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this post was submitted on 09 Sep 2024
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Today I Learned
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I'm not an avid reader, but I'm a huge fan of a book called Over the Edge of the World by Lawrence Bergreen. That detailed Magellan's voyage around the world. A few takeaways:
Spices really were the thing everyone in Europe wanted. If a sailor managed to smuggle a backpack full of cloves, it would be enough to buy a modest house. Only one of 5 ships made it back, but it was filled with top quality cloves and that was enough that the trip was STILL a financial gain.
Nobody really knew where the spices came from. India was a nebulous semi-mythical place, and some believed there were a few "India"s
Magellan, while Portuguese by birth, basically moved to Spain when Portugal wouldn't pay for him to try to find the spice Islands
The treaty of Tordesillas roughly divided the new world between Spain and Portugal. The land east of whatever meridian was Portugal's, and west was Spain's. But there were still issues, like longitude not really being measurable at the time and no clear idea who had claim 180° past that meridian. But it would have been to Spain's benefit to find the spice islands past that meridian
Bonus fact: the first human to sail around the world was Magellan's slave, Enrique (last name escapes me). He was brought from Indonesia(?) to Europe, then set sail on this round-the world journey, eventually going near his native homeland. Magellan had it in his will that Enrique be freed upon his death, but when he was killed on that voyage (basically by his own who) nobody was aware of that.