Did you ever have a dream? Christopher Columbus had a dream. He believed if you sailed far enough West, you would reach India. He never succeeded. History records his discovery of America (with a few caveats in modern history books), even though he never set foot on the continent. Columbus did pass his dream on to a Portuguese sailor, Ferdinand Magellan. What does this have to do with Juan Elcano? It has a lot to do with how our history is written. Find out with this homeschool history lesson.
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Supplies for our Magellan lesson
world map*, row boat like from this Lego Junior Pirate set*, a few guys or so (like the Lego education fantasy and historical figures set* or Lego Pirates Chess set*, watch for the price to go lower, I got it for under $40), and Mystery of History 3*, yarn*, Wondermaps*
Magellan lesson
Ferdinand Magellan grew up in Portugal and started his life sailing for the King of Portugal. By the age of 20, he was regularly sailing back and forth to India. Heading East around the Cape of Good Hope, a route Portugal had locked down.
One of Magellan’s trips East brought the Spice Islands into his awareness, and he remembered the dreams of his hero, to sail West to India. The Spice Islands are significantly West, and he knew there had to be a route West to India.
In his mind, like so many others, you would travel West and find a shortcut through Central America. He went to the king of Portugal with his plan, and the king said, “Why would we do that? Going East is working great for us.” So Magellan headed over to Spain, which had already proven it was willing to go West and was having great luck exploring South America at the time. Magellan was successful in getting funding, but his ships were not the best to be had. They leaked, and no one wanted to sail with a Portuguese captain.
But with the promise of riches and adventures, he eventually convinced people to head off with him. He spent quite a while sailing through the waters of the Gulf of Mexico, but found no evidence of a shortcut. So he started sailing South.
This didn’t go well. The further South they sailed, the colder it got. Eventually, they landed for the winter in Patagonia, but the situation was terrible, and so Magellan sent out one of his ships to find a better situation, but that ship was shipwrecked, and they scavenged what they could from the wreckage.
Then two of the captains attempted a mutiny, which didn’t go well. But, Magellan triumphed over all of this, and eventually found a “shortcut,” but it’s not much of one.
He found the Straits of Magellan, which he called All Saints’ Channel, it was renamed after him later on. One of the ship’s captains was too scared to travel through the Strait, so he turned around and headed back to Spain.
Ferdinand Magellan and the remaining two ships rounded the Straits of Magellan and discovered the Pacific Ocean, so named BY MAGELLAN because it was so peaceful (the meaning of Pacific). But Magellan had no clue the Pacific Ocean was as wide as it is, and his crew ran out of food. They barely survived to land on an island called Marianas.
Magellan and his crew sailed on to the Philippines, where Ferdinand Magellan converted one of the local chiefs to Christianity, and then, because of his great friendship, he aided him in a battle. Unfortunately for Ferdinand Magellan, this cost him his life.
Meanwhile, the ship that turned back returns to Spain in disgrace. To cover up their desertion, the crew claims everyone else is dead.
Back with the remainder of Magellan’s crew, they elect a new leader, Juan Sebastian de Elcano, and get down to two ships. They do make it to the Spice Islands that Magellan was trying to get to. They see things most Europeans haven’t yet seen, trained elephants, and amazing spices to try. Think about cinnamon being a rare and exotic spice.
You’d think at this point their future would be sunny, but one more ship began to leak, and Elcano was forced to leave it behind. Then he had to make a run past the Portuguese-controlled waters.
Three years after leaving Spain, Elcano brought the final ship back to Spain with its hold filled with precious spices, but only 18 men survived. Eighteen out of 270, and they were barely alive. When Elcano came back, he was given parades and accolades.
But history has forgotten him. Instead, it remembers the man who dared to dream and almost fulfilled his dream. The man who completed the dream is forgotten.
I don’t have an answer for why Juan Sebastian de Elcano is forgotten, but Ferdinand Magellan is remembered. It’s much like how we know George Washington’s name for a famous American General, but we forget Knox, Green, and the countless others.
Curious to learn about other explorers and what drove them? Then you need to read the rest of this series.
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