Magellan 500: The First Man to Sail the World

Not Just the Tudors

History Hit

History

4.8 • 3K Ratings

🗓️ 12 September 2022

⏱️ 35 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Exactly 500 years ago, a small band of sailors completed the first ever circumnavigation of the globe, launched by Ferdinand Magellan. From the armada of five ships and some 270 men that set out, only one ship and 18 men returned. Magellan was not among them, and if he had been, he would hardly have received a hero’s welcome.

In this episode of Not Just the Tudors, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb marks the anniversary with Magellan’s award-winning biographer Laurence Bergreen. Together they consider Magellan the man and how his voyage changed the world’s ideas about cosmology and geography.

The Senior Producer was Elena Guthrie. It was edited and produced by Rob Weinberg.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	500 years ago this month a small band of sailors completed the first ever
0:18.2	circumnavigation of the globe led by for now the Mayesh
0:24.2	Anglicised as Ferdinand, Magellan or Magellan if you're in the States. Having
0:30.2	set out with an armada of five ships and some 270 men only one ship and 18
0:37.0	men returned, Magellan was dead. This was an extraordinary voyage setting out
0:44.1	from Spain Magellan and his crew had no idea of the extent of the
0:47.8	Pacific Ocean. Their maps were outdated and Magellan underestimated the
0:52.3	route by at least half. There were risks of storms, starvation, sickness and
0:58.0	beneath me and there were genuine fears of mermaids who could in chance sailors
1:02.7	submerged magnets that could pull nails from ships causing them to sink and
1:07.4	sea monsters. Despite these extraordinary challenges the voyage returning
1:13.8	forever altered the world's ideas about cosmology and geography and much
1:20.2	else besides. Here to talk to us about this incredible story is award-winning
1:25.4	biographer historian and chronicler of exploration Lawrence Bergreen. Lawrence
1:30.9	has written about Cassanova Columbus Marco Polo and Louis Armstrong among many
1:35.7	others and today he's here to talk about his superb book over the edge of the
1:40.9	world. Magellan's terrifying circumnavigation of the world which has proved so
1:45.8	popular that it is now in its 33rd printing. Rumor has it it's being made into a
1:51.5	film.
1:58.7	It is lovely to see you. Thank you so much for making the time to come on this
2:03.0	podcast. We are of course marking the big anniversary of Magellan's circumnavigation
2:08.7	so it's a particularly wonderful time to be having this conversation. So I
	...

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