The starting point of the journey

On April 20, 2019, we sailed from Yokohama, Japan on Mir, and returned to Yokohama on August 1 of the same year, orbiting the earth in 103 days.

Nowadays, even primary school students know that the earth is round. From anywhere on the earth, sailing west or east, you can return to the starting point. However, in the early days of geographical discovery, this was still a theory that had yet to be confirmed.

Regardless of east or west, the ancients believed that the earth was flat.

From inference to the earth: How can the theory of a round earth be confirmed?

During the ancient Greek period, scholars began to explore the shape of the earth from a scientific perspective. In the fourth century BC, Aristotle used three examples to illustrate that the earth is round. First, the further north you go, the higher the North Star is; the further south you go, the lower the North Star is. Secondly, when a ship enters the port, the mast is exposed first, then the hull, and finally the entire ship is visible. Third, during a lunar eclipse, the projection of the earth is circular.

Since then, Western scholars have generally accepted the theory of a round earth. However, it was not until Magellan led a fleet around the world that the theory of a round earth was truly confirmed.

Map of Magellan’s circumnavigation route. (Click on the image to enlarge) Peng Fanxianhui firmly believes in the round earth theory and implements the dream of sailing: Magellan’s plan to orbit the earth

Magellan (1480-1521) was a Portuguese. When he was young, the Portuguese had replaced ** * people controlled the shipping routes from the Indian Ocean to the East and established colonies in many places. In 1492, Columbus discovered America and Spain became another colonial empire.

Statue of Magellan, unknown author, painted in 1848, collected by the Maritime Museum of Madrid.

Although the Pope made a ruling in 1493: "The two sides use the meridian as the boundary, the west of the line belongs to Spain, and the east of the line belongs to Portugal." However, the competition between Portugal and Spain did not stop.

Magellan participated in colonial wars in Southeast Asia. He realized that east of the Spice Islands (Moluccas) was a sea, and further east might be the Americas. He firmly believed in the theory of a round earth, and in 1518 he proposed a plan to circumnavigate the earth to the King of Spain. On August 10 of the following year, he set out with a fleet of five ships and about 270 people.

The Age of Sailing: There is wind first, then there is a reason to go to sea

In the Age of Sailing, in addition to going against the wind, you can take advantage of winds in various directions by adjusting the sails, but the prerequisite is to It's windy.

In the ocean, areas near the equator and at 30 degrees north and south latitude (horse latitude) are low-pressure zones. There is either no wind or weak wind, which is not conducive to sailing. However, there will be monsoons close to the land. For example, Zheng He's voyages to the West used the northeast monsoon to go west in winter and the southwest monsoon to return east in summer.

In the low latitudes of the northern and southern hemispheres, from the equator to 30 degrees north and south latitude, there are the southeast trade wind belt and the northeast trade wind belt respectively. They have stable wind direction and are very "credible".

Ocean navigation in the age of sailing ships mainly used trade winds, so they are also called trade winds. In the middle latitudes of north and south latitudes, that is, between the 30th and 60th degrees of north and south latitudes, westerly winds blow steadily, which is called the prevailing westerly belt. Between 60 and 90 degrees north and south latitude, the east wind blows regularly and is called the polar easterly belt. These are all things that must be mastered for ocean navigation in the age of sailing ships.

Monsoon belts and circulation on Earth.

Magellan set out from Spain and sailed southwest all the way to South America. At that time, it was already a familiar waterway from Western Europe to South America.

Then we headed south along the South American coastline. In October 1520, we found an exit (the Strait of Magellan) from the southernmost tip of South America. After more than twenty days of arduous and circuitous sailing, after leaving the strait, we suddenly saw a vast landscape. A calm, vast ocean. Magellan called it Mare Pacificum, meaning calm sea, which is where the name Pacific comes from.

A revolution in the history of geography and navigation - circumnavigating the earth

Magellan's first crossing of the Pacific Ocean was a revolution in the history of geography and navigation.

This move proves that most of the earth's surface is not land but ocean; the oceans around the world are not isolated from each other, but a complete body of water. This played a pioneering role in the navigation career of future generations.

After that, they sailed northwest. After more than a hundred days, the fleet arrived at an inhabited island (Mariana Islands) for the first time. On March 16, 1521, the fleet arrived at Homonhong Island in what is now the Philippines. A Malay slave on the ship heard that the islanders spoke a Malay dialect, which proved that the Far East could also be reached by crossing the Pacific to the west.

On April 27, 1521, Magellan was killed on Mactan Island in Cebu, Philippines for intervening in a tribal war. His subordinates carried on his last wish, passed through the Spice Islands, crossed the Indian Ocean from Timor, went north around the Cape of Good Hope, and returned to Spain on September 6, 1522, completing the feat of circling the earth once.