Pacific Islands in the Voyage of Magellan and Elcano

Abstract

Islands had an important role in the first circumnavigation expedition undertaken by Magellan and Elcano. A global history that focuses on islands is necessary, one that no longer places island communities into the marginalized position they are assigned in alleged general histories. Meanwhile, the issue of the island must be approached indi-vidually. Islands have historically had features marked by their insularity, which is why, as subjects and objects of research within general historical processes, they sometimes require different interpretations.The Magellan expedition landed on a multitude of islands and sighted many oth-ers – we do not know exactly how many. An important fact to keep in mind is that the Capitulations between Magellan and Charles I stipulated that if Magellan discovered more than six islands, he had the right to keep two, act as their governor and enjoy the income from them. In addition, there were many instances of desertion among the expedition members who preferred to stay on those islands.

Otoki so imeli osrednjo vlogo pri Magellanovi in Elcanovi prvi plovbi okoli sveta. Te-matika otokov zahteva individualno obravnavo; potrebna je globalna zgodovina, ki se osredotoča na otoške skupnosti in jih izvzame iz marginalizacije domnevno splošne zgodovine. Zgodovinsko gledano so imeli otoki značilnosti, ki jih je zaznamovala oto-škost, zato občasno zahtevajo različne interpretacije kot subjekti in objekti raziskova-nja v okviru splošnih zgodovinskih procesov.Odkrili so številne otoke in jih še več videli, natančno število ni znano. Pomembno dejstvo, ki ga velja upoštevati, je, da je kapitulacija (prenos pravic) med Magellanom in Karlom V. določala, da ima Magellan, v primeru odkritja več kot šestih otokov, pravico obdržati dva ter na teh delovati kot guverner in iz tega naslova uživati prihodke. Poleg tega je bilo med člani odprave veliko dezerterjev, ki so raje ostali na teh otokih.