Individual Activity #2- Essay

Determine the significance of the Magellan’s Expedition on the following

a. Spain
b. Philippines
c. The World
The main reason Magellan circled the globe was to determine where the dividing
line between Spain and Portugal— set up by the Treaty of Tordesillas—was. The Treaty
of Tordesillas divided the New World between Portugal and Spain. Signed in 1494, the
agreement gave Spain all the land to the west of a meridian 370 degrees west of the
Cape Verde Islands (off Africa), and the land to the east to Portugul. This agreement is
why Brazil ended up being Portuguese and the rest of Latin America became a Spanish
possesion.
Ferdinand Magellan was the first European recorded to have landed in the
Philippines. He arrived in March 1521 during his circumnavigation of the globe. He
claimed land for the king of Spain but was killed by a local chief. Following several more
Spanish expeditions, the first permanent settlement was established in Cebu in 1565.
The Spanish left the Philippines with an education system, the Roman Catholic religion,
the Roman alphabet, private ownership of land, the Gregorian calendar, egalitarian
Christian doctrine, unequal distribution of wealth, global consciousness, and various
New World plants such as cassava, maize, and sweet potatoes.
Magellan’s voyage was one of many achievements during the Age of Discovery, a
period from the 15th through the 18th century, when extensive exploration changed
the shape of the world — literally for cartographers and more existentially in terms of
political and economic relationships. Discoveries like Magellan’s also set the foundation
for the level of globalization we see today. The evolution of sailing technology, including
the caravel ship design and improved rudders for steering, helped sailors maintain a
steady course. The astrolabe and the compass enabled more precise navigation on open
waters, expanding where and when ships could travel. A series of scientific
breakthroughs allowed Spain, Portugal, England, the Netherlands and other European
nations to overcome the geographic constraints of continental Europe. No longer
beholden to a treacherous land route for trade with the East, Continental naval powers
came to define geopolitics for centuries.