Description
Testimony Editorial Company has made a significant effort to make available to the reader in facsimile format, the key documents of the genesis and development of the voyage of Magellan and Elcano. Three Archives of world importance have provided the originals produced: the Spanish ones from the Indies of Seville and Simancas from Valladolid, and the Portuguese one from the Torre do Tombo in Lisbon, where Magellan’s documents are preserved before coming to Spain to offer his services to Charles V, and also those who were on one of the Spanish expeditionary ships that was captured in Maluco by the Portuguese.
It was the Portuguese who, by circumnavigating Africa, realized Christopher Columbus’ dream of reaching the Far East by sea. But this route could not be used by the Spanish because in the famous Treaty of Tordesillas, it had been stipulated that the southern limit of navigation of the Castilian ships in the African Atlantic was Cape Bojador. Since the beginning of the 16th century, the Spanish Crown intensified efforts to find a strait on the American continent, which would allow passage to what would later be called the Pacific and, traveling west, reach Maluco, the Spice Islands.
A fleet of five ships was organized by the Crown to carry out the enterprise and the Portuguese Ferdinand Magellan was placed in command of it, who deserves the credit of having convinced Spain of the viability of the project, discovering in the cone south American the strait that bears his name and complete the navigation to the Moluccas, where he dies. Juan Sebastián Elcano was the one who, with a single ship, managed to circle the Earth for the first time, returning to Spain via the Portuguese route. It is evident proof of the exceptional hardship of the journey that only 18 men of the 265 who undertook the journey returned.
Through the facsimiles you can follow all the steps of the expedition: capitulations of Magellan and Faleiro with the Crown, a dispute with an officer of the Casa de la Contratación, appointments of naval officers, incidents in the launching of ships, peace signed with the kings of Maluco, statements from the survivors about the serious events that occurred on the trip, etc. Of special scientific interest is Francisco de Albo’s Derrotero, a book in which the leagues traveled, the direction and position of the ships are recorded daily by their longitude and latitude.
Extraordinary facsimile edition made in 1998, numbered, limited and certified. Format 22.5 x 33 cm. 22 pages. With a complementary 284-page study carried out by several authors who specialize in the subject. The entire set is presented in a fabric-lined case with a document organizer.
Complete copy and in perfect condition, new, unused.
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