Who was the first to travel around the world: Magellan's expedition. Magellan's first circumnavigation of the world

Every educated person can easily remember the name of the one who committed the first trip around the world and crossed Pacific Ocean. This was done by the Portuguese Ferdinand Magellan about 500 years ago.

But it should be noted that this formulation is not completely correct. Magellan thought through and planned the route of the voyage, organized it and led it, but he was destined to die many months before it was completed. So Juan Sebastian del Cano (Elcano), a Spanish navigator with whom Magellan had, to put it mildly, not friendly relations, continued and completed the first trip around the world. It was del Cano who eventually became captain of the Victoria (the only ship to return to her home harbour) and gained fame and fortune. However, Magellan made great discoveries during his dramatic voyage, which will be discussed below, and therefore he is considered the first circumnavigator.

The first trip around the world: background

In the 16th century, Portuguese and Spanish sailors and merchants vied with each other for control of the spice-rich East Indies. The latter made it possible to preserve food, and it was difficult to do without them. There was already a proven route to the Moluccas, where the largest markets with the cheapest goods were located, but this route was not close and unsafe. Due to limited knowledge about the world, America, discovered not so long ago, seemed to sailors as an obstacle on the way to rich Asia. No one knew whether there was a strait between South America and the hypothetical Unknown South Land, but the Europeans wanted there to be one. They did not yet know that America and East Asia divided by a huge ocean, and it was thought that opening the strait would provide quick access to Asian markets. Therefore, the first navigator to circumnavigate the world would certainly have been awarded royal honors.

Career of Ferdinand Magellan

By the age of 39, the impoverished Portuguese nobleman Magellan (Magalhães) had visited Asia and Africa several times, was wounded in battles with the natives and collected a lot of information about his travels to the shores of America.

With his idea of getting to the Moluccas by the western route and returning the usual way (that is, making the first trip around the world), he turned to the Portuguese King Manuel. He was not at all interested in Magellan’s proposal, whom he also disliked for his lack of loyalty. But he allowed Fernand to change his citizenship, which he immediately took advantage of. The navigator settled in Spain (that is, in a country hostile to the Portuguese!), acquired a family and associates. In 1518, he obtained an audience with the young king Charles I. The king and his advisers became interested in finding a shortcut for spices and “gave the go-ahead” to organize the expedition.

Along the coast. Riot

Magellan's first voyage around the world, which was never completed for most of the team members, began in 1519. Five ships left the Spanish harbor of San Lucar, carrying 265 people from different countries Europe. Despite the storms, the flotilla relatively safely reached the coast of Brazil and began to “descend” along it to the south. Fernand hoped to find a strait into the South Sea, which should have been located, according to his information, in the region of 40 degrees south latitude. But in the indicated place it was not the strait, but the mouth of the La Plata River. Magellan ordered to continue moving south, and when the weather completely deteriorated, the ships anchored in the Bay of St. Julian (San Julian) to spend the winter there. The captains of three ships (Spaniards by nationality) mutinied, seized the ships and decided not to continue the first trip around the world, but to head for the Cape Good Hope and from him - to the homeland. People loyal to the admiral managed to do the impossible - recapture the ships and cut off the rebels' escape route.

Strait of All Saints

One captain was killed, another was executed, the third was put ashore. Magellan pardoned the ordinary rebels, which once again proved his foresight. Only at the end of the summer of 1520 did the ships leave the bay and continue searching for the strait. During a storm, the ship Santiago sank. And on October 21, the sailors finally discovered a strait, more reminiscent of a narrow crevice between the rocks. Magellan's ships sailed along it for 38 days.

The admiral called the coast remaining on the left hand Tierra del Fuego, since Indian fires burned on it around the clock. It was thanks to the discovery of the Strait of All Saints that Ferdinand Magellan began to be considered the one who made the first trip around the world. Subsequently, the Strait was renamed Magellan.

Pacific Ocean

Only three ships left the strait for the so-called “South Sea”: “San Antonio” disappeared (simply deserted). The sailors liked the new waters, especially after the turbulent Atlantic. The ocean was named Pacific.

The expedition headed northwest, then west. For several months the sailors sailed without seeing any signs of land. Starvation and scurvy caused the death of almost half the crew. Only at the beginning of March 1521 did ships approach two yet undiscovered inhabited islands from the Mariana group. From here it was already close to the Philippines.

Philippines. Death of Magellan

The discovery of the islands of Samar, Siargao and Homonkhon greatly pleased the Europeans. Here they regained their strength and communicated with local residents who willingly shared food and information.

Magellan's servant, a Malay, spoke fluently with the natives in the same language, and the admiral realized that the Moluccas were very close. By the way, this servant, Enrique, ultimately became one of those who made the first trip around the world, unlike his master, who was not destined to land on the Moluccas. Magellan and his people intervened in an internecine war between two local princes, and the navigator was killed (either with a poisoned arrow or with a cutlass). Moreover, after some time, as a result of a treacherous attack by savages, his closest associates, experienced Spanish sailors, died. The team was so thin that it was decided to destroy one of the ships, the Concepcion.

