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Stop Press The World Is Round
he Canary Islands have have been an "Ocotea Foetens", a
played their part in so type of laurel endemic to Madeira
many important voyages of and the Canary Islands, existed
discovery, perhaps most famously on the island of El Hierro. One
when Columbus, stopped off in the example, commemorated with a
neighbouring islands of Gran plaza and six wells that
Canaria and La Gomera in 1492. He collected the water, existed at
also visited El Hierro on later about 1,000 meters above sea
voyages. level near Tiñor. It's existence
appeared to be mythical, because
Ferdinand Magellan, the it was uprooted in a hurricane in
Portuguese maritime explorer who 1610 and it's disappearance
led the first successful attempt coincides with the extinction of
to circumnavigate the earth, is the indigenous culture, who had
said to have visited Tenerife, dedicated a cult to the tree,
arriving on September 26, 1519, from the island.
near the start of that particular
important three year voyage of However, Antonio Pigafetta
discovery. apparently added a note to his
account for that day of the
In those days, legend had it that voyage to the effect that after
it never rained here - my how not encountering a single drop of
things have changed - and there water to replenish their
were no rivers nor springs. There supplies, "at midday a cloud came
was also talk of a tree whose down over the sky, surrounding an
leaves distilled drops of water, enormous tree that there was on
which served to supply both that island, distilling water
humans and animals. from it's leaves and branches."
This would seem to suggest that
That tree, the Garoé, thought to they were, in fact, in El Hierro,
not Tenerife. notice that going round the earth
resulted in winning one day: upon
The ships left the Canary Islands their return they observed a
on October 3rd, 1519. mismatch of one day between their
calendars and those who did not
Magellan himself did not complete travel.
the circumnavigation; he was
killed during the Battle of That made El Hierro, also known
Mactan in the Philippines. as The Meridian island, once the
western-most point of the known
Juan Sebastian Elcano, took over world and used as the reference
command of the expedition after on maps, the ideal jumping off
Magellan's death - one of only 18 point for this voyage.
to return, of the 250 or so men
who started the voyage - and The Juan Sebastián Elcano is the
became the first man to complete training ship of the Spanish
the circumnavigation of the - Navy, launched on March 5, 1927.
clearly circular - world. The ship has certainly visited
Tenerife, in 2003 during her
Among the curiosities of their eighth circumnavigation of the
discoveries, was the need for an world and again in March 2006,
International date line. Of after a major refit.
course, they were the first to
About the Author:
Read this article with live links and images: http://www.secret-tenerife.com/magellan.html Secret Tenerife is all about the lesser known side of Europe's favourite winter sun playground. Visit us for daily images, free downloads, postcards and wallpaper and more. http://www.secret-tenerife.com
Source: www.isnare.com |
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