Magellan renounced his Portuguese citizenship
and in 1517 went to Spain to seek support for his plan from King Charles I
(later Holy Roman Emperor Charles V). Magellan believed there was a passage to
the west through or around South America. Such a passage would be of great value
to the Spanish, who wanted a share in the lucrative trade in spices from the
Moluccas. Portugal controlled the eastward route to the East Indies, around
Africa’s Cape of Good Hope, and would not allow Spanish ships to pass.
Magellan offered an additional argument to
the king. The 1494 Treaty of Tordesillas between Spain and Portugal had divided
the world between the two powers. The Portuguese hemisphere was east of a
north-south line that ran through Brazil. The Spanish half was west of the line.
However, the position of the line on the other side of the globe was unknown.
Magellan argued that at least some of the Moluccas might lie within the Spanish
hemisphere. The only way to be sure was to measure the distance around the earth
by sailing west to the Moluccas, since their distance from Spain by the eastern
route was k
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