Program Information

In 1519 Ferdinand Magellan sailed from the port of Seville in Spain. Three years later one of his ships returned, having circumnavigated the globe. Such a voyage was possible because of a revolution in the technology of exploration.

A Moment in Time is a brief, exciting and compelling journey into the past. Created to excite and enlighten the public about the past, its relevance to the present and its impact on the future, A Moment In Time is a captivating historical narrative that is currently broadcast worldwide.

Transcript

Lead: In 1519 Ferdinand Magellan sailed from the port of Seville in Spain. Three years later one of his ships returned, having circumnavigated the globe. Such a voyage was possible because of a revolution in the technology of exploration.

Intro: A Moment In Time with Dan Roberts.

Content: That Europeans should increasingly find themselves on shores far from home came about as a result of advances in the design of ships, expansion in the understanding of navigation and a sea change as it were in the way overseas exploration was financed.

The development of ships capable of enduring extended ocean voyages took a long time. Until the 1400s, offshore shipping was conducted in oar-propelled galleys that stuck close to the coastline. The open sea required sails for propulsion and broad, round hulls rather than the narrow ones found on galleys. Ships that crossed the ocean could carry a smaller crew since operating sails took fewer men than rowing galleys. Fewer mouths to feed meant larger cargoes and longer distances.

The Portuguese built the first truly oceangoing vessels. By the 1400s they had designed a three-masted caravel, two masts with square sails to run before the wind and a mast with triangular sail for tacking into the wind.

Having a ship able to make the journey was only the first step. To cross the vast stretches of ocean shipmasters needed some means of determining their course and position. Navigation by the sun and stars was imprecise and impossible in overcast weather. A rudimentary compass was available after 1300, often used with an astrolabe, an instrument that helped determine position by measuring the elevation of the sun and stars. Finally, portolan charts helped sailors recognize the approach to most European ports.

Commerce that hugged the seashore or crossed the Mediterranean could be financed by city-states such as Venice or Genoa, but their resources were inadequate for overseas trade. Transoceanic travel and exploration required great sums of money. It was only after nations such as Portugal, Spain, England, France, and Holland had unified their countries and established strong national governments that there was enough concentration of money to man and equip fleets of oceangoing vessels and establish colonies. Next time: Magellan sets sail.

The producer of A Moment In Time is Steve Clark. At the University of Richmond, this is Dan Roberts.

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