Ferdinand Magellan and the Circumnavigation of the World - Part 1

You're listening to an Air Wave Media Podcast. Welcome to the Explorers Podcast. Today's episode is part one of Ferdinand Magellan and the Circumnavigation of the World. On September 6, 1522, a battered black ship sailed into the port of San Lucard de Baramita, which is located at the mouth of the Guadalco Verr River in southern Spain. The ship, Victoria, had traveled more than 37,000 miles of the course of three years. What had begun as five vessels and approximately 270 men had dwindled to a ghost of its original complement. Among the dead was the expedition's leader, Ferdinand Magellan. The survivors, which number 18, had overcome countless hardships, including scurvy, malnutrition, mutiny, and warfare. And in the end, they had sailed to the very ends of the earth and beyond. It is an epic tale, and that is not an exaggeration. The Circumnavigation of the Globe by Magellan's expedition would go into the history books as perhaps the most daring and audacious feat of discovery the world has ever known. With this podcast, we're going to follow Magellan's wake, pun intended, taking a look at the man, the circumstances that led him to undertake the expedition, and then the voyage itself. But before we dive into this amazing tale, I have a few notes. First, I want to warn you that I am a dorky midwesterner with very little grasp of the Spanish language. Or any other language for that matter. So please forgive me if I butcher the pronunciation of a name or a place. And even if I say something correctly, I can promise you that it will be ineligent. But the intent is true. So I hope you persevere through my mangled Spanish and Portuguese and join me on this extraordinary journey around the globe. Second, I want to mention that these events took place almost 500 years ago. So things, especially timelines, can be murky. It's not uncommon for sources to contradict each other. I'll even bring up some of these issues when I think it's important to our story. But I have no doubt that you can find information that will contradict something I say in this podcast. And that's all right. I will do the best as I can to be as accurate as possible. But please know that things may not be perfect. So with that out of the way, how do we begin? I think the way to start is to ask a couple of questions. First, what was the purpose of Magellan's Voyage? And second, why travel around the world? The answers are actually pretty simple. As to the purpose of Magellan's Voyage, the answer is that the Spanish crown wanted to find a legendary spice islands. It was all about making money. And the answer to the second question, why circumnavigate the globe? The answer is that it was never the intention of Magellan's Voyage. The expedition happened to accomplish the feat out of necessity, not out of some desire to make history. So let's talk about Magellan's mission. As I said, it wasn't to travel around the world. His stated mission was to find the location of the spice islands, the Malucas, as they were known. To understand why Magellan wanted to find the Malucas, we need to step back in time to the Iberian Peninsula, which is what we know today as Spain and Portugal. First, let's take a look at Spain. In the late 1400s, Spain was not the single clinical entity that we know it today. But instead, it was a collection of kingdoms-- Castile, Navarre, Eragon, and Granada. They would eventually come together under the ambitious duo of Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand, who hailed from Castile and Eragon respectively. It should be noted that Castile was the preeminent Spanish kingdom, geographically, it sort of dominates the region. Historically, you often find Castile and in Spaniard use interchangeably. But for our sake, we'll use the word Spaniard, even if it's not perfect. Now that's Spain, but there is another entity on the Iberian Peninsula, and that is the kingdom of Portugal. In this day and age, Portugal often gets forgotten by many. It kind of blends in and looks like it should be part of Spain on the map. But in the 1400s, it was a powerful and wealthy kingdom. It held a critical geographic location, dominating the western shore of the peninsula, facing the Atlantic Ocean. This made Portugal a natural naval power. But this also made for an intense rivalry between Portugal and the bordering kingdoms of Spain. With that in mind, let's go to the early 1400s where a Portuguese prince, who today we know as Henry the Navigator, began an aggressive campaign to make Portugal the preeminent naval power in the Atlantic. He dispatched expedition south along the African coast, discovering the Azores, settling the Cape Verde Islands, and opening up new trade routes on the African continent. I want to