#OnThisDay in 1519, the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan sailed with about 270 men on his expedition to the East Indies, which achieved the first circumnavigation of Earth in history.

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  • Em Adespoton
    3·
    23 hours ago

    I’d temper that claim with “first known circumnavigation” so that “history” doesn’t have to do so much work.

    Also, has the Gregorian/Julian calendar switch of 1582 been taken into consideration?

  • Bfritz0815@bark.lgbt
    1·
    18 hours ago

    @[email protected] @[email protected] you didn’t need to add the “westerner” part. The guy was the first ever human who circumnavigated the globe.

    Zheng He went through the Indian ocean to east Africa.

    Before that, a chinese delegation looking for contact with the Roman empire got as far west as Mesopotamia before deciding to give up and turn around. They had mistakenly presumed that getting to Rome required going all the way around Africa, so decided that an empire so far away wasn’t worth the effort to contact.

    There is speculation of the possibility of a lost Mongol/Chinese expedition looking across the pacific ocean but it’s 1.vague speculation and 2.lost

    Historically Chinese governments before the 19hundreds viewed China as the literal center of the world. The Chinese name for China, “Zhong guo” literally means “central country”.

    They were fundamentally disinterested in exploring far away lands with only very few exceptions that were basically some emperors temporary pet projects