Magellan’s Maps

In August 1519, five ships departed from the Seville, under the command of the Portuguese navigator Fernão de Magalhães (known as Magellan). The expedition was bound for the eastern islands of Indonesia, the fabled Spice Islands. Magellan had presented to the Spanish Crown the project of sailing to the Maluku archipelago by a western route, thus avoiding the route of the Cape of Good Hope, which was then controlled by the Portuguese. To devise and accomplish his sailing project, Magellan used a series of innovative maps, produced by Portuguese cartographers, based on the most recent voyages of exploration in America and in Asia. The purpose of this text is to identify Magellan’s maps.