point out that Henry wasn't an actual explorer. He left the tough stuff to other people. Instead, he was more of a financier and a patron and a cheerleader of exploration. But the man was critical to kickstarting the age of discovery. In addition to financing and promoting exploration, he learned about such things as Arab map making and Arab navigation techniques. He sent out men to learn about the locations and the routes used by traders to bring goods into Europe. One of the many benefits to this was that led to the development of the Caraville in the mid 1400s. The Caraville is a small, highly maneuverable ship that would become the backbone of Portuguese naval expeditions for the next century. Ultimately, Henry's goals were not just to expand Portuguese territory, but he also wanted to expand the business interests of Portugal, in particular the spice trade. So let's talk spices. We take them for granted today, but 500 years ago, they were literally more precious than gold. Nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, and more came from the fabled Malookas, transported by merchants over land and by sea, the price growing up each time they changed hands. It's important to understand exactly what the spice islands, the Malookas, are. Today they are an archipelago of roughly 1,000 islands within Indonesia. But in Magellan's time, the spice islands that matter were really just five distinct islands within this great archipelago. These five islands were lush, rainforested volcanic islands that grew the treasured spices. Where these islands were located was a closely guarded secret, and whoever could discover them and set up a trade route would be fabulously rich. Finding that source was so important, because trade of any kind from the east generally was conducted over land along the Famelc Silk Road, or by sea, along the coasts of India and Arabia. But in the end, it all came through the Middle East, which was dominated by the Italian city states, particularly Venice, which was made immensely wealthy by their position as the spice broker of Europe. People like Henry the Navigator wanted to get to the spice source and break that monopoly. Thus, the Portuguese pushed further and further south along the African coast, looking for a seerute to the east and to the spice islands. Getting that new seerute would be even more critical after the fall of Constantinople to the Ottomans in 1453, since that would choke off much of the overland trade from the east coming into Europe. Thus, Portuguese navigators would continue their explorations, and in 1488, they would round the Cape of Good Hope, a southern tip of Africa, setting the stage for a new trade route to the far east. Naturally, the Spanish wanted a part of this trade, but by the terms of the Treaty of Alcalcóvez, which was signed by the Spanish and Portuguese in 1479, the Spanish could not use these eastern seeruts. This made them look elsewhere, and in 1492, Isabella and Ferdinand would send Christopher Columbus West, with the hope of opening up a new trade route to the Indies. He instead found a new world, at least it was new to Europe. Naturally, Spain wanted to legitimize these new discoveries, but Portugal made noise that Columbus' newfound lands were really in their domain of influence, according to the Treaty of Alcalcóvez. To hash out these details, representatives of both kingdoms met in Tortecias, which is in Spain, and 1494, and began to divide up the emerging new world. The Treaty of Tortecias would essentially cut the world in half, east for Portugal, west for Spain. The demarcation point would be said about 1,370 miles west of the Cape Verde Islands, which are off the Western coast of Africa. While this exact location would later change, it essentially set up a line that said, "Portugal, you go east and anything you find is yours. Spain, you go west and anything you find that way is yours." This demarcation point cuts through the eastern part of South America, roughly modern day Brazil. It confirmed Portugal's control of Brazil and Africa, including the trade routes around the African continent. For Spain, it solidified their new discoveries in the Americas. It's important to know that the Treaty didn't specifically say Spain gets the western half of the world, Portugal gets the eastern half. Instead, it basically says Spain goes one way, Portugal goes the other. Whatever you find is yours. And that worked for a while. But in 1518, the Spanish, now interested in finding a western route to the Spice Islands, are you that the Treaty of Tortecias did exactly that, divide the world in half. And because of the terrible lack of knowledge of just how wide the Pacific was, they argue that the Malucas, wherever they might be, were in the Spanish area of influence. This is murky stuff. And