Moluccas. Return to Spain

Who led the first voyage around the world after Magellan's death? Juan Sebastian del Cano, Basque sailor. He was among the conspirators who presented Magellan with an ultimatum at San Julian Bay, but the admiral forgave him. Del Cano commanded one of the two remaining ships, the Victoria.

He ensured that the ship returned to Spain loaded with spices. This was not easy to do: the Portuguese were waiting for the Spaniards off the coast of Africa, who from the very beginning of the expedition did everything to upset the plans of their competitors. The second ship, the flagship Trinidad, was boarded by them; sailors were enslaved. Thus, in 1522, 18 expedition members returned to San Lucar. The cargo they delivered covered all the costs of the expensive expedition. Del Cano was awarded a personal coat of arms. If in those days someone had said that Magellan made the first trip around the world, he would have been ridiculed. The Portuguese only faced accusations of violating royal instructions.

Results of Magellan's journey

Magellan explored east coast South America and opened a strait from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. Thanks to his expedition, people received strong evidence that the Earth was indeed round, they were convinced that the Pacific Ocean was much larger than expected, and that sailing on it to the Moluccas was unprofitable. Europeans also realized that the World Ocean is one and washes all continents. Spain satisfied its ambitions by announcing the discovery of the Mariana and Philippine Islands, and laid claim to the Moluccas.

All the great discoveries made during this voyage belong to Ferdinand Magellan. So the answer to the question of who made the first trip around the world is not so obvious. In fact, this man was del Cano, but still the main achievement of the Spaniard was that the world generally learned about the history and results of this voyage.

The first round-the-world voyage of Russian navigators

In 1803-1806, Russian sailors Ivan Kruzenshtern and Yuri Lisyansky made a large-scale journey through the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. Their goals were: exploring the Far Eastern outskirts of the Russian Empire, finding a convenient trade route to China and Japan by sea, and providing the Russian population of Alaska with everything they needed. The navigators (set off on two ships) explored and described Easter Island, the Marquesas Islands, the coast of Japan and Korea, the Kuril Islands, Sakhalin and Yesso Island, visited Sitka and Kodiak, where Russian settlers lived, and also delivered an ambassador from the emperor to Japan. During this voyage, domestic ships visited high latitudes for the first time. The first round-the-world trip of Russian explorers had a huge public resonance and contributed to increasing the prestige of the country. Its scientific significance is no less great.

Ask any schoolchild who was the first to travel around the world, and you will hear: “Of course, Magellan.” And few people doubt these words. But Magellan organized this expedition, led it, but was unable to complete the voyage. So who is the first navigator to accomplish

Magellan's Voyage

In 1516, a little-known nobleman, Ferdinand Magellan, came to the Portuguese king Manuel I with the idea of carrying out Columbus's plan - to reach the Spice Islands, as the Moluccas were then called, from the west. As you know, Columbus was then “interfered” by America, which was on his way, which he considered to be the islands of Southeast Asia.

At that time, the Portuguese were already making voyages to the islands of the East Indies, but bypassing Africa and crossing Indian Ocean. Therefore, they did not need a new route to these islands.

History repeated itself: ridiculed by King Manuel, Magellan went to the Spanish king and received his consent to organize the expedition.

On September 20, 1519, a flotilla of five ships left the Spanish port of San Lucar de Barrameda.

Moons of Magellan

Nobody disputes that historical fact that the first trip around the world was made by an expedition led by Magellan. The vicissitudes of the path of this dramatic expedition are known from the words of Pigafetta, who kept notes throughout the days of the journey. Its participants were also two captains who had already visited the islands of the East Indies more than once: Barbosa and Serrano.

And especially on this campaign, Magellan took his slave, the Malayan Enrique. He was captured in Sumatra and served Magellan faithfully for a long time. On the expedition, he was assigned the role of translator when the Spice Islands were reached.

Progress of the expedition

Having lost a lot of time crossing and passing through the rocky, narrow and long strait, which later received the name of Magellan, the travelers reached a new ocean. During this time, one of the ships sank, the other went back to Spain. A conspiracy against Magellan was discovered. The ships' rigging was in need of repair, and supplies of food and drinking water were running low.

The ocean, called the Pacific, at first met with a good tailwind, but subsequently it became weaker and, finally, completely died down. People deprived of fresh food died not only from hunger, although they had to eat both rats and skin from masts. The main danger was scurvy - the threat of all sailors of that time.

And only on March 28, 1521, they reached the islands, whose inhabitants answered with amazement the questions of Enrique, who spoke in his own language. native language. This meant that Magellan and his companions arrived on the East Indies from the other side. And it was Enrique who was the very first traveler to travel around the world! He returned to his homeland, circumnavigating the globe.

End of the expedition

On April 21, 1521, Magellan was killed after intervening in an internecine war between local leaders. This had the worst consequences for his companions, who were forced to simply flee from the islands.

Many of the sailors were killed or wounded. Of the 265 crew members, only 150 remained; they were only enough to control two ships.

On the Tidore Islands they were able to rest a little, replenish food supplies, and take spices and gold sand on board.

