THE VOYAGE THAT CHANGED THE WORLD

A blow-by-blow account of Ferdinand Magellan’s three-year, globe-spanning journey.

In a vivid infographic, Priebst first fills two pages with 240 tiny, individually drawn figures representing the crews of the five ships that set out for the far-away “Spice Islands” (known today as Indonesia’s Maluku Islands) in 1519 under Ferdinand Magellan—and then later erases all but the 18 ragged survivors who returned aboard the one battered vessel that completed the voyage. But in ready acknowledgment that only hints at the expedition’s full human cost, the author systematically identifies and profiles the Indigenous peoples whom the sailors encountered as they made their way down the coast of South America and across the Pacific—many of whom were soon to be enslaved, displaced, or devastated by European diseases. While retracing in exact detail the long course of that unusually well-documented journey, she introduces readers to Magellan, “the man with the plan,” and also several of the sailors who went with him, particularly the enslaved translator “Enrique” (not his original name) of Malacca, who became the first known person to travel completely around the world. A broad sketch of the spice trade’s long history adds further helpful context.

All the harrowing hardship, and a good dose of historical perspective to boot.