fickerson Wrote:
Cap'n Squirrgle Wrote:
He's british, former sailor. It helps explain a lot of the gross distortions on the older maps... latitude was correct, longitude wasn't, etc. Just nerdy enough to have some meat to it, but still doesn't belabor the point. Can't put it down.
that looks great! now i feel like i should read that one before i continue with the magellan one. it sounds like a very similar format, with the well-crafted nerdiness and explanations, etc. this one also really examines magellan's personality, and it's just an insane story to begin with.
does it mention ever how largely misinterpreted the size of the pacific ocean was? that is a kind of a big deal with magellan's (and other's) story.
shipping. exploration. sigh.
Yep, and he poses a theory about it. The deal was thus, sorta:
1. Sailing for the crown meant a LOT of potential money / fame. Columbus (and his brother) as well as Magellan, etc., knew this and lived by it.
2. The chinese maps (they came to europe via traders from india, then italy, then portugal, being re-drawn and copied each time) showed that the fastest trade routes to the lucrative Indain Ocean cities were, of course, to the east. Down around africa and over. And other countries began to be able to make the trip, so no glory / $ there.
3. (Theory) Columbus's brother redraws the new maps they were getting, and suddenly the pacific is HUGE and the atlantic goes for about 4,000 miles and *bam* there's china... right where north america is. There's really no good explanation for how the maps (and you can follow the succession of them, one to the next, over about 80 years) suddenly go from getting more and more accurate to Holy Fucked Up.
4. They convince the crown to fund their trip to the "scary" west, where the fastest trade route to china / india is to be found, knowing full-well that it's not the fastest route. But they also know that there are uncolonized lands there, so they'll come back with
something, just not what the king asked for.
It should also be said that columbus was... not a very skilled navigator. But a lot of these guys Were very good leaders, and fascinating people.