Over the Edge of the World: Magellan's Terrifying Circumnavigation of the Globe

4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars | 4,363 ratings

Price: 14.95

Last update: 01-11-2025


About this item

In 1519 Magellan and his fleet of five ships set sail from Seville, Spain, to discover a water route to the fabled Spice Islands in Indonesia, where the most sought-after commodities (cloves, pepper, and nutmeg) flourished. Three years later, a handful of survivors returned with an abundance of spices from their intended destination, but with just one ship carrying 18 emaciated men. During their remarkable voyage around the world the crew endured starvation, disease, mutiny, and torture. Many men died, including Magellan, who was violently killed in a fierce battle.

This is the first full account in nearly half a century of this voyage into history: a tour of the world emerging from the Middle Ages into the Renaissance; a startling anthropological account of tribes, languages, and customs unknown to Europeans; and a chronicle of a desperate grab for commercial and political power.


Top reviews from the United States

  • B Williams
    5.0 out of 5 stars Absolutely Amazing!
    Reviewed in the United States on December 11, 2024
    This book was amazing! A real page turner from the first chapter. I have no idea why it hasn't been made into a movie already. It has everything that Hollywood would love: action, sex, adventure, pending doom, and history. I love the book so much. After I had the Kindle version I bought the paperback for my father.
  • J. Grattan
    4.0 out of 5 stars A harrowing journey (3.75*s)
    Reviewed in the United States on July 4, 2013
    This book is a good effort to capture the extraordinary, harrowing, three-year-long journey made by a Spanish armada of five ships in 1519, led by the determined Portuguese captain Ferdinand Magellan, in finding a westward path from Spain to the Spice Islands near the Philippines. Magellan's voyage is a part of the Age of Discovery that saw a concerted exploration of the Americas by the Europeans in the decades prior to 1519, at which point King Charles of Spain agreed to finance Magellan due to the possibilities of profiting handsomely from tons of exotic spices from the Spice Islands.

    The fact that Magellan's armada actually circumnavigated the globe and did locate the Spice Islands almost defies belief. Huge obstacles were encountered at every turn. And, the fact that only one ship and 18 of the original 260 men who embarked on the journey actually made it back to Spain, testifies to the extreme difficulties and to their courage and perseverance. The biggest difficulty for the voyage was the sheer ignorance of what lay ahead. There were few maps and charts and most of them were wrong. The vast majority of people in that era believed in sea monsters and the flatness of the earth. The men of this voyage had to constantly deal with something new and usually dangerous.

    They frequently encountered raging seas for days on end in creaking, leaking ships, being tossed about as toys. Their dealings with native peoples were tentative, never knowing whether they were friend or foe. The food supply for months on the open ocean was entirely inadequate with many sailors dying from scurvy - a lack of vitamin C. And then there was the politics of the voyage - the division between the Portuguese and the Spaniards, which resulted in constant mutinous behavior.

    Little would be known about this journey were it not for a detailed pilot's log and the journal of a man who came along just to chronicle the journey. Magellan is depicted as resolute and rigid with complete devotion to King Charles and the Catholic Church. There is no doubt that his unbending personality got him into trouble with the crew and the other captains, and most certainly led to his death in Philippines as he attempted to coerce a native leader. However, it is his strength and his ability to deal with any situation that enabled the voyage to achieve some measure of success.

    The book is interesting but does get bogged down at various times in the course of the journey - a violent storm is a violent storm. A definite shortcoming of the book is the absence of maps that would permit the reader to follow Magellan's wanderings. There are interesting details such as the brief dominance of the seas by the Chinese in the century before Magellan and the more lurid details of methods of torture and the sexual practices of various native cultures. The author's task is difficult: to make real a journey occurring 500 years ago stretching over three years with limited information available. It would leave anyone open to criticism.
  • E. Baxter
    5.0 out of 5 stars A fantastic journey through Magellan's around-the-globe adventure
    Reviewed in the United States on October 28, 2014
    Deceit, betrayal, danger, power struggles, murderous plots... And that's before Magellan even leaves dry land and sets out on his circumnavigation of the world. Bergreen's telling of the unparalleled journey of Magellan and his crew sucked me in immediately and never let go. The struggle between the European powers, particularly Spain and Portugal is fascinating. Magellan is a man of destiny wedged between the jaws of the two. Bergreen takes us through his early military exploits, introducing us to Magellan's bravery and foolheartedness simultaneously. In these aspects of Ferdinand Magellan's character lie the seeds of tragedy. We see him woo royalty and set sail over the edge of the world on a mission to establish a trade route and return with the lucrative spices which drive much of Europe's economy. Finding their own source of these spices will allow the European powers to wrest the spice monopoly from the Arabs and Muslim powers and win control of their destinies. The journey has no lack of obstacles. By land, Magellan and his men face hungry cannibals, native allies (or are they enemies, or both). By sea, the crews sail through the roughest seas on earth, battling storms which can last for weeks, enduring starvation and scurvy, all while navigating through the most difficult and unmapped rocky dangers of the globe. Magellan is both man and monster to his crew. With the Portuguese navy at his back always hunting and an unimagineably vast Pacific ocean before him, Magellan must contend with mutiny within his own fleet. Bergreen does a wonderful job of explaining the intrigue and major players at each league of the journey. Magellan reaches a confusing array of islands only to find that the natives' politics and power struggles mirror his own tumultuous Europe. Again he has no map and must navigate these strange corridors of power by his wits. Friend and foe are fluid. Magellan's crew becomes disillusioned. Is Magellan there for the riches and fame brought by the exotic spices or as a hammer of God against a pagan world? Tragedy strikes when Magellan allows his hubris to overcome his humility. The shifting leadership of the fleet is well examined here and the dire situation faced by the fleet made very clear. By the time the remains of Magellan's crew return to Spain, they have endured one of history's greatest stories of suvival. Bergreen's telling of this human drama is very well done. He relies on the expedition's main chronicler as well as a wide variety of other sources to bring the adventure to life. He makes the details of ocean navigation, sailing, and life aboard clear and vibrant. I thoroughly enjoyed the book. You shouldn't miss this adventure for the world.
  • M&S
    5.0 out of 5 stars A True Magnum Opus
    Reviewed in the United States on December 17, 2024
    Stupendous and gripping account of the first circumnavigation of the globe.

    Bergreen has woven an absolutely heart wrenching, incredibly exciting journey filled with the best and the worst that humanity is capable of.

    This is one of those books that stays with you long after you complete it.

    Cannot recommended this book highly enough!

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