Spices are big business. During the "Age of Discovery"—which began around the time of the Renaissance—daring seafarers played a huge role in pursuing new routes from Europe to Asia. Their ultimate goal was to improve trade routes and make money for their king and country (who usually paid for such expeditions).
Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama sailed from Lisbon, arriving in India on 20 May 1498. He was the first European to sail all the way to India. Such a journey required sailing through the rough and treacherous waters off the southern tip of Africa—called The Cape of Good Hope—where the Atlantic and Indian Oceans violently converge.
But explorers wanted to find a westerly route to Asia. Christopher Columbus (in 1492) attempted this—running into the Americas on the way.
On this day in 1519, Portuguese explorer Fernão de Maghalhães—also known as Ferdinand Magellan—set sail from Sanlúcar de Barrameda, Spain, with the aim of reaching (by sailing west) the spice-rich Moluccas, (islands in modern-day Indonesia). He commanded five ships and about 270 men. King Carlos I of Spain paid for the trip. The expedition would succeed, becoming the first circumnavigation of the world—which still remains one of the greatest achievements in the history of seamanship. Alas, only one ship (and 40 men) would return nearly three years later. Along the way, Magellan and Company would advance Europe's knowledge and understanding of the world.
Magellan sailed west and "discovered" the Straits of Magellan—a protected route, near the tip of South America, which joins the Atlantic and Pacific. This passage was safer than going all the way around Cape Horn, The Drake Passage, where the seas are treacherous, storms unpredictably violent, and icebergs a potential threat.
Magellan also was the first European to cross the Pacific (which he did in 98 days) and he christened the ocean Mar Pacifico. Magellan was killed in the Philippines—shot in the neck with a poisoned arrow. While he did not accompany The Victoria (the one remaining ship which completed the journey), Magellan did personally circumnavigate the world by ship—if you add his previous easterly sailing from Portugal to the Malay Islands.
The bronze-clad bookends, shown above, were inspired by the "invincible fleet" of the Spanish Armada. They are not quite the same as Magellan's ships—which were smaller, lighter and better-suited to exploration. But they sailed at the same time in history, built in the same part of the world. Click on the photo above to learn more about these handsome and heavy bookends.
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