Magellan Setting Out to Sea, 1519
Explorers of the 16th century had no idea what they would find when they set out to sea. Their heads were full of fables about mermaids and sea monsters. Even though this engraving of Magellan has many features that are clearly fantastical, it does show him using a pair of dividers to measure off an armillary sphere. Beside the ship, the Sun God Apollo shines brightly; it was usually the Sun's position in the sky that helped a navigator find his latitude. Ferdinand Magellan (1480-1522) was a Portuguese nobleman who had served his country as a soldier in the Indies. Like Columbus, he believed that a western voyage would be much quicker than the Portuguese route. He was sure there was a strait, or sea passage, through the American continent, and that Asia was close beyond. Charles I, new king os Spain, agreed to sponsor the plan. He gave Magellan 5 small ships and about 265 men. In September 1519, the ships set sail. Magellan's expedition of 1519-1522 became the first expedition to sail from the Atlantic Ocean into the Pacific Ocean (then named "peaceful sea" by Magellan; the passage being made via the Strait of Magellan), and the first to cross the Pacific. It also completed the first circumnavigation of the Earth, although Magellan himself did not complete the entire voyage, being killed during the Battle of Mactan in the Philippines. Two of the closest galaxies, the Magellanic Clouds in the southern celestial hemisphere, were named for Magellan sometime after 1800. The Magellan probe, which mapped the planet Venus from 1990 to 1994, was named after Magellan.
Size: 3979px × 2729px
Photo credit: © Photo Researchers / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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