Quotes About Adventure

the exhausted crew finally reached the broad expanse of the river.

The grant of lands, for instance, proved more generous than Magellan had any right to expect.

It is our wish and our will that of all the lands and islands that you shall discover

has even been suggested that Marco Polo never made it to China, despite his apparently firsthand descriptions of that region.

Although Travels included Polo's experiences closer to home, enlivened with shrewd observations

Mandeville argued that it was possible for people to circumnavigate the globe, but he warned

The lure of spices impelled sober, cautious financiers to back highly risky expeditions to unknown parts of the globe

they had arrived at the Strait of Magellan

If a sailor devoted years of his life to getting there and back, and if he managed to bring home a small sack stuffed with spices

Magellan had a well-painted globe in which the entire world was depicted," wrote Bartolomé de las Casas

And on it he indicated the route he proposed to take.

Magellan's conception of the world he planned to explore was fatally inaccurate.

Like most explorers of the Age of Discovery, his ideas about the size of the globe, and location of landmasses

were inspired by Ptolemy. Had Magellan comprehended the size of the Pacific

its currents, storms, and reefs, it is unlikely that he would have dared to mount an expedition.

The quest began as early as 1419, when Prince Henry, the third son of João I and his English wife, Philippa

Known as Prince Henry the Navigator, he rarely went to sea himself; instead, he inspired others to conquer the ocean.

predicted that it would take him at most two years to reach the Spice Islands and return to Spain with ships bulging with precious cargo.

he would have to do was find a way to get around or through South America

After three busy days in one of Tenerife's harbors, Pigafetta wrote, "We departed thence and came to a port called Monterose

and he would be at the doorstep of the Indies.

This was nearly the same mistake that Columbus had made over and over

and accomplished mariners dared to venture into the Ocean Sea, as the Atlantic Ocean was then known.

during his four voyages. And it was a mistake that would be corrected only at the cost of great suffering