Only the ship "Victoria" under the control of Sebastian del Cano set off on the return voyage to Spain. Only 18 people returned back to the port of Lukar! These people are the ones who were the first to travel around the world. True, their names have not been preserved. But Captain del Cano and the chronicler of the journey, Pigafetta, are known not only to historians and geographers.

The first Russian trip around the world

The head of the first Russian round-the-world expedition was. This voyage took place in 1803-1806.

Two sailing ship- "Nadezhda" under the command of Kruzenshtern himself and "Neva" led by his assistant Yuri Fedorovich Lisyansky - left Kronstadt on August 7, 1803. The main goal there was exploration of the Pacific Ocean and especially the mouth of the Amur. It was necessary to identify comfortable places for parking Russian Pacific Fleet And best routes ways of supplying it.

The expedition was not only of great importance for the formation of the Pacific Fleet, but also made a huge contribution to science. New islands were discovered, but a number of non-existent islands were erased from the ocean map. For the first time, systematic research in the ocean was started. The expedition discovered inter-trade countercurrents in the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, measured water temperature, its salinity, determined the density of water... The reasons for the glow of the sea were clarified, data on the ebb and flow of tides, and weather components in different areas of the World Ocean were collected.

Significant clarifications were made to the map of the Russian Far East: parts of the coast Kuril Islands, Sakhalin, Kamchatka Peninsula. For the first time, some of the Japanese islands were depicted on it.

The participants of this expedition became those Russians who were the first to travel around the world.

But for most Russians, this expedition is known by the fact that the first Russian mission led by Rezanov went to Japan on the Nadezhda.

Great Seconds (interesting facts)

The Englishman became the second person to circumnavigate the world in 1577-1580. His galleon "Golden Hind" first passed from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean through a stormy strait, which was later named after him. This path is considered much more difficult than through due to constant storms, floating ice, sudden changes in weather. Drake became the man who was the first to travel around the world, rounding Cape Horn. Since then, the tradition of wearing an earring began among sailors. If he passed leaving Cape Horn on the right, then the earring should have been in the right ear, and vice versa.

For his services he was knighted personally by Queen Elizabeth. It was to him that the Spaniards owed the defeat of their “Invincible Armada.”

In 1766, Frenchwoman Jeanne Barré became the first woman to sail around the world. To do this, she disguised herself as a man and got on the Bougainville ship, which set off on an expedition around the world, as a servant. When the deception was revealed, despite all her merits, Barre was landed in Mauritius and returned home on another ship.

Second Russian round the world expedition under the leadership of F.F. Bellingshausen and M.P. Lazarev is famous for the discovery of Antarctica in January 1820.

June 1st, 2018

Ask anyone, and he will tell you that the first person to circumnavigate the world was the Portuguese navigator and explorer Ferdinand Magellan, who died on the island of Mactan (Philippines) during an armed skirmish with the natives (1521). The same is written in history books. In fact, this is a myth. After all, it turns out that one excludes the other.

Magellan managed to go only half of the way.

Primus circumdedisti me (you were the first to circumvent me)- reads the Latin inscription on the coat of arms of Juan Sebastian Elcano crowned with a globe. Indeed, Elcano was the first person to commit circumnavigation.

The San Telmo Museum in San Sebastian houses Salaverria's painting "The Return of Victoria". Eighteen emaciated people in white shrouds, with lit candles in their hands, staggering down the ramp from the ship onto the Seville embankment. These are sailors from the only ship that returned to Spain from Magellan's entire flotilla. In front is their captain, Juan Sebastian Elcano.

Much in Elcano’s biography is still unclear. Oddly enough, the man who first circumnavigated the globe did not attract the attention of artists and historians of his time. There is not even a reliable portrait of him, and of the documents he wrote, only letters to the king, petitions and a will have survived.

Juan Sebastian Elcano was born in 1486 in Getaria, a small port town in the Basque Country, near San Sebastian. He early connected his own destiny with the sea, making a “career” that was not uncommon for an enterprising person of that time - first changing the job of a fisherman to being a smuggler, and later enlisting in the navy to avoid punishment for his too free attitude towards laws and trade duties. Elcano managed to take part in the Italian Wars and the Spanish military campaign in Algeria in 1509. Basque mastered maritime affairs well in practice when he was a smuggler, but it was in the navy that Elcano received the “correct” education in the field of navigation and astronomy.

In 1510, Elcano, the owner and captain of a ship, took part in the siege of Tripoli. But the Spanish Treasury refused to pay Elcano the amount due for settlements with the crew. Having left military service, which never seriously seduced the young adventurer low earnings and the need to maintain discipline, Elcano decides to start new life in Seville. It seems to Basque that a brilliant future awaits him - in his new city, no one knows about his not entirely impeccable past, the navigator atoned for his guilt before the law in battles with the enemies of Spain, he has official papers allowing him to work as a captain on a merchant ship ... But the trading enterprises in which Elcano becomes a participant turn out to be unprofitable.

