Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
scheme had an angle. He proposed to find a strait at the extreme tip of South America into the South Sea,
newly discovered by Vasco Núñez de Balboa (1475-1519) in 1513. With a polyglot crew of about two
hundred fifty men and five creaky ships loaded with guns and trading goods, Magellan sailed from Spain,
down the coast of South America. As winter was setting in, he stopped on the Argentine coast and had to
put down a rebellion by killing the mutinous captain of one of the ships. Magellan also marooned one of
the rebels and a priest who had helped plot the mutiny. After losing one ship, Magellan set off again, finally
passing into the straits that bear his name, over three hundred miles of the most difficult and circuitous
waters in the world, ending in a narrow passage overlooked by ice-covered mountains. Just as he neared
the Pacific, Magellan learned that he had been cheated by his suppliers and was missing a year's worth
of provisions. A ship dispatched to look for supplies sailed back to Spain. Persisting with three ships, he
finally reached the Pacific, which was named for the fine weather they had encountered.
In March 1521, after the privations described above, he reached Guam, where the crews picked up
fresh water and food. A month later, while stopping on the island of Cebú, in the Philippines, Magellan
and a small party were lured ashore by the local king. On April 27, 1521, Magellan was killed by poison
arrows as he held off the natives while his men retreated to their boats. Two more of the boats were finally
abandoned before the journey back to Spain. On September 8, 1522—nearly three years after their depar-
ture—eighteen men, the remnants of the two hundred fifty crewmen who sailed, returned to Seville under
the command of Sebastián del Cano. The world had been proved round. Its true size was now known. And
the scope of Columbus's encounter with the New World was now clear to all Europe.
What Are Continents?
With all the drifting and crashing of continents, it's a wonder they've stood still long enough for people to
give them names. The breakup of the ancient supercontinents left us with seven so-called continents. They
are defined as the large unbroken masses of land into which the earth's surface is divided. But that provides
a lot of leeway and provokes some logical questions. Is Europe really a continent? Why isn't India one?
How can islands be a part of a continent if they're not connected to the mainland?
From ancient times to relatively recent ones, people acknowledged only three continents: Europe, Asia,
and Africa. The next two, North and South America, weren't recognized until after Columbus's voy-
ages. Australia and Antarctica, which existed only in theory as Terra Australis Incognita since the time of
Ptolemy, went undiscovered and unmapped by Europeans for centuries. Australia wasn't named and put
on the maps until the nineteenth century. Antarctica was discovered in 1820, when Nathaniel Palmer, an
American whaling captain, found islands off the mainland, and a Russian admiral named Fabian Gottlieb
von Bellingshausen reached the continental mainland of Antarctica in 1821.
Which Is the Largest Continent?
By almost every reasonable measure, Asia is the most significant place in the world today. Putting aside
American and European prejudices about their self-importance, the course of the world may very well be
determined by what happens in Asia in the next few decades. The picture is not very promising. Faced
with an exploding population, environmental disasters, and frequent natural catastrophes, Asia looks at an
uncertain future.
 
 
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