the obvious problem here is that at the time, no one really knew how big the world really was. If the Treaty of Tortecias did divide the world in two as the Spanish argued, the Spice Islands could conceivably fall in either sphere of influence. But no one really knew for sure. Now, you probably have noticed that I'm talking as if everyone in this time knew the world was round. I mean, I grew up being told that people disaribled the world was flat and they were terrified. They would sail off the edge of the map if they ventured out too far. And perhaps that was true of your average guy blowing a field or hurting a-- pack a sheep. But in reality at this time most scholars agreed that the world was indeed round. Thus we have a round world, and again the key was just how big was the world. Goes from Europe and the distance to the Indies was pretty much a known thing, but if you go west from the Americas, that's anyone's guess. In 1513 a Spanish conquistador, Vasco Núñez de Abalboa reached the Pacific Ocean after crossing the Ismas of Panama, but there was just a great expanse of water before him, where the Spice Islands just over the horizon, and just as important how do you get a ship to them with the American continents blocking the way? This is one of the great mysteries of the time, from the western side of the Americas how far away were the Indies. No one really knew, but if you look at the maps of the time many scholars believe that Asia was not that far from the Americas, and if that was true is all about finding a naval route into the Pacific Ocean and boom, you have access to the Spice Islands. To that end the Spanish, as well as the Portuguese, sent expeditions down the eastern coast of South America in the early 1500s. The mouth of the Amazon, modern day Rio de Janeiro, the Rio de La Plata, these landmarks were gradually mapped by Europeans as they pushed south. Further and further they went, but no passage to the Pacific was discovered. Although it should be noted that in 1514 a Portuguese explorer named Lisboa was rumored to have sailed further south and entered a strait, but he turned back before going all the way through. Unfortunately the secret of Portuguese never revealed exactly where or how far Lisboa traveled, so we'll have to chalk up his journey to speculation. If it did happen, and even if Lisboa didn't reach the strait, it's possible that Magellan had information about Lisboa's expedition, but again that's just speculation. That brings us to the year 1518, Spain has a new king on the throne, young Charles I. And for many reasons Charles needs money. The Americas are great to have and they will prove to be invaluable, but at the time they were pretty much a mystery and not the cash cowl that they would eventually become. Thus when a Portuguese nobleman arrived at the Spanish court with an audacious plan to find a westerly route to the Spice Islands, the young king and his ministers were intrigued. The Portuguese nobleman is of course the subject of our podcast, Ferdinand Magellan. Magellan was born around 1480, the exact date isn't known, in northern Portugal to minor nobility. His parents died when he was only 10. I could not find out the details of their death, but afterwards he and his brother Diogo were sent to Lisboa and became pages at the Portuguese court. Thus Magellan probably got a first rate education, and in the process would likely have been introduced to subjects such as astronomy, cartography, mathematics and navigation. He was said to have admired Christopher Columbus, and no doubt he was fully versed in the stories of Henry the Navigator and the bold explorers of the age. But in 1495 Magellan's sponsor at court, King John II, died without an heir. He was succeeded by his cousin, Manuel I, who did not like and did not trust Magellan. The result was that the young Magellan saw his promising career falter before it even began. Without powerful friends, Magellan would spend the next decade at the Portuguese court, but not really accomplish anything of distinction. And that brings us to 1505. Magellan now 25 and eager to prove himself took on an assignment in a 22 ship expedition bound for India, along with his brother Diogo. The mission was to establish and maintain trading posts in the region, part of the burgeoning Portuguese trade empire in the east. He would serve with distinction, surviving numerous battles and earning honors and promotions, as well as several wounds. He also earned a reputation as being brave, capable, tough and resilient, not to mention stubborn and unyielding. He also emerges as a very pious and intensely religious man. This righteousness will be a dominant trade in Magellan's personality, and it will play a crucial role in his decision-making on his expedition around the world. Magellan