In 1517, to pay off debts, he sold the ship under his command to Genoese bankers - and this trading operation determined his entire fate. The fact is that the owner of the sold ship was not Elcano himself, but the Spanish crown, and the Basque, as expected, again had difficulties with the law, this time threatening him with the death penalty. At that time it was considered a serious crime. Knowing that the court would not take into account any excuses, Elcano fled to Seville, where it was easy to get lost and then hide on any ship: in those days, captains were least interested in the biographies of their people. In addition, there were many of Elcano’s fellow countrymen in Seville, and one of them, Ibarolla, was well acquainted with Magellan. He helped Elcano enlist in Magellan's flotilla. Having passed the exams and received beans as a sign of a good grade (those who failed received peas from the examination committee), Elcano became a helmsman on the third largest ship in the flotilla, the Concepcion.

Ships of Magellan's flotilla

On September 20, 1519, Magellan's flotilla left the mouth of the Guadalquivir and headed for the shores of Brazil. In April 1520, when the ships settled for the winter in the frosty and deserted Bay of San Julian, the captains dissatisfied with Magellan mutinied. Elcano found himself drawn into it, not daring to disobey his commander, captain of the Concepcion Quesada.

Magellan energetically and brutally suppressed the rebellion: Quesada and another of the leaders of the conspiracy had their heads cut off, the corpses were quartered and the mutilated remains were stuck on poles. Magellan ordered Captain Cartagena and one priest, also the instigator of the rebellion, to be landed on the deserted shore of the bay, where they subsequently died. Magellan spared the remaining forty rebels, including Elcano.

1. The first circumnavigation in history

On November 28, 1520, the remaining three ships left the strait and in March 1521, after an unprecedentedly difficult passage across the Pacific Ocean, they approached the islands, which later became known as the Marianas. That same month Magellan discovered Philippine Islands, and on April 27, 1521 he died in a skirmish with local residents on the island of Matan. Elcano, stricken with scurvy, did not take part in this skirmish. After the death of Magellan, Duarte Barbosa and Juan Serrano were elected captains of the flotilla. At the head of a small detachment, they went ashore to the Rajah of Sebu and were treacherously killed. Fate again - for the umpteenth time - spared Elcano. Karvalyo became the head of the flotilla. But there were only 115 people left on the three ships; There are many sick people among them. Therefore, the Concepcion was burned in the strait between the islands of Cebu and Bohol; and his team moved to the other two ships - Victoria and Trinidad. Both ships wandered between the islands for a long time, until finally, on November 8, 1521, they dropped anchor off the island of Tidore, one of the “Spice Islands” - the Moluccas. Then it was generally decided to continue sailing on one ship - the Victoria, of which Elcano had recently become captain, and leave the Trinidad in the Moluccas. And Elcano managed to navigate his worm-eaten ship with a starving crew across the Indian Ocean and along the coast of Africa. A third of the team died, about a third were detained by the Portuguese, but still “Victoria” entered the mouth of the Guadalquivir on September 8, 1522.

It was an unprecedented transition, unheard of in the history of navigation. Contemporaries wrote that Elcano surpassed King Solomon, the Argonauts and the cunning Odysseus. The first circumnavigation in history has been completed! The king granted the navigator an annual pension of 500 gold ducats and knighted Elcano. The coat of arms assigned to Elcano (since then del Cano) immortalized his voyage. The coat of arms depicted two cinnamon sticks framed with nutmeg and cloves, and a golden castle topped with a helmet. Above the helmet is a globe with the Latin inscription: “You were the first to circle me.” And finally, by a special decree, the king granted Elcano a pardon for selling the ship to a foreigner. But if it was quite simple to reward and forgive the brave captain, then to resolve everything controversial issues related to the fate of the Moluccas turned out to be more complicated. The Spanish-Portuguese Congress met for a long time, but was never able to “divide” the islands located on the other side of the “apple of the earth” between the two powerful powers. And the Spanish government decided not to delay the departure of the second expedition to the Moluccas.

2. Goodbye La Coruña

La Coruña was considered the safest port in Spain, which “could accommodate all the fleets of the world.” The importance of the city increased even more when the Chamber of Indian Affairs was temporarily transferred here from Seville. This chamber developed plans for a new expedition to the Moluccas in order to finally establish Spanish dominance on these islands. Elcano arrived in La Coruña full of bright hopes - he already saw himself as an admiral of the armada - and began equipping the flotilla. However, Charles I appointed as commander not Elcano, but a certain Jofre de Loais, a participant in many naval battles, but completely unfamiliar with navigation. Elcano's pride was deeply wounded. In addition, from the royal chancellery came the “highest refusal” to Elcano’s request for payment of the annual pension granted to him of 500 gold ducats: the king ordered that this amount be paid only after returning from the expedition. Thus, Elcano experienced the traditional ingratitude of the Spanish crown towards famous navigators.

