Ferdinand Magellan promised the young king of Spain to discover the shortest and safest way to the long-awaited spice islands, which would expand his domains and provide him with riches.
On the website commemorating the 5th centenary of the first trip around the world (1519-1522), in the library section , we find a whole list of books ranging from novels, thrillers or fiction to essays on this historical event. Since the events to celebrate the anniversary began, an overwhelming effort has been made to spread the story, share the story, as they say now.
These books are exciting and great value. But an audiovisual narrative was missing that would finish vindicating us in these times of cancellation, complexes and revisionisms, in that star product that the Anglo-Saxons do so well: a television series.
Despite the fact that the world was then divided into two by the Treaty of Tordesillas, one half for Spain and the other for Portugal, the first circumnavigation was a European undertaking that changed the way of seeing the world, that connected its people by making other beliefs, customs and values, and which laid the foundations for many of the subsequent innovations under the legitimate excuse of opening new trade routes and sharing a religion and a culture, just as other expeditions had done before.
From Zweig to television
Stefan Zweig writes in the introduction to the biography of the Portuguese sailor Ferdinand Magellan , admiral of the expedition that went around the world for the first time, that books can have their origin in the most varied feelings. His was the shame of discovering what he had done for our benefit and the little credit he had given to the feat.
The writer, who had traveled to South America on the safest ship, with all the luxuries (the cold was mitigated by turning a key that heated his cabin), knowing the end of his trip, the time of arrival and that it would be Kindly received, he felt self-conscious about such comforts in the face of that feat of the early sixteenth century in austere ships, marked by difficulties, uncertainty and, on occasions, hostility and death.
Let’s change Zweig for Amezcua, Patxi (screenwriter), book for series, comfort for 5G and shame for dignity. The result is the creative rationale for Limitless . Even with the licenses typical of a fiction that aims to entertain, it does justice to those who turned their wishes into truth.
Among those licenses, for example, we find the one to enlist the two protagonists, Magellan and Elcano, on the same ship. Likewise, another concession that the creators take is to ignore until the end the name of Sanlúcar de Barrameda, the natural outlet of the Guadalquivir to the sea. Seville was where the trip was planned, but the sailors remained in Sanlúcar for more than a month to finish supplying the ships and, strategically, mislead the Portuguese who wanted to intercept them. In addition, they never faced them with cannon fire in the open sea as reflected in one of the episodes.
This detail is important because Magellan made numerous trips between Seville and Sanlúcar at that time, before leaving, and he did not set sail with the rest of the captains, as the series collects, nor was there a solemn farewell in the presence of the king, although there was enormous expectation among the city dwellers.
Logically, that town was also the point of arrival, as seen in the outcome of the production, when no one expected them. On the other hand, it is striking that Elcano is deprived at all times of his spirituality when his will is irrefutable proof of his beliefs: numerous churches and religious orders benefited from his generosity in compliance with the promises from him.
A squad of propagandists
In the article Truth and propaganda in the written legacy of the first trip around the world for Revista de Occidente (2018), written together with Professor David Varona, we reflected on the need to approach the journey from the field of communication. Starting with Magallanes, who campaigned for himself before King Charles in his business angel search for him, the candidates most interested in being part of the crew also tried to carve out a good personal brand.
Magellan promised the young king of Spain to discover the shortest and safest way to the long-awaited spice islands, which would expand his domains and provide him with riches.
To do this, he created an entire Mad Men set design . There were Carlos V and his cohort –the client– and Magallanes –the agency–, along with an exotic Malay slave who attested to his story. The power point of that time was a map (Behain’s) to which the Photoshop of the time had to be applied to reflect a possible result: reaching the Philippines from the West. And so he managed to persuade the monarch, who provided him with five ships (Concepción, Trinidad, Victoria, San Antonio and Santiago) and his confidence.
Once embarked, a harsh image was created, he imposed his leadership, his auctoritas , under the gaze of the king’s inspector, Juan de Cartagena, which did not prevent suspicion, envy, conspiracies or, finally, mutiny.
Antonio Pigafetta, chronicler of the trip , lied about his credentials in order to be part of the expedition. He signed up as an A under the name Antonio Lombardo and fattened up his resume by exaggerating his translation skills. His mission, in reality, was aimed at pleasing his supporter, Monsignor Francesco Chiericati, Vatican apostolic prothonotary, with information.
Pigafetta wrote down and recorded as much as he could, offering infinite details and descriptions about the orography, the weather, the languages and customs of the places where they landed, and even about the physique and clothing of its people. He sinned on occasions of credulity, innocence and, above all, he left evidence of the virtues of his admired Admiral Magellan; everything about him was good.
However, after his death, in his diary he omitted the name of Juan Sebastián Elcano, who assumed by consensus, given his knowledge and worth, the responsibility of returning to Spain with the survivors. It is curious, moreover, how from then on the chronicle of the trip becomes more rickety. It seems evident that, in the most complete account of that feat, the glory was reserved for only one man and that was Magellan.
the true explorer
Juan Sebastián Elcano was perhaps the most transparent in his behavior; he was a true explorer. From the beginning he showed his disagreement with many of Magellan’s decisions and was part of a mutiny. Perhaps it was that frankness, because he knew what had to be done, that preserved his life.
While the ideologue of the expedition retaliated by executing some of the rebels, he kept the experienced sailor in his duties. However, Elcano also played his cards. When, famished and exhausted, after three years, only 18 of the 237 men who had left for the spice islands returned to Sanlúcar de Barrameda, their first mission was to report to the king in Valladolid.
There, Elcano was guaranteed a good remuneration for the feat, the financing of a new expedition (he would still want to), and a tangible title, in the form of a shield and included in the official documents, which would make the truth of that deed clear: Primus circumdedisti me (the first to go around the world).
Hoaxes, rumours, lies and legends
Edward Rosset recreates in The Navigators the atmosphere in Seville during the preparations for the trip, and writes that hitmen circulated around the city who “do the job of delivering hoaxes. At one point they carry the false news from one side of the population to the other, so that there is no one who does not find out.” All this with the intention of hindering recruitment.
They generated fears and uncertainties and spread legends about the misfortunes of the Sevillian Juan Díaz de Solís . A few years before, he had embarked on a journey similar to that of Magellan and ended up, as they say, roasted as a banquet for any tribe.
An interested testimony was also spread by the crew members of the San Antonio, one of the five ships that made up the fleet, who abandoned the mission taking advantage of one of the explorations that were customary to do during the trip in search of steps, food or information, because they did not believe never in the Magellan project and they feared for their lives.
By deserting at the end of November 1520 and returning to Spain, they gained a two-year head start to fix the figure of the Portuguese admiral as a heartless and despotic character in the public imagination. However, it is noteworthy that the crown was cautious in the account of the events, without taking sides. We can imagine what those men felt when they heard that 18 souls had returned to testify to that possible dream.
incredible coincidences
The greatest achievement of humanity also has some curiosities that make it even more attractive and powerful: of the five ships, the one that returns is coincidentally called Victory, with all the heroic connotations that the name has.
Among the survivors we find Antonio Pigafetta. The least experienced in the arts of the sea mocked death on more than one occasion.
And, finally, Juan Sebastián Elcano came to command the diminished expedition because, despite their differences, he knew that Magellan’s project was possible. As Zweig says: “It is always destined for the unique man […] to be able to make what has been a wish dreamed come true and truly lasting.”