I remember when my son was just in the first year of junior high school, he was very excited, and he went to junior high school. A few days after the start of school, one day at lunch, the husband asked his son. What are you learning about geography and history now? What is the first lesson in geography about? My son said it was about Magellan's circumnavigation of the world.
The picture comes from the Internet, invaded and deleted
The husband asked his son Magellan what year did he complete the round the world.
My son remembers it very clearly, because he is about to take the exam. Year 1522. And repeat the significance of the textbook about Magellan's circumnavigation of the globe. But remember to roll the melon rotten.
Husband: So, do you know what year our Zheng He went to the West? That would have been 90 years before him.
The son said he knew, and the teacher told them.
Husband: Do you know when we were in China at that time?
The son shook his head.
My husband said that it was quite lively at that time, and many novels had written about it, and you had heard it all day in the past 5,000 years, and the emperor who had crowned himself a great general. During the Zhengde period of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Houzhao was emperor. Grand Eunuch Liu Jin, you know, the era of the East Factory and the West Factory.
The son said that he had an impression at that time.
Husband said, you know what? Why, did Magellan, a Portuguese, make his first circumnavigation of the globe?
The son vaguely knew, but he couldn't summarize it, and maybe the teacher didn't talk about it so deeply.
It's time for the husband to perform again.
The husband said, you know, in fact, before Magellan, Columbus had discovered the American continent. As for why the Portuguese always did this, because Portugal was the country with the most developed navigation technology and economic strength and strongest military strength at that time. That's a long story. Push forward another hundred and ten years. Did you know that the Black Death was circulating in Europe at that time?
The son still said that he knew: Well, the biggest epidemic infectious disease, caused the disappearance of 24 million European people in the Middle Ages.
Husband: Yes, but after the Black Death, because the Portuguese retained a particularly large population, Portugal was the first to achieve feudal unification. After national reunification. Only in order to have enough financial resources to carry out this expansion, colonial expansion. People can also concentrate on doing big things. At that time, the navigation technology was constantly developed, and they were already using the multi-layered Kind of Carrick sailing ship. Moreover, after the dark Middle Ages, the original theory of the circle of the earth has been accepted by everyone. Magellan believed that the earth was round and should be able to come back if he went west, after all, Magellan was also the one who had participated in the Indian expedition. Most importantly, one of Europe's most important trade goods, spices, came from the East, which is now the East Indies. In Europe at that time, the price of spices was once more expensive than gold. And the East passes through Eurasia. Various countries such as Ottoman Turkey blocked the road and set up various toll booths everywhere, which was too costly. Profits cannot satisfy them. At any moment, when a small country fights again, trade is interrupted. The main thing is that by sea, this trade route has always been controlled by the Italians. Simply put, there are too many middlemen who earn the difference. Magellan began to think of a way. He wanted to find a more convenient waterway to do maritime trade. There are many goods pulled by shipping, and there is no middleman to earn the difference, that is good.
Magellan looked for his own Portuguese king to talk about the project, pull sponsorship, his own king is not interested, wheat comrades which cool where to stay, this project we did not set up a project. There was no way to run to Spain and find Portugal's rival, King Charles V of Spain. The king of Spain was impressed by the project, and the eastern route was assigned to Portugal by the Pope, and it would be great if there was a road to the east to the west. So he was given five old ships, more than 200 sailors. The contract was signed. Comrade Old Mai has a smooth ride. The King of Spain is actually a venture capital. Well, if you have money, you will lose money, but if you earn it, it is amazing. The new route, the new continent, represents endless profits, and the most important thing is that Spain is now a new European force that feels that it still has some strength, and it is bent on catching up with the boss.
So the 39-year-old Magellan led his sailors and fleet all the way west. The stormy Atlantic Ocean has caused him a lot of difficulties, and you are a Portuguese fleet boss with a group of Spanish sailors, and this team is not easy to carry. Even before leaving the Atlantic, a ship could not withstand the bad weather, returned and fled, and reported to the King of Spain that Magellan had defected. It's the equivalent of you, a startup that just got a venture capital, and ran away with money. When King Charles V of Spain heard the report, this matter cannot be tolerated, you have broken the rules. So, when our contract said that you went out on an adventure, wife and children I took care of for you, then you ran away, even if it is a unilateral breach, don't blame me for not executing the contract to take care of your family. As a result, magellan's wife and children were starved to death.
Of course, Magellan eventually found america. He set out from the North Atlantic, came out of the South Atlantic, and went directly to what is now Brazil. However, it was always impossible to find any way to bypass this continent to reach the Spice Islands in the east. He went all the way south, all the way south, around what is now Chile and south of Patagonia, (yes, Patagonia, the quick-drying suit that Bought for you the other day is Patagonia.) You know, it's the Strait of Magellan. The moment he crossed the strait, the wind and waves were calm, in fact, he was catching up with the equatorial windless zone, pacific. This is where the Name of the Pacific Ocean comes from. It is also Magellan's fate, did not continue to go south, do you remember that, when we saw a documentary, called all the way to the south? It was he who walked from North America, all the way south to the South Pole, and finally to the Drake Strait. The sea conditions in the Drake Strait are worse than those in the Strait of Magellan, and if Magellan continues to go south, from the current Drake Strait near the Pacific Ocean, it may not be able to complete the circumnavigation of the world. Old Wheat, continuing west, did find the Spice Islands.
Speaking of this, the son said that he knew that the teacher had said that Magellan would eventually die at the hands of the natives here.
Yes, in the end Magellan's fleet returned to Spain with only 18 men left, one boat. But in this case, the goods brought back not only fully covered the cost of his several years of circumnavigation, but also made a profit. You think about how profitable this international trade was at the time. This profit, the current drug trafficking is far from catching up. And then, you know, this new route was discovered. Not only has it brought more than 500 million Spanish-speaking people to the world today, and it has brought Catholicism to the Philippines, but it has brought great changes to the entire world.
The world has never been the same. The subsequent development of the Americas, the slave trade in Africa, and the various developments that followed, including the infamous triangular trade that you will learn later in history, were all because of this. For the first time, everyone knows the general situation of the planet, and various competitions for interests dominate the development of the world.
The husband finally summed up for his son: In fact, Magellan's circumnavigation of the world is of greater significance in history. After you go to middle school, you must be able to connect the knowledge of various subjects and form your own knowledge tree, so that it is not difficult to understand, the more you understand, the clearer and easier the memory, and you know which vinegar is sour, salt is salty, and you are more active. In fact, when you go to junior high school, you will find that historical geography and politics are actually related to each other. Grasp the context and it will be clear. For example, in this period, after Spain, after the Netherlands, England, France. The so-called European powers, the back wave has been catching up with the front wave, only to form the rapid development of modern Europe. Essentially a constant quest for the expansion of interests, only the more urgent have the motivation to work harder, as Spain did to Portugal. As long as this drive does not change, no other country will have made the feat of circumnavigation without Spain. Of course, this is limited by the scientific and technological conditions at that time, and now, your future journey is the sea of stars, but it is essentially the same as Magellan's voyage around the world.