During the discussions which this unexpected and embarrassing difficulty
produced, Francis Magellan came to the court of Spain, to offer his
services as a navigator, suggesting a mode by which he maintained that
court would be able to decide the question in its own favour. Magellan had
served under Albuquerque, and had visited the Moluccas: and he proposed, if
the Spanish monarch would give him ships, to sail to these islands by a
westerly course, which would, even according to the Portuguese, establish
the Spanish right to their possession. The emperor Charles, who was at this
period king of Spain, joyfully embraced the proposal, although a short time
previous, Solis, who had sailed in quest of a westerly passage to India,
had, after discovering the Rio de la Plata, perished in the attempt.
It is maintained by some authors that Magellan's confidence in the success
of his own plan arose from the information he received from a chart drawn
up by Martin Behaim, in which the straits that were afterwards explored by
Magellan, and named after him, were laid down; and that he carried the
information he derived from it to Spain, and by means of it obtained the
protection of Cardinal Ximenes, and the command of the fleet, with which he
was the first to circumnavigate the world.
As this is a point which has been a good deal discussed, and as it is of
importance, not only to the fame of Magellan, but to a right understanding
of the actual state of geographical knowledge, with respect to the New
World, at this era, it may be proper briefly to consider it.
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