UNESCO Recognizes Manuscripts First Voyage Around the Globe as World Heritage
UNESCO has recognized an international set of 15 manuscripts about the first circumnavigation of the globe by Ferdinand Magellan and Sebastian Elcano as World Heritage. The manuscripts are held in 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). We are grateful to UNESCO for this honorable award, and to the governments of Spain and Portugal who nominated these manuscripts.
Manuscript VLF 41
The now recognized manuscript from the Leiden collections is (VLF 41) 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 Portuguese manuscript from 1550 mainly consists of a text on navigation by Fernão de Oliveira (1507 – c. 1581). The last quires contain the account of Magellan's journey.
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This manuscript is now registered in the global UNESCO Memory of the World Register. The list contains documentary heritage that is of exceptional significance and must be preserved for future generations. Together with the granting of World Heritage status this year to the Hikayat Aceh manuscripts, the UBL now manages five documents with this international UNESCO status. This also concerns La Galigo (2011), Babad Diponegoro (2013) and Panji (2017). All these documents have been digitized and are freely available for education and research via Digital Collections.
Expedition to the Moluccas
In 1494, Spain and Portugal had divided the non-western world among themselves, assigning the western half of the globe to Spain and the eastern half to Portugal. Both powers were eyeing the lucrative spice trade with the Moluccas, in present-day Indonesia. In 1519 Magellan left Spain on behalf of the Spanish crown with five ships - the Armada de Moluccas – and sailed westward. In 1520 Magellan found a strait between Tierra del Fuego and South American mainland: the Strait of Magellan. In 1522, Magellan was killed during a conflict with locals in the Philippines. Under the leadership of Sebastian Elcano, only one ship completed the famed circumnavigation of the world in 1522.
