500 years ago, the Magellan exploit began

On August 10, 500 years ago, 239 sailors from Seville, Fernando de Magallanes, wanted to open a new route to the Maluku Islands, the paradise of spices, a valuable badet. And three years later, upon the return of 18 years, under very precarious conditions, under the orders of a Basque, Juan Sebastian Elcano – who replaced the first responsible for the expedition after the death of Magellan during an attack suffered in the Philippines -, thus completing the first round of the world. History.

Seville inaugurated yesterday what is announced as a triennium of celebrations that aims to claim before the world this historic act. Carmen Calvo, vice-president of the interim government, and two of her ministers, those of Culture and Finance (the three Andalusians), were present to give institutional importance to certain commemorative events which, for the moment, are far from To be at the peak of this milestone. They claim to exalt. It is enough to compare them to the commitment made by the Spanish Government in 1992, in the same city of Seville, on the occasion of the fifth centenary of the discovery of America.

Yesterday, events began with a flower offering and a parade to pay tribute to the fallen soldiers, next to the Sailors' Memorial, and then the inauguration of an interpretation center at the first world Tour. Other exhibitions will also serve to showcase and disseminate the value of this feat, including the main one, which will take place at the Archives of the Indies under the title "The Longest Journey", which will open on September 12th. In addition, the Naval Museum of Madrid plans to open the exhibition "We were the first", to highlight the vital importance of navigation, international trade and geographical studies of this expedition, which allowed the Earth to be rigorously drawn for the first time. and is badyzed today as the first milestone of globalization.

On paper, one of the great bets that the city of Seville had made for this event with its history remained: the recovery of the old atarazanas (the historic shipyards of the Arenal district), which remains a dream after decades of management by those who did not know how to exploit the enormous potential of the commemoration for its restoration and its revival as space for culture and history.

During the events that took place yesterday and were attended in full by the Andalusian Government and the Chief of Staff of the Naval Staff, Teodoro López Calderón, Vice-President President of the Government emphasized the "universal" nature of the trip to Magallanes and Elcano, so "a few we look at him with dignified eyes, we will find that the expedition was commanded by a Portuguese and returned to the command of a Spaniard ", also highlighting the heterogeneity of a crew of varied origins.

In the inevitable parallel with Spain today, Carmen Calvo introduced the gender perspective, encouraging recovery of the values ​​of these adventurers in a society knowing that "among the magallanes and elcanos that we are looking for, half are women ". The two great navigators will continue to be commemorated and evoked over the next three years, which motivated their journey.

stamp Portrait of the time of Magellan, the great Portuguese navigator.