesado en el tema y quiera conocer de forma pormenorizada las aventuras vividas por la flota de las molucas en esta gesta que hay que calificar de verdadera proeza realizada por unos hombres que se jugaron la vida —perdiéndola en la mayoría de los casos— por una causa imposible.
”Habían visto mucho, y aunque no habían logrado entender buena parte de lo que habían vivido, habían dejado textos sobre su experiencia para que otros los estudiaran, ampliando así el conocimiento que los europeos tenían del mundo. Habían rodeado todo el globo para demostrar que el mundo era un lugar más grande, y no más pequeño, de lo que se imaginaba. Se añadieron más de once mil kilómetros a la circunferencia del orbe, además de una inmensa masa de agua: el océano Pacífico. Habían aprendido, además, que más allá de Europa existían personas en sorprendente número y variedad, tan altas como los gigantes de la Patagonia o tan bajas como los pigmeos de las Filipinas, tan generosas como los cortesanos de Brunei y tan violentas como los habitantes de Mactán. Quedaban desterrados fenómenos como las sirenas, el agua hirviendo en el Ecuador o islas magnéticas capaces de arrancar los clavos de los maderos de los barcos que navegaban cerca de ellas. Estos descubrimientos habían costado más de doscientas vidas y tremendas penalidades a los exploradores. Ningún otro viaje había sido tan largo y tan complicado; ningún otro viaje durante la Era de los Descubrimientos lo igualaría jamás en ambición y osadía.
La expedición había terminado, pero sus efectos sobre España y en la historia del mundo apenas acababan de comenzar.”
October 3, 2020
This book gets a few ratings of 'biography', and... yes, actually, this is a fairly decent biography of Fernão de Magalhães, or Ferdinand Magellan, as it goes into his background and life as a whole. However, it is primarily about the Armada de Molucca and the circumnavigation of the world.
As a biography, it is more of a tragedy, as Magellan, a determined and ambitious man, is repeatedly snubbed by the King of Portugal, and Magellan goes to Spain with his plan to go west to get to the East. However, he is never truly trusted by the powers that be, and his authority over his five-ship fleet critically undermined before it even leaves port. Worse, Magellan himself doesn't seem to have been a great leader, never developing a large degree of trust with most of his subordinates.
But he can rise to the occasion in a crisis. After losing two ships to a mutiny, with the other two standing off neutral, he manages to reassert authority over four ships with just the resources of the crew on his flagship. But outside of crisis, his performance can be erratic, and this shows in the very inconsistent dealings with the natives of the Philippines, where he puts himself into a hopeless situation and gets killed.
The coverage of the rest of the voyage is no less detailed than that of the first half, as Bergreen has collated as many primary sources as he could to assemble the full story of the first journey around the world. This mostly means two surviving accounts written during the voyage, but there are of course other accounts from crew members written afterward. Some of these have never appeared in English, and Bergreen introduces them for the first time in English here. He also occasionally makes use of later sources for descriptions of what an area they went through was like.
Despite this attention to detail, this is still a 'popular' account of the expedition, and extremely readable. Sadly, as such, it is deficient in maps. In fact, there's no maps showing the details of his route at all. There is a good section of plates, but in the Kindle edition this is unhelpfully stuck behind the index, and I had no idea it existed until I started flipping through the end to check for maps.
As a biography, it is more of a tragedy, as Magellan, a determined and ambitious man, is repeatedly snubbed by the King of Portugal, and Magellan goes to Spain with his plan to go west to get to the East. However, he is never truly trusted by the powers that be, and his authority over his five-ship fleet critically undermined before it even leaves port. Worse, Magellan himself doesn't seem to have been a great leader, never developing a large degree of trust with most of his subordinates.
But he can rise to the occasion in a crisis. After losing two ships to a mutiny, with the other two standing off neutral, he manages to reassert authority over four ships with just the resources of the crew on his flagship. But outside of crisis, his performance can be erratic, and this shows in the very inconsistent dealings with the natives of the Philippines, where he puts himself into a hopeless situation and gets killed.