would spend approximately 8 years in India. He made himself a tiny sum of cash, only to lose it when a merchant he had invested as money with suddenly died. Magellan would petition the Portuguese king for restitution, but the king would deny him. It was a denial that stung Magellan, and it would not be the last. We're going to see Magellan repeatedly make some claim to the king, often asking for money, only to be shut down every time. While in the far east, he would also become friends with Francisco Sorreo, a Portuguese captain who would write letters to Magellan describing the details of the spice trade. Information Magellan would later use to help convince Spain to back his expedition. Magellan returned to Portugal in 1512 or 1513. He had learned a great deal about the region and understood the value of the spice trade. He also brought with him a slave, a man named Enrique, who he had acquired in Malacca, part of modern Amalasia in 1511. Enrique later became a pivotal character in our tale, so let's not forget him. Looking to regain his pride and make some money, Magellan joined a military expedition of Morocco in 1513. Again, he fought bravely, he was seriously wounded in battle, a wound that would give him a limp for the rest of his life. But it is also where he cemented his reputation as being stubborn, and at times tactless, as the following instant will demonstrate. While in Morocco, Magellan's horse was killed in combat. This was a horse that Magellan had provided for the expedition at his own expense. He was offered compensation, but the offer he deemed was unfair. Normally there's a process to appeal such decisions, but Magellan was so insulted by the offer that instead of going through normal channels he went right to the top of the food chain, bringing his grievance directly to the king, and again, asking for more money. And again, he was denied, and in the process he annoyed a great number of people as well. Despite his actions, Magellan would return to Morocco and secure a good position, mad of a quartermaster in the army. It was an influential position that offered steady pay and benefits. But a scandal would erupt when Magellan was accused of selling captured livestock and pocketing the profits. The charges were a sham, but Magellan, indignant as always, ignored the charges and headed back to Spain to present his case directly to the king. He did this without having to leave from his superior to do so. Once there, he didn't just complain about the charges being leveled against him. He demanded more money be given to him by the crown because of the loyalty and the suffering that he had incurred. The king, who we have to remember, was never friendly to Magellan in the first place. It was having none of this, and Magellan was swiftly sent back to Morocco to face charges of treason, corruption, and leaving the army without orders. It would take some time, but Magellan was eventually cleared of all the charges, and given a clean slate, what did he do next? Why, he headed back to Spain. And again, he asked for more money from the king, again citing his loyalty and the suffering he had endured. Nice move, Ferdinand. The king shot him down yet again and Magellan was left angry and poor and dishonored. I bring these incidents up because I feel like it really reveals a tremendous amount about Magellan's personality, and it really sets the stage for his coming decision to exit Portugal and search out his destiny in Spain. Now back in Portugal full time, it was here that Magellan's scheme to travel west to find the Spice Islands came to fruition. He hooked up with a noted cosmographer, astrologer, and astronomer named Rue Filiro. Filiro was considered brilliant and charismatic, but he was also mentally unstable. Scholars seem to believe that he suffered from depression or bipolar disorder, but the Macquarie of Filiro brought credibility to Magellan's plans and the 2% of the idea of an expedition to the Spice Islands, via a western route, to the ministers of King Manuel. In typical Magellan style, they did this not once or twice, but three times. Yes, three times the duo asked for royal authorization and backing for the expedition, and each time King Manuel and his advisor said, "No." You might ask why one of the king wanted to find the Spice Islands, and the answer is that Portugal already knew the location of the Malucas. They had been found in 1512, but the Portuguese crown was content to keep this information to themselves. So why worry about a western route to find the Spice Islands when you've already got an Eastern one? With his plans rejected, in September of 1517, Magellan formally asked King Manuel if he could offer his services elsewhere. Manuel said, "Go for it, and don't come back." Magellan was stunned by the rejection. He was a