Before sailing, Elcano visited his native Getaria, where he, a famous sailor, easily managed to recruit many volunteers onto his ships: with a man who has walked around the “apple of the earth,” you will not be lost in the devil’s mouth, the port brethren reasoned. In the early summer of 1525, Elcano brought his four ships to A Coruña and was appointed helmsman and deputy commander of the flotilla. In total, the flotilla consisted of seven ships and 450 crew members. There were no Portuguese on this expedition. The last night before the flotilla sailed in La Coruña it was very lively and solemn. At midnight, a huge fire was lit on Mount Hercules, on the site of the ruins of a Roman lighthouse. The city said goodbye to the sailors. The cries of the townspeople who treated the sailors with wine from leather bottles, the sobs of women and the hymns of pilgrims mixed with the sounds of the cheerful dance “La Muneira”. The sailors of the flotilla remembered this night for a long time. They were sent to another hemisphere, and they now faced a life full of dangers and hardships. For the last time, Elcano walked under the narrow arch of Puerto de San Miguel and descended the sixteen pink steps to the shore. These steps, already completely erased, have survived to this day.

Death of Magellan

3. The misfortunes of the chief helmsman

Loaiza's powerful, well-armed flotilla set sail on July 24, 1525. According to the royal instructions, and Loaysa had fifty-three in total, the flotilla was to follow the path of Magellan, but avoid his mistakes. But neither Elcano, the king's chief adviser, nor the king himself foresaw that this would be the last expedition sent through the Strait of Magellan. It was Loaisa's expedition that was destined to prove that this was not the most profitable path. And all subsequent expeditions to Asia were sent from the Pacific ports of New Spain (Mexico).

On July 26, the ships rounded Cape Finisterre. On August 18, the ships were caught in a strong storm. The main mast on the admiral's ship was broken, but two carpenters sent by Elcano, risking their lives, still got there in a small boat. While the mast was being repaired, the flagship collided with the Parral, breaking its mizzenmast. The swimming was very difficult. There was not enough fresh water and provisions. Who knows what the fate of the expedition would have been if on October 20 the lookout had not seen the island of Annobon in the Gulf of Guinea on the horizon. The island was deserted - only a few skeletons lay under a tree on which a strange inscription was carved: “Here lies the unfortunate Juan Ruiz, killed because he deserved it.” Superstitious sailors saw this as a terrible omen. The ships hastily filled with water and stocked up on provisions. On this occasion, the captains and officers of the flotilla were convened for a festive dinner with the admiral, which almost ended tragically.

A huge, unknown breed of fish was served on the table. According to Urdaneta, Elcano’s page and chronicler of the expedition, some sailors who “tasted the meat of this fish, which had teeth like a large dog, had such stomach pain that they thought they would not survive.” Soon the entire flotilla left the shores of inhospitable Annobon. From here Loaisa decided to sail to the shores of Brazil. And from that moment on, a streak of misfortune began for the Sancti Espiritus, Elcano’s ship. Without having time to set sail, the Sancti Espiritus almost collided with the admiral's ship, and then fell behind the flotilla for some time. At latitude 31º, after a strong storm, the admiral's ship disappeared from sight. Elcano took command of the remaining ships. Then the San Gabriel separated from the flotilla. The remaining five ships searched for the admiral's ship for three days. The search was unsuccessful, and Elcano ordered to move on to the Strait of Magellan.

On January 12, the ships stood at the mouth of the Santa Cruz River, and since neither the admiral's ship nor the San Gabriel approached here, Elcano convened a council. Knowing from the experience of a previous voyage that there was an excellent anchorage here, he suggested waiting for both ships, as was provided for in the instructions. However, the officers, who were eager to enter the strait as quickly as possible, advised leaving only the Santiago pinnace at the mouth of the river, burying a message in a jar under the cross on the island that the ships were heading to the Strait of Magellan. On the morning of January 14, the flotilla weighed anchor. But what Elcano took to be a strait turned out to be the mouth of the Gallegos River, five or six miles from the strait. Urdaneta, who, despite his admiration for Elcano. retained the ability to be critical of his decisions, writes that Elcano’s mistake really amazed him. That same day they approached the present entrance to the strait and anchored at the Cape of the Eleven Thousand Holy Virgins.

An exact copy of the ship "Victoria"

At night a terrible storm hit the flotilla. The raging waves flooded the ship to the middle of the masts, and it could barely stay on four anchors. Elcano realized that everything was lost. His only thought now was to save the team. He ordered the ship to be grounded. Panic began on the Sancti Espiritus. Several soldiers and sailors rushed into the water in horror; everyone drowned except one, who managed to reach the shore. Then the rest crossed to the shore. We managed to save some of the provisions. However, at night the storm broke out with the same force and finally destroyed the Sancti Espiritus. For Elcano, the captain, the first circumnavigator and chief helmsman of the expedition, the crash, especially through his fault, was a big blow. Elcano had never been in such a difficult situation. When the storm finally subsided, the captains of other ships sent a boat for Elcano, inviting him to lead them through the Strait of Magellan, since he had been here before. Elcano agreed, but took only Urdaneta with him. He left the rest of the sailors on the shore...

But failures did not leave the exhausted flotilla. From the very beginning, one of the ships almost ran into rocks, and only Elcano’s determination saved the ship. After some time, Elcano sent Urdaneta with a group of sailors to pick up the sailors left on the shore. Urdaneta's group soon ran out of provisions. It was very cold at night, and people were forced to bury themselves up to their necks in sand, which also did little to warm them. On the fourth day, Urdaneta and his companions approached the sailors dying on the shore from hunger and cold, and on the same day Loaiza’s ship, the San Gabriel, and the pinassa Santiago entered the mouth of the strait. On January 20, they joined the rest of the flotilla.

