Magellan Historiography

Magellan Historiography Ferdinand Magellan and Circumnavigation: Historical and Meta- Analysis of Magellan Historiography by Martin Torodas The Age of Discovery that emerged in the 15th-16th centuries in Europe, led by Spain and Portugal, was marked and characterized by the prevalence of sea navigations to discover new lands or 'primitive' societies. These lands and societies were also potential colonies, wherein their territories could be expanded and resources exploited for the economic benefit of European countries.

Ferdinand Magellan, Portuguese-born Spanish explorer and navigator, played a significant role during this age, mainly because of contributions in establishing Spanish colonies in the islands of the Pacific. However, historiography on Magellan remains scarce despite his contributions and numerous journeys around the world. Torodas confronts this issue by discussing and analyzing related works of literature pertaining to not only the accomplishments and activities of Magellan as navigator and explorer, but also as the first individual to prove (empirically) that the earth is round, giving prestige to European navigation missions.

The author's analysis mainly utilizes the methods of historical, textual and meta-analysis in order to assess conflicts and parallelisms regarding the circumnavigation activities and life of Magellan. Torodas resorts to these methods as his way of confronting the primary issue in his article, which tries to determine Magellan historiography despite its scarcity.

The problem arises because of two dilemmas historians and researchers encounter when conducting studies on Magellan: first, "Portuguese viewed him as a traitor," and second, "Spanish historiadores were not inclined to glorify one who was not of their own" (313). Thus, Torodas sets out to determine the problems he encountered in analyzing the strengths and weakness of Magellan bibliographies available, as well as suggests new methods in approaching the problem that has just been discussed.

Historical analysis is the "umbrella method" in which Torodas based his study's analysis and interpretation of Magellan historiography. Use of textual analysis determined the prevalent themes and meanings embedded in the documents and texts studied about Magellan and circumnavigation.

Meta-analysis, on the other hand, studies parallelisms and conflicts in themes and discussions in historical artifacts (documents and texts), analyzing whether these documents are reliable enough to establish a truthful and significant account of the life of Ferdinand Magellan and the essential role circumnavigation plays in studying the historical event of the Age of Exploration (Lindlof, 2002:34-41). Discussion on the life of Magellan in the context of historical studies on circumnavigation is the common theme illustrated in Torodas' article.

The author cites, as an example, the written works of Antonio de Pigafetta, Relation, European chronicler in Magellan's voyage who, through his written narratives of the navigator/explorer's journeys, has come up with information crucial to circumnavigation techniques and methods during the 16th century, but also in chronicling Magellan's activities (315). Torodas' findings reveal that most historical accounts about Magellan are unreliable because of questionable details concerning his navigation activities, as exemplified in George Nunn's analysis of Francisco Albo's Diario derrotero's (Alderley version), who argued that "the readings ..

As "suspicious throughout," being too accurate under the conditions of the time" (317). Nevertheless, the analyses of these historical documents about Magellan and circumnavigation provides readers, scholars and laymen alike, information in determining and studying the process of going through historical documents and texts, affirming the fact that not all history can be considered as "historically significant." Furthermore, readers are able to determine strong and weak points of these historical documents, which enabled Torodas and other historians/researchers to identify its reliability and validity.

Collating his findings about the historical documents that he analyzed, Torodas suggests some measures that confront not only the problem of scarcity of Magellan historiography, but the issue of reliability of existing historical documents on the subject as well. The author proposes utilizing the qualitative method of narrative documentation, knowledge of geography, and "average biographies" for "juveniles," suggesting that these "tools for scholarship .. is the sort of book that .. future scholars should be able to cut their teeth on" (332).

These methods and skills are essential in developing the degree of reliability of historical studies of diverse subjects and nature. Evidently, "Magellan Historiography".