Magellan's Voyage - Part 1: Of Spain and Portugal

What's the most dangerous act one can go through that is considered at least somewhat regular?

In that case, no, walking out into traffic doesn't count. Going toe to toe with a bear might get you killed, but that's not a regular act either. I'm talking something people do in the modern day Western world that wouldn't get you thrown in an asylum. Heck, we can jump out of planes now with 99.983% chance of surviving, citing the ever-reliable "first thing that comes up on Google in regards to skydiving" source. Hollywood stuntmen would have so many legal cases if their death-defying

Pope Alexander VI. As an interesting side-note, Popes were
different back then, and this particular one was wealthy
 and ambitious, also with a weak spot for the women-folk, having
 many mistresses and illegitimate kids. I deem him
Pope Pimpious. Or Pope Impious. Or Notorious P.O.P.E.
All good options, really.

tricks were in reality truly defying death, rather than everyone involved being exceptionally careful. I suppose the riskiest thing is likely some of the more hands-on and frightening oil jobs, or more likely, front-lines soldiers, but even then the survival rate is much higher than it used to be. The reason behind this is we seem to actually value life now, as opposed to the Renaissance Era, where believing that individual lives held more than just a means to plow a field for a while was a radical idea.

That's the time Magellan lived. A time when life was cheap, and seemingly many considered even their own this way. Now, these people, when given the opportunity to take their lives that are effectively just that thread above worthless and turn it into vast piles of gold and metaphorical vast piles of glory, it seems like a decent trade in. The place where that bet could actually be made was in the spice trade. Suddenly, people had the ability to take their lives to the roulette table and throw it all on "00" and hope for the best.

The reason this sudden chance at ultra-success came was due to a number of factors. First and foremost, people liked their spices in Europe, but the spices came from the Moluccas, islands close to Indonesia and thus far, far away. That meant that the spices came overland at a snails pace, and thus increased the price as they would pass from one hand to the next through the various Islamic kingdoms in the Middle East before arriving. Naturally, that meant that the prices were jacked-up like beer at a hockey game. What made the matter worse (and with increased difficulty, a greater potential for more financial gain for risk-taking individuals) was the fall of Constantinople in 1453. The new owners didn't like the spice trade and the need for a sea route became a necessity. Those that would succeed would be as rich as kings.

Ferdinand Magellan. While he earned respect
for his neatly cropped, well-manicured
beard, his stylistic choice of oddly shaped
hats made many wonder if he was up to the task.

Portugal was the first to do this. Sailing south and around the horn of Africa, they eventually landed in the spice islands and became predictably rich off their endeavours. The king and queen of Spain obviously would have wanted to use this, but Pope Alexander VI declared that the western half of the world was for Spain to take, with the eastern half for Portugal. They weren't allowed to take or trade on each other's land, nor were they allowed to claim Christian kingdoms. They called it the Treaty of Tordesillas, and while it was well meaning (ignoring that without having met the inhabitants of the rest of the world, they've already staked their claim to them) it was not without its flaws. Maps were often woefully inaccurate, many lands were undiscovered, and establishing a line in the sand while not understanding where the line actually is leads to nothing but loopholes and egregious cheats. When a small bag of nutmeg (and nutmeg is one of those crappy spices, in my mind) is enough to buy a small house - literally - there are bound to be a few people willing to skirt the rules. 

In the midst of the race to the spice islands, there stands Magellan - a man of minor consequence as a noble, but a pretty unimportant one. A former soldier before a lance left him with a limp, he had already fought for the king of Portugal. However, his relationship wasn't great with him - he was expecting more compensation (in which he repeatedly asked for more) and when asked to be sponsored for a voyage to the spice islands he was repeatedly turned down. Eventually he got fed up and tried his luck with neighbouring Spain. The young, new king of Castile needed money desperately, and knowing that Portugal kept their information locked up tight he had an added bonus of bringing a little intel to the table. After marrying into a wealthy family (you gold-digger, Magellan!) he convinced the king of Spain to sponsor him. Of course, Portugal didn't like this. A confidant of the king of Portugal tried to have Magellan assassinated, and the Spanish king urged him to leave as soon as possible.

Magellan's fleet, the Armada de Molucca. Considering
that the majority of their stored drinks were wine,
could their voyage technically be considered one of the first
"booze cruises"?

The whole Spanish-Portuguese thing is a pretty big deal, keep in mind. Many of the Spanish (including the king) had their doubts about this Portuguese man who suddenly came by looking for a high investment for the promise of riches. His crew, many of whom spoke Spanish rather than Portuguese (he had a fair few of his countrymen along with him) lacked respect for him for this reason as well. As a result a man was put on board to be the eyes and ears of the king of Spain to ensure that everything was kept above board. Cartagena, a man who was not given clear instruction on just how much power he had, which would prove to be a point of contention between him and Magellan, was told to keep the men in line. They were told they had to treat the Arabs in Spanish land well, any natives they found were not to be destroyed, there was to be no blasphemy or card-playing (are those on the same level?), and they weren't to touch any women (oooooooh boy did that last order not last).

So with the backing of a foreign, rival king, Magellan set sail with five ships weighing between 60 and 130 tons. It was the mighty Armada de Molucca, named after the Indonesian name for the Spice Islands. Loaded with wine and food, most of which being hardtack, a form of rather disgusting sounding biscuit thing, they set sail. Along the way they would find both friendly and hostile natives, gold and spices the likes of which they could only imagine, brutal disease, dire battles, eager women, starvation, luxury, treachery, mutiny and torture. Magellan was in for a wild ride.