The Voyage That Changed The World by Thekla Priebst

The Voyage That Changed The World tells  the remarkable story of the first crew to sail around the world.

The story begins with a spice called cloves or cengkih. Hundreds of years ago this spice grew only on five islands in the Moluccas, an archipelego located in the Indian Ocean. The Moluccas were known as "the Spice Islands". There, on five islands grew cloves. They were used to give food a distinctive flavour and also to preserve food and in medicines. They grow on tall trees, beginning as small buds. These buds are carefully picked by hand and dried. As they dry they turn from green to brown and the clove buds give off a very distinctive smell, "both sharp and sweet at the same time." 

Cloves along with many other spices eventually made their way to Europe via several maritime trade routes that tracked through East Asia, "through the islands of Indonesia, around India to the Middle East, where they crossed the Mediterraneean to reach the heart of Europe."  There were routes across land too, through Alexandria to Tunisia and on to Genoa, Italy.

Spices had been traded for millennia by "Greek, Roman, Arab, Persian, Indian, Javanese, Malay, and Chinese merchants along natural trade routes that span half the globe."  But in the late fifteenth century, spices became very precious and Europeans decide to find a direct route to the Spice Islands. The two countries most determined to claim the Spice Islands are Spain and Portugal and they choose different routes to explore. Portugal travels east reaching the southern tip of Africa (now called the Cape of Good Hope) in 1488. Spain travels west with Christopher Columbus claiming he had reached India, but actually landing in the Americas in 1492.  

In an attempt to resolve things, the two countries sign the Treaty of Tordesillas. All territories to the west of an imaginary line from the North Pole to the South Pole belong to Spain, while those to the east are claimed by Portugal.  The Portuguese win the race to the Spice Islands with Vasco da Gama reaching India in 1498 and Portuguese gaining control of the city of Malacca in 1511. But the question remains: Where is the dividing line between the poles on this side of the world? Who do the Spice Islands "belong" to?

In September 1519, King Carlos I (also known as Charles V Holy Roman Emperor) approves a Spanish expedition consisting of five ships to "find a passage for Spain through the new continent".  It is led by Fernao de Magalhaes (Ferdinand Magellan), a Portuguese navigator who had travelled twice to India. Among those accompanying Magellan are Juan Sebastian Elcano who is a boatswainand Enrique of Malacca, an interpreter and also Magellan's slave. Magellan as the Captain-General of the expedition is in charge of five ships: San Antonio, Concepcion, Victoria, Santiago, and Trinidad. It is an expedition that will ultimately reach the present day Philippines and . But it will be considered a failure by the Spanish king because Spain cannot lay claim to the Spice Islands. Magellan's calculations have determined that they have crossed the Treaty of Tordesillas line.  The Moluccas lie in territory claimed by the Portuguese! 

An attempt to form alliances and form trade agreements for Spain within the Philippine archipelago go badly when some of the indigenous peoples on the islands do like the Europeans. The ensuing conflict has devastating consequences for Magellan the remaining crew of his expedition.

Discussion

The Voyage That Changed The World is an engaging and informative account of the expedition led by Ferdinand Magellan to find a route to the Spice Islands. Magellan was generally considered to be the first to circumnavigate the globe but in fact that is not considered likely not to be true. He was murdered after attacking the Indigenous peoples on Cebu and never completed his voyage.

Author Thekla Priebst first presents the background story behind the desire to find a route to East Asia - spices! The driving force was the desire of Europeans to obtain the spices directly rather than through traders who brought the spices to Europe. At that time, knowledge of far off lands was very limited and the desire to explore was also a factor. From this point on, the focus is on the Magellan expedition and the main players in the expedition, the organization of the ships and crew are well explained. 

Besides telling the story of Magellan's expedition, Priebst also provides her readers with a wealth of information about topics related to the expedition. For example, there are separate features throughout the book on the various indigenous peoples Magellan and his crew encounterd: the Tupinabi on the eastern coast of Brazil, the Tehuelche of Patagonia, the peoples of Tierra del Fuego, Polynesian seafarers, and the CHamoru of the Marianas.

Throughout this account, the author explains how the Europeans of the late fifteenth century viewed their world and their place in it. The Doctrine of Discovery was an important part of this view - it was the belief that explorers could claim as their own, land that was already inhabited by people with their own language and culture. This belief would have far-reaching consequences for the indigenous peoples the Europeans encountered, consequences that are still felt today.

European explorers like Magellan did not respect the people they encountered. For example, Magellan wanted to bring back to Spain two Tehuelche men to prove they actually existed. However the Tehuelche were not willing to leave their land and so Magellan tricked them into boarding his ship and then imprisoned them. These men did not survive the journey to Spain. As Priebst writes, "...they saw the people they were encountering as items of interest rather than fellow human beings."

It was Magellan's attempts to create an alliance with the King of Cebu in April of 1521 that led to his murder. On a neighbouring island of Mactan, Datu Lapulapu rebelled against the Europeans and their influence. In an attempt to punish Lapulapu, Magellan attacked Mactan, believing he could easily subdue them, only to be killed during the battle on April 27, 1521.

