Voyage into the unknown

MARGARET SMALL commends a new biography of Ferdinand Magellan that looks beyond the Portuguese explorer's globe-circling achievements to reveal the man behind the myth

- MARGARET SMALL

In Straits, we see a master of his craft at work. Fernández- Armesto is arguably the leading scholar of our times in making the early European Age of Discovery accessible to a wider audience. In this book, he takes on the biography of Ferdinand Magellan, the Portuguese explorer often referred to as the world’s first circumnavigator (although he died en route), who set out on his last great voyage in 1519.

Fernández-Armesto draws on his vast knowledge of the wider context of European explorations: the geographical understanding and economic situation of the era. As he acknowledges, the first chapter – which particularly focuses on historical context – draws heavily on his book 1492: The Year Our World Began. But as a synthesis of the background to the Age of Discovery, it is excellent, providing one of the clearest short guides to the forces that shaped the European drive for exploration. The author then moves on to probe the life, mindset, and actions of Magellan himself, from childhood to death.