Quotes from Laurence Bergreen

And Magellan came well armed for what would be the most important meeting of his life.

declare and ordain as free and quit of every obligation of captivity, subjection, and slavery, my captured slave Enrique, mulatto, native of the city of Malacca, of the age of twenty-six years more or less

One sailor telling another that his beard smelled of smoke was tantamount to provoking a fight.

Magellan of October was on the

Magellan found himself in a difficult position. He could not bring himself to condemn a priest—even a disloyal priest—to death.

thenceforward forever the said Enrique may be free and manumitted, and quit, exempt, and relieved of every obligation of slavery

the crew took turns cooking, or paid the apprentices to cook for them.

way to earning a place in history. In the intervening months, he passed a series of tests

The will covered every eventuality that might befall a great explorer such as Magellan—except

And during foul weather, there was no cooking at all, and the sailors endured cold

Hugging the coast, the fleet spent the last week of February sailing west toward Bahía Blanca

what would actually occur once he set forth from Seville.

13, 1519, the fleet entered the lush and gorgeous Bay of Saint Lucy and approached the mouth of the River of January—Rio de Janeiro.

Magellan led his ships in and around the islands of the bay, but found no sign of a strait.

as for Cartagena, his blood ties to Archbishop Fonseca prevented Magellan from taking severe disciplinary action

The Portuguese reacted bitterly to the imminent departure of the Armada de Molucca.

Trinidad went first, slipping past Sugar Loaf and coming quietly to anchor in the harbor. Magellan had arrived in the New World.

repasts of hardtack, salted meat, and wine.

Everywhere Magellan looked, there seemed to be an idol mocking him; they were even arrayed along the shore, and their appearance was disturbing to European sensibilities

King Manuel ordered the harassment of Magellan's relatives who remained in their homeland.

the final days of 1499, Vicente Yáñez Pinzón, a Spanish mariner, first saw the coast of what would later be called Brazil.

Magellan refused to consider this huge bay as anything more than that.

Heaving long passed the point of no return to South America

To make his dishonor public, vandals were sent to the family estate in Sabrosa;