Over the Edge of the World: Magellan's Terrifying Circumnavigation of the Globe

by Laurence Bergreen

The influence of the NASA scientists with whom I’d spent time also affected my understanding of this environment. They were trained to describe natural phenomena with a technical precision beyond that normally found in journalism or in popular history.

And that is one definition of discovery: finding something you didn’t know existed.

Ptolemy’s omissions inadvertently encouraged exploration because he made the world seem smaller and more navigable than it really was. If he had correctly estimated the size of the world, the Age of Discovery might never have occurred.

“You may be able to take our plants, but you will never be able to take our rain.”

“You cannot find a peril so great that the hope of reward will not be greater.”

Eventually, Magellan gave the Indians a name—Pathagoni, a neologism suggesting the Spanish word patacones, or dogs with great paws, by which he meant to call attention to their big feet, made even larger by the rough-hewn boots they wore. So these were the Bigfeet Indians, according to Magellan, who later gave the name to the whole region, known ever since as Patagonia.

but the fires were most likely of natural origin, the result of lightning. In any event, Magellan called this region Tierra del Fuego, Land of Fire.

Island tribes also studied birds for signs of land. By simply following a bird’s trail at the end of the day, when it flew to its nest after a day’s fishing on the open ocean, island navigators could reach land. They studied clouds. The higher islands in the Pacific interfere with the trade winds, causing mist and vapors to collect above the landmasses. Magellan’s lookout had seen this effect when he first spied land and was unable to distinguish the island of Guam from the surrounding clouds. Even the underside of clouds contained valuable information because they reflected the color of the ocean directly below. If the underside happened to be tinged with jade, it was likely reflecting the greenish shallow water covering an atoll or reef. They also sensed patterns in the placement of the islands, which tended to be scattered in long archipelagos; if they found one island, they would know approximately where to look for others. For celestial navigation, island tribes employed

They were cautioned not to speak directly to the king. Should they wish to say anything, they were to inform a servant, who would pass it on to a functionary of slightly higher rank, who would then tell the governor’s brother, who would in turn whisper the message through a “speaking-tube” passing through the wall, where another servant would intercept it and relay it to the king.