For centuries Magellan was believed to have been the first to circumnavigate the globe however, historians now belief that honor may actually go to his slave and interpreter, Enrique. Magellan bought Enrique in 1511 and on Magellan's voyage, he travelled far enough to return to the land where his native language was spoken. 

The Voyage That Changed The World is filled with colourful and informative artwork, created digitally, and includes maps, charts and other graphics. Among the most compelling are two graphics whosing the number of men who began the expedition (240) and the number of surviving sailors who made it home to Spain (18). 

For those interested in the age of explorers, The Voyage That Changed The World is a must read! 

Image credit: Molucca map https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Maluku_Islands_en.png

Book Details:

The Voyage That Changed The World by Thekla Priebst
Beverly, MA:  Wide Eye Editions     2025

79 pp.

The Quest For Z by Greg Pizzoli

The Quest for Z tells the story of British cartographer, geographer and explorer Percy Fawcett's life and his quest to find what he called "Z", a lost ancient city that he believed lay deep in the Amazon jungle.

Percival Harrison Fawcett was born in 1867 in Torquay, England. He attended Newton Abbey Proprietary College and eventually attended the Royal Military Academy and was commissioned as a lieutenant of the Royal Artillery in 1886. Percy served in British Ceylon, now called Sri Lanka and it was here that he met Nina Agnes Paterson at a tennis party. Nina was born in Kalutara in 1870 and was educated in Scotland but returned to Ceylon afterwards. As her family disapproved of her relationship with Percy, their marriage was delayed for several years. Eventually they married and had three children, Jack born in 1903, Brian born in 1906 (deceased 1984) and Joan born in 1910 (deceased 2005).

Percy's father, Edward Boyd Fawcett was a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society (RGS). Percy was bored with military life and wanted something more engaging as his life's work. So In 1901, he joined the RGS and studied surveying and map making. Percy's interest in South America was initiated by the President of the RGS who considered South America to have considerable economic potential. The RGS was entrusted as a neutral party with overseeing the mapping of the boundary between Brazil and Bolivia and the President offered Percy the job of undertaking this task. He accepted.

Percy's first trip into Boliva in 1906 was eye-opening. The terrain was mountainous, the villages very isolated and the people hostile and suspicious. Europeans had entered the jungle to capture the indigenous people to work as slaves in the rubber trade and so were often not trusted. The jungles were filled with strange and dangerous animals and insects including anaconda and Bushmaster snakes, poisonous spiders and wild boars. Percy worked for the Boundary Commission for three years and then continued exploring South America on his own. During this time he became convinced that a long lost city which he inexplicably named "Z" existed deep within the Amazon jungle. This was based on his knowledge of local legends.Eventually he was drawn back to Europe where he fought in the First World War. He returned to South America in 1920 but his expedition at that time was unsuccessful. Up to 1924, Percy Fawcett made seven expeditions into the wilds of the Amazon.

 By 1925, Percy, who was now fifty-seven years old and whose reputation as an explorer was declining, struggled to secure financial backing for yet another expedition to look for his lost city. Eventually he was able to finance his expedition and on April 20, 1925, Percy set out on what would be his final attempt with his son Jack, and Jack's best friend, Raleigh Rimmell. They left Cuiabla in Mato Grosso for the jungle. Initially things appeared to go well with local runners bringing back regular reports about their progress. However, four months into the expedition, as the they were entering an area known to be inhabited by hostile indigenous tribes, the updates ceased. Months and years passed but Percy Fawcett and his party were never heard from again. To this day his disappearance remains a mystery but it is most likely that Percy, his son and his party were killed by hostile Indians.

The Quest For Z recounts, in an engaging and informative way, many of the details of Percy Fawcett's story for younger readers. Percy Fawcett who lived as the age of exploration was winding down was famous world-wide for his jungle exploration. His accounts were widely read and included many exciting details many of which can be found in this account.

Discussion  

Author-illustrator Greg Pizzoli sets the stage for Percy Fawcett's interest in South America, with its unknown interior and wealth of legends. Using short paragraphs of text paired with Pizzoli's illustrations, young readers follow Percy's life as he develops an interest in exploration and eventually travels to South America. Side bars provide interesting facts about the Royal Geographical Society, the Amazon rainforest, mosquitoes and famous explorers.

The artwork in the book was inspired by the photographs and drawings Pizzoli made on trips to Central America and Southeast Asia. He used a variety of mediums including silkscreen, photographic halftones, Zipatone, photocopiers, newspapers, cut paper and Photoshop.

The book also contains an Author's Note, information about those who continued to hunt for Fawcett and his party, a Glossary and a list of Selected Sources. The Quest for Z by Greg Pizzoli is a really well done picture book about a historical figure the captured the imagination of people all over the world.

Book Details:

The Quest For Z by Greg Pizzoli
New York: Viking, Penguin Young Readers Group    2017
44 pp.