Good morning,
Whitewater’s forecast calls for a slight chance of thunderstorms and a high of eighty-nine degrees.
Whitewater’s Urban Forestry Commission meets today, from 4 to 6 p.m. The agenda is available online.
Wired recalls that on this day in 1519, Magellan Sets Sail Into History:
Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan, having sworn allegiance to Spain, sets sail from Seville for what will be the first successful circumnavigation of the Earth. Magellan, however, will not complete the voyage….
After crossing the Atlantic Ocean and coming to the coast of modern-day Brazil, Magellan and his squadron of five ships turned south. Surviving a mutiny and the wreck of one ship, Magellan sailed the length of South America until finding a deep-water strait near the tip of the continent — the strait that now bears his name….
After befriending the tribal chieftan of Cebu, Magellan joined forces with him in an attempt to subdue the natives on the neighboring island of Mactan. They objected, and Magellan was killed by poisoned arrows on April 27, 1521.
What remained of the squadron continued on to the Spice Islands, then headed home across the Indian Ocean and around the Cape of Good Hope. Of the 270 men who set sail with Magellan, only 18 actually completed the circumnavigation by returning to Spain. They reached Seville on Sept. 8, 1522 aboard the ship Victoria.
