Globetrotter

From earliest times, spices from the Far East have been popular in Europe.

For many centuries the Arabs controlled the spice trade. They brought the spices overland from India to the Eastern coasts of the Mediterranean. There, they sold them for a very high price to Italian merchants. These merchants sold them in Europe for an even higher price.

From the 15th century the situation changed. European countries, including Spain, financed voyages to discover new routes to India and the Moluku Islands. The objective was to obtain the spices much cheaper in the place of origin.

The Portuguese sailor Maguellan went on one ot these voyages in 1519. Magellan reached America and sailed south until he crossed from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. He finally arrived at the Moluku Islands.

When Magellan died, the Spaniard Juan Sebastián Elcano returned to Europe by a different route. He crossed the Indian Ocean, travelled round Africa and arrived in Spain. This was the first ever circumnavigation of the globe.