JUAN SEBASTIAN ELCANO

On February 5, a strong storm broke out again. Elcano's ship took refuge in the strait, and the San Lesmes was thrown further south by the storm, to 54° 50′ south latitude, that is, it approached the very tip of Tierra del Fuego. In those days, not a single ship sailed further south. A little more, and the expedition could open a route around Cape Horn. After the storm, it turned out that the admiral's ship was aground, and Loaiza and his crew left the ship. Elcano immediately sent a group of his best sailors to help the admiral. On the same day, the Anunciada deserted. The captain of the ship, de Vera, decided to independently get to the Moluccas past the Cape of Good Hope. The Anunciada has gone missing. A few days later, the San Gabriel also deserted. The remaining ships returned to the mouth of the Santa Cruz River, where the sailors began repairing the admiral's ship, which had been battered by storms. Under other conditions it would have had to be abandoned altogether, but now that the flotilla had lost three largest ship, this could no longer be afforded. Elcano, who, on his return to Spain, had criticized Magellan for staying at the mouth of this river for seven weeks, was now forced to spend five weeks here. At the end of March, the somehow patched up ships again headed for the Strait of Magellan. The expedition now consisted of only an admiral's ship, two caravels and a pinnace.

On April 5, the ships entered the Strait of Magellan. Between the islands of Santa Maria and Santa Magdalena, the admiral's ship suffered another misfortune. A boiler with boiling tar caught fire and a fire broke out on the ship.

Panic began, many sailors rushed to the boat, not paying attention to Loaiza, who showered them with curses. The fire was still extinguished. The flotilla moved on through the strait, along the banks of which at high mountain peaks, “so high that they seemed to stretch to the very sky,” lay eternal bluish snow. At night, Patagonian fires burned on both sides of the strait. Elcano was already familiar with these lights from his first voyage. On April 25, the ships weighed anchor from the San Jorge parking lot, where they replenished their supplies of water and firewood, and again set off on a difficult voyage.

And there, where the waves of both oceans meet with a deafening roar, a storm struck Loaisa's flotilla again. The ships anchored in the bay of San Juan de Portalina. On the shore of the bay rose mountains several thousand feet high. It was terribly cold, and “no clothing could warm us,” writes Urdaneta. Elcano was on the flagship the entire time: Loaiza, having no relevant experience, relied entirely on Elcano. The passage through the strait lasted forty-eight days - ten days more than Magellan. On May 31, a strong northeast wind blew. The whole sky was overcast. On the night of June 1 to 2, a storm broke out, the most terrible that had occurred so far, scattering all the ships. Although the weather later improved, they were never destined to meet. Elcano, with most of the crew of the Sancti Espiritus, was now on the admiral's ship, which numbered one hundred and twenty people. Two pumps did not have time to pump out the water; it was feared that the ship could sink at any minute. In general, the ocean was Great, but by no means Quiet.

4. The helmsman dies as an admiral

The ship was sailing alone; neither sail nor island were visible on the vast horizon. “Every day,” writes Urdaneta, “we waited for the end. Due to the fact that people from the wrecked ship moved to us, we are forced to reduce rations. We worked hard and ate little. We had to endure great hardships and some of us died.” Loaiza died on July 30. According to one of the expedition members, the cause of his death was loss of spirit; he was so worried about the loss of the remaining ships that he “became weaker and died.” Loayza did not forget to mention his chief helmsman in his will: “I ask that Elcano be returned the four barrels of white wine that I owe him. Let the crackers and other provisions lying on my ship Santa Maria de la Victoria be given to my nephew Alvaro de Loaiza, who should share them with Elcano.” They say that by this time only rats remained on the ship. Many on the ship suffered from scurvy. Wherever Elcano looked, everywhere he saw swollen pale faces and heard the groans of the sailors.

From the time they left the strait, thirty people died of scurvy. “They all died,” writes Urdaneta, “because their gums were swollen and they could not eat anything. I saw a man whose gums were so swollen that he tore off pieces of meat as thick as a finger.” The sailors had one hope - Elcano. They, in spite of everything, believed in his lucky star, although he was so ill that four days before Loaisa's death he himself made a will. A cannon salute was given in honor of Elcano's assumption of the post of admiral, a position for which he had unsuccessfully sought two years earlier. But Elcano's strength was running out. The day came when the admiral could no longer get out of bed. His relatives and his faithful Urdaneta gathered in the cabin. In the flickering light of the candle one could see how thin they had become and how much they had suffered. Urdaneta kneels and touches the body of her dying master with one hand. The priest watches him closely. Finally he raises his hand, and everyone present slowly kneels. Elcano's wanderings are over...

“Monday, August 6th. The valiant Senor Juan Sebastian de Elcano has died." This is how Urdaneta noted in his diary the death of the great navigator.

Four people lift the body of Juan Sebastian, wrapped in a shroud and tied to a board. At a sign from the new admiral, they throw him into the sea. There was a splash that drowned out the priest's prayers.

