UNESCO Memory of the World - Manuscript of Magellan's Circumnavigation of the Globe

Curator Mart van Duijn on the 2023 inscription of VLF 41, a manuscript on Magellan's Circumnavigation of the Globe, in the UNESCO Memory of the World register. 

In 1494, Spain and Portugal had divided the non-western world among themselves, assigning the western half to Spain and the eastern half to Portugal. Both countries preyed on the lucrative spice trade with the Moluccas, in present-day Indonesia. In 1519 Magellan left westward on behalf of Spain with five ships: the Armada de Moluccas. In 1520, Magellan found a strait between Tierra del Fuego and the mainland of South America, the Strait of Magellan. In 1522, Magellan was killed fighting with locals in the Philippines. Under the leadership of Sebastian Elcano, only one ship completed the circumnavigation of the world in 1522. 

The manuscripts about the first circumnavigation of the globe are held by the collections of Arquivo Nacional da Torre do Tombo in Portugal, Archivo General de Indias in Spain, Yale University Library in the United States and Leiden University Libraries (UBL). From the Leiden collections, the manuscript VLF 41 was recognized: Ferdinandi Oliveri de Sancta Columba (1507-85) opera duo: Ars náutica, autograha. – Viagem de Fernao de Magalhaes, secundum narrationem cuiusdam socii et suppletus ex aliis fontibus, lusitanice. This 1550 Portuguese manuscript mainly contains a text on navigation by Fernão de Oliveira (1507-circa 1581). The last quires contain the account of Magellan's journey. Manuscript VLF 41 has been digitised and is freely available in the Leiden Digital Collections. The fifteen manuscripts were nominated to UNESCO by the governments of Spain and Portugal.

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