The coverage of the rest of the voyage is no less detailed than that of the first half, as Bergreen has collated as many primary sources as he could to assemble the full story of the first journey around the world. This mostly means two surviving accounts written during the voyage, but there are of course other accounts from crew members written afterward. Some of these have never appeared in English, and Bergreen introduces them for the first time in English here. He also occasionally makes use of later sources for descriptions of what an area they went through was like.
Despite this attention to detail, this is still a 'popular' account of the expedition, and extremely readable. Sadly, as such, it is deficient in maps. In fact, there's no maps showing the details of his route at all. There is a good section of plates, but in the Kindle edition this is unhelpfully stuck behind the index, and I had no idea it existed until I started flipping through the end to check for maps.
March 11, 2020
The Days of High Adventure:
Magellan had an idea---sail west from Portugal, somehow get past South America (through a hypothetical straight somewhere south of Brazil), cross the largest ocean on Earth and find the Spice Islands. No big deal. All he had to do was convince the king of Portugal to fund the expedition. When Portugal turned him down he tried Spain and the rest is history. Laurence Bergreen's incredible book takes you on this voyage into the unknown. Filled with danger and intrigue Magellan's journey would test him and his men to the limit. No one in the mid 1500's knew if the straight really existed or had any idea how big that ocean beyond South America was (they underestimated it by thousands of miles). On his way Magellan would be threatened by storms at sea, mutiny, scurvy and a host of other perils all leading him to his final destiny. Using crew diaries and the journal of Magellan's personal chronicler, the author is able to fill in the details of life in the Age of Discovery and take you on numerous side trips to explore the other societies that filled Magellan's world. And what a Game of Thrones that world was. So, if you want to put a little adventure in to your reading, give this book a try.
Last Ranger
Magellan had an idea---sail west from Portugal, somehow get past South America (through a hypothetical straight somewhere south of Brazil), cross the largest ocean on Earth and find the Spice Islands. No big deal. All he had to do was convince the king of Portugal to fund the expedition. When Portugal turned him down he tried Spain and the rest is history. Laurence Bergreen's incredible book takes you on this voyage into the unknown. Filled with danger and intrigue Magellan's journey would test him and his men to the limit. No one in the mid 1500's knew if the straight really existed or had any idea how big that ocean beyond South America was (they underestimated it by thousands of miles). On his way Magellan would be threatened by storms at sea, mutiny, scurvy and a host of other perils all leading him to his final destiny. Using crew diaries and the journal of Magellan's personal chronicler, the author is able to fill in the details of life in the Age of Discovery and take you on numerous side trips to explore the other societies that filled Magellan's world. And what a Game of Thrones that world was. So, if you want to put a little adventure in to your reading, give this book a try.
Last Ranger
March 15, 2009
History that reads like fiction -- I got a little bogged down in the beginning with all the Spanish and Portuguese names, but from the launching of Magellans' fleet, his three year odyssey is a fascinating, grim, and vivid portrayal of life at sea, discovery of strange lands and people, and the courage, vision, determination, and fallibility of the expedition leaders. Wonderful source materials (journals) provide amazingly detailed accounts of the dangers and adventures. My daughter gave me this book.
March 6, 2014
A good read, however it only gets a 4 star because it was worth a soupçon more than a three and I am feeling philanthropic. It was a little disconcerting that the author could not get his incredulity around the fact that Magellan's demise is still re-enacted annually in the Phillipines - with pride in the act.
April 8, 2020
Eye-opening account of the first circumnavigation of the globe by Magellan's multinational crew. They sure bit off more than they could chew. Magellan was a brilliant navigator, had a big ego, and ended up being hacked to death by a Pacific native tribe. But a "skelton" crew made it back to Spain to tell their tale. No one knew how big the Pacific Ocean was until this voyage. Fascinating.
January 4, 2012
What a great book. The full story, with all the details, of Magellan's circumnavigation of the world is far more interesting and exciting than the abbreviated version I was taught in my junior high history class. There's not a dull page in this book.
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