proud, brave and stubborn man, who had tried to do the right thing for his country and his king, and he had ended up not just being rejected, but humiliated. It was no doubt a crushing blow, but one that allowed Magellan to cut ties with his homeland and not look back. So Magellan suddenly found himself a free agent. Where'd it go? Well, Spain, of course. He headed off to Seville, his buddy Rue Filiro in tow. Within days he had renounced his allegiance to Portugal and thrown his lot with Charles, the young king of Spain. Now, heading off and serving another monarch was not unheard of. In fact, Magellan may have even seen himself following the steps of his hero, Christopher Columbus, who was born in Genoa and sailed for Spain. Luckily for Magellan, he had come to Spain at the right moment. The Spanish king, Charles I, was bucking to be elected Holy Roman Emperor in the wake of his grandfather Maximilian's death. To gain said title, he needed money, and lots of it, because nothing got your membership like a grateful abribe. Thus, a new route to the Spice Islands was just the lottery ticket King Charles needed, and that ticket had Magellan's name written on it. It's important to understand why getting the services of someone like Magellan was desirable to the Spanish. First, he had extensive experience in India, something few Spanjuts could boast. And second, as a Portuguese nobleman, he brought to the table the inner workings of how the Portuguese conducted their international affairs. This is important because the Portuguese were notoriously secret about their overseas empire. As we have seen, they jealously guarded everything from trade routes to the locations of outposts to the lands they visited. Magellan offered an opportunity to tap into that secret knowledge, and he likely brought with him such things as maps and charts the Spanish didn't have access to. The guy really did have a lot going for him. But being a pious, stubborn Portuguese nobleman, Magellan didn't really fit into the Spanish court. He didn't know the customs or have contacts, and his Spanish was never good. Luckily for him, he was aided through the obstacles by some key friends in a bit of luck. Most E-Met and befriended a wealthy Portuguese ex-patriot, Diego Barbosa. Magellan would even marry Barbosa's daughter, Beatriz. Using his newfound connections, Magellan and Fildero pitched the idea of a westbird expedition to the Spice Islands to the House of Trade, located in Seville. There he was introduced to the former O'One Rodriguez de Fonseca, an archbishop and the head of the board. All foreign expeditions came through his office, and Fonseca could squash or green light and set affairs. There were of course many skeptics surrounding Magellan, in his proposed expedition. His Portuguese nationality was a constant source of just trust, and it would always haunt him. And then there was the genuine fear of breaking the treaty toward a CIS, and igniting an international incident with Portugal. But slowly but surely, Magellan and his allies moved forward with their idea. It gained traction mainly because so many people, including archbishop Fonseca, were intrigued by the concept of finding the Spice Islands and the potential financial windfall. Eventually, Magellan and Fildero would be granting an audience with King Charles's ministers. He told them what they wanted to hear. First the Spice Islands were located in the Spanish area of influence. Magellan showed them maps he had brought from Portugal, which were inaccurate, confirming the statement. Even brought letters from his old friend Fonseca Sorreo, whose own writings put the Malucas in the sphere of Spanish influence, not the Portuguese. Second he told them the Spice Islands were close. They just needed to find a straight through the American continent and boom, the Malucas, easy peasy. And finally the venture could make a lot of money. The Spanish crown and the House of Trade like what was being said, it was legal and it was lucrative money talks. Thus on March 22nd, 1518 Magellan, along with Fildero, were offered a contract to discover the Spice Islands. There was no mention of circumnavigating the world. The job was to find a route to the Malucas. The contract was generous from Magellan, basically because if he succeeded, all parties would make a fortune. Some of the main points were that Magellan and Fildero would receive them in an opally on the trade route for the period of 10 years. And the two would be appointed governors of the lands and the islands discovered as well as gained 5% of the land's profits. And they would get a share of the profits of the upcoming expedition. Magellan and Fildero would be co-commanders. For the voyage, the Spanish crown would supply 5 ships, the Armada de Maluca, a large venture for the time