![]() Thanks to bad luck, poor skills on the human-relations front, and some unfortunate missteps at sea, Magellan found himself confronting near-constant mutinies great and small he survived them only to die, in 1521, in the Philippines after picking a fight with the natives in a misguided attempt to prove his omnipotence. ![]() ![]() ![]() Magellan’s skills as a soldier and apparent lack of fear in promoting his aims-if matched by a deeply provisional knowledge of the world beyond Iberia-eventually won him the exclusive contract to find the fabled Spice Islands and claim the lands he found for Christianity and Spain. Considered a tyrant by some, a traitor by others, and often in trouble with one legal authority or another, Magellan seemed driven by a need both to serve the powerful and to make himself rich and/or famous in the bargain he also had a habit of tripping himself up and making powerful enemies, racking up charges of selling provisions to the Arab enemy in one war and earning mistrust for abandoning his native Portugal for the chance to command an expedition for archrival Spain. A vivid account of Magellan’s star-crossed voyage around the world nearly five centuries ago.įond of epic adventures and odd ducks alike, Bergreen ( Voyage to Mars, 2000, etc.) finds a nice blend of the two in Ferdinand Magellan’s life and career. ![]()
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