VOYAGE OF DISCOVERY -- TWO

REPLICA OF MAGELLAN'S SHIP
VICTORIA

Of course, there had been many more adventurers and explorer. They dared to set out into the unknown with no knowledge of the whole world and very small ships.  To face the incredible powers of ferocious storms they must have been very brave men. Plus the dreadful conditions on the small, rat-infested ships. What must they have endured to us the knowledge of the world so early in history?

VASCO DA GAMA

Since Diaz found a route round the Cape of Good Hope to reach the Indian Ocean; King Emanuel I of Portugal sent Vasco da Gama in 1497 to try and find a trade route to India. With three small ships da Gama set out but did not sail along the coastline. He sailed out into the Atlantic Ocean and reach a small island St Helena. From there he used the strong westerly winds to get round the Cape.  He stopped a number of times at the east coast of Africa. In Malindi he met an Arab navigator who showed him the way across the Indian Ocean.

They landed at the famous spice port of Calicut on the Malabar coast. The Indian refused to trade because they didn’t want to lose the Arab traders. He came back with the ships loaded with spices but did not achieve a trade agreement.

Vasco da Gama returned to the East in 1502 with 20 well armed ships. He bombarded Calicut and forced the Indians into a trade agreement. On his way there he established a colony at Mozambique. He returned to Portugal in triumph.

In 1524 Vasco da Gama went back to India as Portuguese viceroy.  After his arrival he soon died. The colony Goa remained in Portuguese’s hands until 1961.

FERDINAND MAGELLAN

Ferdinand Magellan was a Portuguese nobleman and was born in 1480.  However, it was Charles I of Spain who sponsored him to sail round the world.

He sailed in 1519 with five ships from Spain and took a route south-westwards.  On his voyage he discovered the Magellan Strait. The strait is between the South America’s mainland and the island of Tierra del Fuego and leads straight into the Pacific.  The route into the Pacific round the Cape Horn was only discovered in 1616. Magellan was surprised by the calm ‘new’ ocean and therefore named it Pacific, meaning peaceful.

From there they sailed north-westwards and arrived in the Philippines. Magellan was killed there in 1521 during a fight with the local inhabitants.  However, the expedition set sail again and went to Moluccas which the Portuguese had already reached in 1512, by the south-eastern route.  This voyage proved the world was round and Magellan’s sailors successfully went round it.  However, they had to pay a high price.  Of the five ships and 268 men only one ship and 35 men arrived back.

JOHN CABOT

John Cabot was an Italian navigator. He was born in 1450 but loved to England.  Henry II sent him to discover new lands and a new route to the spice islands. Since the Spanish and Portuguese controlled the southern route to Asia, Cabot searched for a northern route. In June 1497 he landed at Cape Breton Island (Newfoundland). He was the first European explorer to discover North America. Cabot thought he landed in North East Asia. The voyage took him to Greenland and he died there in 1498.