July 5, 2007 at 8:59 am · Filed under Blog
Always looking for great history books, I came across this one based on Magellan’s fantastic voyage around the world. The author writes from original notes and letters from members of the crew. The conditions were harsh, mutiny was always a threat, and maps of the Magellan strait were not available at the time. These and more contributed to what some have called the most historic maritime voyage of all time. Greater than even those of Columbus. At the time, Spain and Portugal were the two superpowers of the seas and constantly tried to one up the other. Magellan had been spurned by his own Portugal and relocated to Spain hoping they would give him authority and funding to sail to to the “Spice Islands”. Columbus had only recently made his voyages to South America, but the illusive Pacific never materialized for him. Magellan commanded a fleet of five ships. Only one made it back and with only a skeleton crew. In fact, most of the crew that returned were almost skeletons. Pick it up today at Amazon.com.
