The Voyage of Magellan - Departure 2

At the time of the epic voyage, Magellan was 39, not too young to lead a fleet of ships and a crew of hundreds. Christopher Columbus, 27 years ago, led a fleet of his own and landed at the new land in 1492, at the age of 41. Magellan was Portuguese and for the fact that he was sailing for Spain, many accounts exist because Portugal and Spain locked horns over the control of the new world at that time. The rivalry was so intense that in 1494, an agreement was signed at Tordesillas, Spain, (called Treaty of Tordesillas), by which Spain and Portugal divided the non-Christian world into two zones of influence. In principle the treaty followed the papal bull issued in 1493 by Pope Alexander VI, which fixed the demarcation line along a circle passing 100 leagues W of the Cape Verde Islands and through the two poles. This division gave the entire New World to Spain and Africa and India to Portugal. However, the Treaty of Tordesillas shifted the demarcation line to a circle passing 370 leagues W of the Cape Verde Islands and thus gave Portugal a claim to Brazil. Because of he sailed for Spain, many Portuguese disdained at his accomplishment, calling him traitor or renegade. But as Columbus was an Italian to lead the Spanish fleet, it was all possible for Magellan doing the same for his mission. But to convince King Charles of Spain was not an easy task when the coterie of blue-blood aristocrats surrounding the king did not hide a sneer on their haughty look whenever the short, swarthy Portuguese approached the royal court.

King Charles, who had just turned eighteen at the time of his first audience with Magellan, relied principally on the advice of royal counselors. With much discussion and dispute, the capitulacion (articles of agreement) was signed in March 1518. For Christopher Columbus, it took seven years to win grudging support of his enterprise. But for Magellan, it took less than a month to win the enthusiastic support from King Charles. For Charles, finding a trade route to Moluccas and shipping in valuable spices was just one motive. Beyond India, he had an ambitious dream of making new discoveries and sowing the seeds of worldwide empire reaching the Orient.