Over the Edge of the World: Magellen's Terrifying Circumnavigation of the Globe by Laurence Bergreen Page A
Authors: Laurence Bergreen
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six-foot-long lobsters and three-hundredfoot-long eels. Sailors had no way of telling which of Pliny’s descriptions were reliable, and which were fantasies.
They were just as ignorant about major landmasses. Only three continents were known to Europeans of the era—Europe, Asia, and Africa—although it was suspected that more would be discovered. The existence of an illusory island, Terra Australis, the South Land, was accepted as fact before and long after Magellan’s voyage. This landmass was said to lurk in the Southern Hemisphere, where its vast size supposedly counterbalanced the continents in the Northern Hemisphere. Highly schematic medieval maps depicted the three known continents as separated by two rivers, the Nile and the Don, as well as the Mediterranean, all of them surrounded by the great Ocean Sea, into which other seas and rivers flowed. This diagram resembled a T inside of an O, so medieval maps of this
genre are referred as “T in O” maps. To remain consistent with religious traditions, T in O maps located Jerusalem at dead center, with Paradise floating vaguely at the top. To complicate matters, Asia occupied the Northern Hemisphere of this map, with Europe and Africa sharing the Southern. In some versions of the medieval map, the Ocean Sea flowed out into space. One could not navigate with such maps, or locate points of the compass on it, or plot realistic routes; they offered a conceptual model rather than an actual representation. As such, they were utterly useless to Magellan. In 1513, only six years before Magellan undertook his circumnavigation, Juan Ponce de León set out to find the Fountain of Youth. Peter Martyr, another trusted authority of the Renaissance, described the Fountain of Youth as “a spring of running water of such marvelous virtue that the water thereof being drunk, perhaps with some diet, makes old men young again.” According to tradition, the fountain was located on the island of Bimini, in the Bahamas. On the strength of his reputation as a soldier, nobleman, and participant in Columbus’s second voyage to the New World, Ponce de León received a commission from King Ferdinand to claim Bimini for Spain. In a fruitless search, Ponce de León explored the Bahamas and Puerto Rico, but his failure to find the Fountain of Youth did not put the myth to rest. As late as 1601, the respected Spanish historian Antonio de Herrera y Tordesillas wrote confidently about the fountain’s great efficacy in restoring youth and potency to aging men.
Although his quest seems fanciful and absurd today, Ponce de León was a man of his times. Superstition governed popular impressions, and even scholarly accounts, of the world at large. A work published in 1560 contained descriptions of various sea monsters infesting the oceans. One, known as the Whirlpool, was said to have a human countenance. Another, supposedly sighted in 1531, had hideous scaly skin. There were others: the Satyr of the Sea; the Rosmarus, which rivaled an elephant in size; and the wondrous Socolopendra, with its face of flames. Voyagers across the seas, especially those attempting to circumnavigate the globe, could expect to encounter all these creatures, and more, in the course of their journey.
E ven educated people placed credence in fantastic realms on earth, for instance, the persistent belief in the existence of the kingdom of Prester John. It is difficult to overestimate the influence of this fabulous personage, Prester John (“Prester” is an archaic word for presbyter, or priest), on the European imagination during the late Middle Ages and early Renaissance. He was part Christian ruler and part Kublai Khan. Despite an enormous number of inconsistencies and improbabilities in the details surrounding Prester John and his realm, his existence was widely believed in for several hundred years. In an era of violent conflict between Christianity and Islam, and unsuccessful Crusades, it was vastly reassuring to
They were just as ignorant about major landmasses. Only three continents were known to Europeans of the era—Europe, Asia, and Africa—although it was suspected that more would be discovered. The existence of an illusory island, Terra Australis, the South Land, was accepted as fact before and long after Magellan’s voyage. This landmass was said to lurk in the Southern Hemisphere, where its vast size supposedly counterbalanced the continents in the Northern Hemisphere. Highly schematic medieval maps depicted the three known continents as separated by two rivers, the Nile and the Don, as well as the Mediterranean, all of them surrounded by the great Ocean Sea, into which other seas and rivers flowed. This diagram resembled a T inside of an O, so medieval maps of this
genre are referred as “T in O” maps. To remain consistent with religious traditions, T in O maps located Jerusalem at dead center, with Paradise floating vaguely at the top. To complicate matters, Asia occupied the Northern Hemisphere of this map, with Europe and Africa sharing the Southern. In some versions of the medieval map, the Ocean Sea flowed out into space. One could not navigate with such maps, or locate points of the compass on it, or plot realistic routes; they offered a conceptual model rather than an actual representation. As such, they were utterly useless to Magellan. In 1513, only six years before Magellan undertook his circumnavigation, Juan Ponce de León set out to find the Fountain of Youth. Peter Martyr, another trusted authority of the Renaissance, described the Fountain of Youth as “a spring of running water of such marvelous virtue that the water thereof being drunk, perhaps with some diet, makes old men young again.” According to tradition, the fountain was located on the island of Bimini, in the Bahamas. On the strength of his reputation as a soldier, nobleman, and participant in Columbus’s second voyage to the New World, Ponce de León received a commission from King Ferdinand to claim Bimini for Spain. In a fruitless search, Ponce de León explored the Bahamas and Puerto Rico, but his failure to find the Fountain of Youth did not put the myth to rest. As late as 1601, the respected Spanish historian Antonio de Herrera y Tordesillas wrote confidently about the fountain’s great efficacy in restoring youth and potency to aging men.
Although his quest seems fanciful and absurd today, Ponce de León was a man of his times. Superstition governed popular impressions, and even scholarly accounts, of the world at large. A work published in 1560 contained descriptions of various sea monsters infesting the oceans. One, known as the Whirlpool, was said to have a human countenance. Another, supposedly sighted in 1531, had hideous scaly skin. There were others: the Satyr of the Sea; the Rosmarus, which rivaled an elephant in size; and the wondrous Socolopendra, with its face of flames. Voyagers across the seas, especially those attempting to circumnavigate the globe, could expect to encounter all these creatures, and more, in the course of their journey.
E ven educated people placed credence in fantastic realms on earth, for instance, the persistent belief in the existence of the kingdom of Prester John. It is difficult to overestimate the influence of this fabulous personage, Prester John (“Prester” is an archaic word for presbyter, or priest), on the European imagination during the late Middle Ages and early Renaissance. He was part Christian ruler and part Kublai Khan. Despite an enormous number of inconsistencies and improbabilities in the details surrounding Prester John and his realm, his existence was widely believed in for several hundred years. In an era of violent conflict between Christianity and Islam, and unsuccessful Crusades, it was vastly reassuring to
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