period. The ships were Trinidad, San Antonio, Concepcion, Santiago, and Victoria. The crown would also provide provisions for two years because you know the Spice Islands just aren't that far away. Except for the sales, the Armada de Maluca was all black. Resolved of almost every exposed part of the ships being coated in black tar, which acted as a cock and waterproofing agent. So Magellan had his fleet, and you would think the hard part was complete. But no, there was as much drama getting the fleet to see as there was getting approval of said fleet. The first issue we ran into was without fitting the expedition. The Spanish crown essentially didn't provide enough cash, forcing the House of Trade to Barrel to make ends meet. But Barrel they did, tapping the House of Fuguer, the famous and powerful European banking family. So with financing in place, Magellan began to arrange provisions, hire crew members, and fit the ships for their voyage. Magellan reportedly oversaw every aspect of the expedition, showing great attention to detail as well as developing stern reputation with the crews. But even as Magellan moved forward with the preparations, there were constant problems arising. There was a rumor that the Portuguese had hired assassins to kill Magellan and Filiro, forcing the two to have bodyguards assigned to them by the King. Whether the story was true is not known, but it was known that King Manuel was furious at Magellan's betrayal. I mean, hey, what could he have ever done to provoke Magellan into leaving Portugal and heading off to another country? Silly man. The Portuguese did attempt to stop Magellan. They conducted a smear campaign against Magellan's and Filiro's families and their reputations both in Spain and in Portugal. They then appealed directly to Magellan, saying, "Hey, Manuel loves you and wants to talk to you about an expedition, so come on home." When this didn't work, the Portuguese appealed directly to Charles, who in the end stuck by his men. Another major issue that arises during this preparation phase of the expedition was the meddling of our friend Archipishop Fonseca. Fonseca felt that Magellan and Filiro had too much power granted to them by the royal charter. And let's face it, Magellan and Filiro were Portuguese, and that fact alone was enough to make some people suspicious of the duo. The expedition would always have an undercurrent of distrust running through it as people didn't trust Magellan due to his nationality. I can't stress how important this was. There was always a fear that Magellan was secretly working for Portugal and undermining the entire affair. Magellan would hold the title of Captain General, and he would have ultimate power while it's C. Fonseca sought to curb that power by limiting the number of Portuguese who could be in the fleet. He then had allies installed in key positions including Juan de Carcajania, who was named Inspector General of the expedition. Carcajania was known as Fonseca's nephew, and I'm using air quotes here, but in reality he was the Archbishop's illegitimate son. As Inspector General, Carcajania would be the house of trades, eyes and ears. Plus he would command the San Antonio, the largest ship in the fleet. Fonseca would also ouster to moat several prominent officers that Magellan had selected, getting them replaced with men of his own choosing. Two of the fleet's captains, Louis Mendoza and Gaspardet Casada, were two such additions. They would command Victoria and Concepcion, respectively. The final ship would be commanded by Juan Serrano. I would just stop and talk a moment about Serrano. He is often identified as a spaniard, but many sources indicate that he is Portuguese, with the name of Juá Sereo. And he's not just Portuguese, but he's related to Francisco Sereo, Magellan's old friend from his days in India. To be honest, I really don't know what to make of all this because it's a pretty big difference. But I'm going to stick with Colony and Juan Serrano for a story. The main thing to know is that Serrano, whether he is Portuguese or Spanish, is considered a Magellan ally. So with that out of the way, we find that three of the five ships were firmly in the pocket of Fonseca, commanded by loyal spaniards. It should be noted that the nepotism displayed by Fonseca was not uncommon. Magellan's own illegitimate son, Christopher O'Rebello, was appointed as "Page". And Magellan's brother-in-law, Duarte Barbosa, and his cousin Alvera de Mascita, were given important posts. The fleet numbered about 270 men. Some of the notable crew members include Magellan's slave, Enrique, as well as Juan's Sebastian Elcano, a basque pilot, who will be very important to our journey later on. And then there were also two men who would chronicle the voyage. The first was Francisco Albo, a