MONUMENT IN HONOR OF ELCANO IN GETARIA

Epilogue

Worn by worms, tormented by storms and storms, the lonely ship continued on its way. The team, according to Urdaneta, “was terribly exhausted and exhausted. Not a day went by without one of us dying.

Therefore, we decided that the best thing for us was to go to the Moluccas." Thus, they abandoned the bold plan of Elcano, who was going to fulfill Columbus’s dream - to reach east coast Asia, following the shortest route from the west. “I am sure that if Elcano had not died, we would not have reached the Ladron (Mariana) Islands so soon, because his always intention was to search for Chipansu (Japan),” writes Urdaneta. He clearly thought Elcano's plan was too risky. But the person who first circled the “earthly apple” did not know what fear was. But he also did not know that three years later Charles I would cede his “rights” to the Moluccas to Portugal for 350 thousand gold ducats. Of Loaiza's entire expedition, only two ships survived: the San Gabriel, which reached Spain after a two-year voyage, and the Santiago, under the command of Guevara, which sailed along the Pacific coast of South America to Mexico. Although Guevara saw the coast of South America only once, his voyage proved that the coast nowhere extends far to the west and South America has the shape of a triangle. This was the most important geographical discovery Loaysa's expedition.

Getaria, in the homeland of Elcano, at the entrance to the church stands stone plate, the half-erased inscription on which reads: “... the illustrious captain Juan Sebastian del Cano, a native and resident of the noble and faithful city of Getaria, the first to circumnavigate the globe on the ship Victoria.” In memory of the hero, this slab was erected in 1661 by Don Pedro de Etave e Azi, Knight of the Order of Calatrava. Pray for the repose of the soul of the one who was the first to travel around the world.” And on the globe in the San Telmo Museum the place where Elcano died is indicated - 157º west longitude and 9º north latitude.

In history books, Juan Sebastian Elcano undeservedly found himself in the shadow of the glory of Ferdinand Magellan, but in his homeland he is remembered and revered. A training sailing ship in the Spanish Navy bears the name Elcano. In the wheelhouse of the ship you can see the coat of arms of Elcano, and the sailing ship itself has already completed a dozen expeditions around the world.

February 12, 1908 The first in the world started in New York round the world motor rally- a very bold and risky event in the spirit of that era of great technical discoveries and achievements. But adventurers have always existed - they lived before 1908, they were there after it, they feel great in our time. And today we will talk about history of travel around the world, starting from Magellan and ending with modern brave knights of the compass and map.

Magellan's circumnavigation of the world (1519-1522)

Already at the very beginning of the sixteenth century it became clear that discovered by Christopher Columbus's lands are neither India nor China. But it was assumed that Asia, with all its many riches, was not so far from America. All that’s left to do is to find a strait, sail across the “South Sea” (as the body of water that became known as the Pacific Ocean was called in those days) and get to the desired lands, full of spices and silks. The Portuguese and Spanish navigator Ferdinand Magellan took up this matter.

On October 20, 1519, five ships under his command left the Spanish port of Sanlúcar de Barrameda. There was a crew of more than two hundred people on board the ships. The expedition led by Magellan actually managed to circumnavigate the American continent from the south, cross the Pacific Ocean, reach the Moluccas (Spice Islands) and return to Seville on September 6, 1522.

But during circumnavigation the expedition lost four ships, and out of 235 personnel, only thirty-six returned to Spain (18 on the last remaining ship and as many more in different ways over the following months and even years). Magellan himself and most of his commanders died in skirmishes with the natives. The expedition was completed by Captain Juan Sebastian Elcano, the only surviving officer.

Circumnavigation of the world by bicycle (1884-1886)

Thomas Stevens became the first person to travel around the world by bicycle. And it is worth understanding that this was not a bike in the modern sense - light, sporty, ergonomic, but a standard “penny and farthing” bike for those times (when the front wheel is eight times larger than the rear). And the situation with the roads was much more complicated.

Starting his journey in San Francisco, Stevens crossed all of America from west to east to New York. Then he traveled quite a bit around his native England, traveled through Europe, Ottoman Empire, spent the winter in Tehran as the personal guest of the Shah, visited Afghanistan, returned to Istanbul, sailed by sea to India, checked in in China and Japan, and then returned to the starting point of the journey, spending more than two and a half years on the trip.

Round the world voyage on a yacht (1895-1898)

Joshua Slocum's legendary trip around the world started on April 25, 1895 in Boston. The 10-meter Sprey yacht, on which the Canadian-American traveler and adventurer sailed alone, first crossed Atlantic Ocean, approaching the Iberian Peninsula, then passed along west coast Africa, again crossed the Atlantic, passed through the Strait of Magellan, reached Australia, visited New Guinea, rounded the Cape of Good Hope, and on June 27, 1898, finished in the city of Newport in Rhode Island.

But the traveler did not receive any magnificent honors upon his return to the USA. The American-Spanish War, which was raging at that time, attracted all the attention of the press and public. So they started talking about Slocum’s achievement only after peace was concluded. And in 1900 he published the book “Sailing Alone Around the World,” which became a worldwide bestseller and is still in print.