pilot who kept a log book that survived to this day. And the second was a Venetian scholar named Antonio Picafeta. Picafeta is really the important guy here. He was brought on board by Magellan to document the upcoming expedition and his writing survived. They are one of the most amazing first-hand reports of the naval expedition of this era ever recorded. Picafeta did not record the events like a log book. He was candid and detailed, showing a fascination and everything from the sexual customs of the native peoples they encountered to the food and animals found in a particular location. He took time to learn the language of the peoples, the fleet encountered, leaving the whole list of translations in his writings. It's an amazing document, and it brings life to our story. Life really found in the voyages of the age. I do want to note that Picafeta will be a Magellan loyalist to the end, so his writings rarely show Magellan in a poor light. But even with his bias, his writings are a wonderful window to the events we're discussing. So we have our ships, our financing, our crews, and our captains. Are we ready to sail? Not quite. That's because another major issue to arise was the increasingly erratic behavior of Magellan's partner, Rue Filiro. As noted, Filiro was mentally unstable. One source indicates that he read his own horoscope, and it revealed that he would die in the upcoming journey, so he was reluctant to go and test the fate. No matter the powers that be, likely Fonseca, recognized Filiro's instability and had him removed from power, much to everyone's relief. The removal of Filiro did create a bit of void, as there was no official second in command. Fonseca's son, Cartagena, took him upon himself for the role. indeed, coming to think he had as much power as Magellan. The two are doomed to come into conflict. The Portuguese also made another attempt to convince Magellan to abandon the expedition, but Magellan was done with King Manuel and his native land. He had been humiliated and run out of town. A prison was what probably awaited him if he ever returned to Portugal. He was now King Charles's man. The Shabby treatment by Manuel had steeled him for that step. So Magellan's fleet was almost ready, despite the obstacles thrown in his path. His crew was gradually assembled. He would have men from all over Europe, including Spain, Portugal, France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Norway, England, and Greece. It had been a difficult task to fill the ship's complement. After all, who wants to go on a two-year journey under a foreign captain? And while the destination was supposedly secret, it was likely common knowledge what Magellan was up to. I mean, they named the fleet the Armada de Malucca. It's pretty hard not to figure out the destination. Thus the ships were made ready, provisions were loaded on board, including food. While there is livestock and fresh fruit and vegetables, food for an ocean voyage is decidedly unhealthy, as it needs to survive a long time in an unforgiving environment. You have wine and heart attack from the latter of hard cracker-like biscuit that was the crew's primary food, and there's also salted fish and meat. It's a die-heavy, insulted foods and a low-end protein, as well as vitamins. Not ideal for a long sea voyage. But there is one item that was brought on board that will be essential to our story later on, and that's Quince Jelly. The Quince is a small fruit, and the jelly made from it will be very important to our story, so let's not forget about it. So after a year preparation, the ships are loaded and ready to part Spain. Magellan, who is leaving behind a pregnant wife and a young son, has to find a way into the Pacific Ocean. Then it's just a short trip to the Spice Islands. It's as easy as that. On August 10, 1519, the five ships left Seville and descended the Guadalco-Vir River to San Lucard de Baramena. Five weeks later, on September 20, the Armada de Maluca put to sea. The greatest voyage of discovery in the history of mankind was underway. Next time, we'll begin our journey across the Atlantic to find the straits that will provide a passage to the Pacific and to the fabled Spice Islands. But there's lots of fun in between, including mutiny, shipwrecks, executions, and even orgies on the beach in Brazil. You don't want to miss that. The French Revolution set Europe ablaze. It was an age of enlightenment and progress, but also of tyranny and depression. It was an age of glory and an age of tragedy. One man stood above it all. This was the age of Napoleon. I'm Everett Rommage, host of the age of Napoleon podcast. Join me as I examine the life and times of one of the most fascinating and eagmatic characters in modern history. Look for the age of Napoleon wherever you find your podcasts.