Joshua Slocum went missing while sailing on a yacht in 1909 in the area Bermuda, which was one of the reasons for the appearance of the legend of the Bermuda Triangle.

First round-the-world motor rally (1908)

On February 12, 1908, the first round-the-world motor rally started, organized by the American newspaper New York Times and the French Matin. This event was timed to coincide with the 99th anniversary of the birth of Abraham Lincoln. It was planned that 13 crews would take part in it, but seven of them withdrew at the very last moment, before the start of the trip.

The main problem in the first weeks of the run was the cold. Cars of those times were not equipped with heaters, and some had no roof at all. At the same time, it was initially planned that the crews would move from the United States to Russia through the frozen Bering Strait. But creepy weather in the North they were forced to change the route - the cars were loaded onto a ship in Seattle and transported to Vladivostok.

The rally participants crossed all of Eurasia. The German crew in a Protos car was the first to reach the finish line in Paris. This happened on July 11, 169 days after the start. But it turned out that the Germans violated the terms of the competition, for which they received a fine of 15 days. So the winners were the Americans in the Thomas Flyer, who arrived at the last point exactly on July 26th. For the American participants, the race became a round-the-world race - after the triumph in Paris, they returned to New York, thereby closing the circle.

Round the World Airplane (1924, 1957)

Now you can fly around it Globe on an airliner in just over a day. And in 1924, four Douglas World Cruiser aircraft took almost six months. Or rather, it took off from Seattle on April 6, four aircraft, and only two returned back on September 28 - the rest crashed along the road.

And the first non-stop flight around the world was made in January 1957, spending 45 hours and 19 minutes on it. Along the way, they were replenished with fuel three times from a refueling aircraft.

Around the world on foot (1970-1974)

On June 20, 1970, brothers David and John Kunst left their home in Waseca, Minnesota, and went to walking trip around the world. They reached New York, where they boarded a ship to Lisbon. Then they crossed the whole of Europe on foot and reached Afghanistan. But there they were attacked by bandits, John was killed, and David was hospitalized for four months.

Having recovered, Kunst continued his campaign exactly from the place where his relative died. But now their third brother, Peter, has joined him. However, he traveled for “only” a year - he had to return home to work.

David Kunst returned to his native Minnesota on October 5, 1974, having traveled about 25 thousand kilometers on the way, becoming a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, wearing 21 pairs of shoes and meeting the Australian teacher Jenny Samuel, who first became his travel companion, and then in life. .

Non-stop flight around the world in a hot air balloon (1999)

At the end of the twentieth century Balloons practically ceased to exist. Only those that were used for advertising, tourism, sports and scientific purposes (strata balloons) remained. But balloons also appeared, created specifically for setting records. For example, Breitling Orbiter 3, on which in March 1999 Bertrand Piccard and Brian Jones made a non-stop flight around the world, 45,755 kilometers long and lasting 19 days 21 hours and 47 minutes.

But this record is not enough for Picard! Worthy of his grandfather, father and uncle, the adventurer is going to make the first ever flight around the world in 2015 on an aircraft that receives energy exclusively from solar panels installed on it.

I was born in port city. We had a huge lock where trade barges were constantly moored. And on the other side there was a small canal, there was a sandy coastline where beaches were built for those who like to swim and sunbathe. Thus, it turned out to be a certain part of the land, surrounded on both sides by water, relatively speaking small island. One day my dad took me for a ride on his boat, making a full circle around the island. This is ours short trip around the world, the father said then. All this took more than two hours, and the territory was not very large. Then I couldn’t even think that there are brave souls who travel around the whole world, making a complete trip around the world. The first such hero was Ferdinand Magellan and his team.

How did the first trip around the world take place?

The journey lasted almost three years. During this time there were many events:

Riots. In total, five ships under the command of five different captains set out on the expedition. Despite the recognition of Magellan as the leader during the departure, there were repeated attempts to remove him, since many were not satisfied with his nationality (the Portuguese leading the Spaniards hurt their self-esteem) and the lack of a clear travel plan (more precisely, Magellan had a plan, but he did not tell it to anyone ).
Of death. Of the two hundred people who set off from the original point, only 18 returned. Scurvy, hunger, and lack of fresh water are the main reasons for this. Unfortunately, I couldn’t return myself. teamsop, He was killed on the island by local residents.
Discoveries. Of course, the expedition had a significant influence on the formation of the world map of that time. Dozens of new islands were discovered, explored and named Quiet ocean, it has been proven that Earth round.

Successful arrival home

The travelers returned in 1522. They were greeted as heroes.

Despite the fact that the only ship brought to its destination was Juan Sebastian Elcano, this expedition still entered into world history, How journey Magellan. The paradox is not only that Fernand around the world journey By total Not committed, but also the lack of his initial desire for this. In fact, he wanted to find a shortcut to the Moluccas to carry out various trade operations. Now the islands look a piece of paradise, and at that time their herbs and spices were more valued.

It must be said that this goal was ultimately achieved, but the main result was something completely different: a complete rethinking of the world map of Medieval Europe.

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