Titans of History (26 page)

1480–1521

… the whole earth hangs in the air … a thing so strange and seeming so far against nature and reason … which is yet now found true by experience of them that have in less than two years sailed the world round about
.

Thomas More,
Dialogue Concerning Heresies
(1529), referring to Magellan's 1519 voyage

Ferdinand Magellan was a fearless and determined sailor who achieved what Columbus had attempted: he sailed westward from
Europe and reached the East Indies, thus making the first recorded crossing of the Pacific Ocean. Although Magellan himself was killed in the Philippines, one ship from his fleet of five, after experiencing appalling hardships, finally returned to Spain—becoming the first to complete a circumnavigation of the entire globe.

Born to a noble Portuguese family, Magellan grew up around the royal court. In 1495 he entered the service of King Manuel I, “the Fortunate,” and enlisted as a volunteer on the first voyage to India planned by the Portuguese viceroy Francisco D'Almeida.

Magellan took part in a series of expeditions to the east, as Portugal sought to expand its trade routes and bring valuable spices back to Europe, becoming involved in skirmishes en route and achieving promotion to captain. In 1512 he returned to Portugal. He helped to take the Moroccan city of Azamor but was wounded during the fighting and walked with a limp for the rest of his life. Even worse, he was accused of trading with the Moors and subsequently fell from favor with King Manuel.

It was clear that Magellan's career in the service of the Portuguese crown was over. In 1513 he renounced his nationality and went to Spain. He proposed to Charles V that he could reach the Spice Islands of the east via the western passage that had eluded Christopher Columbus some twenty years earlier. With the aid of advances in navigation, diligent consultation with an astronomer and the sheer guts to suggest traveling at a latitude of up to 75° S, Magellan was in a good position to trump Columbus. So in September 1519, with five ships and 270 men, he embarked on his historic voyage.

Magellan sailed across the Atlantic, sighting South America in November 1519. He then headed south, wintering in Patagonia, where he had to crush a dangerous mutiny led by two of his captains. He set sail again in August 1520.

In October Magellan found a channel leading westward between the South American mainland and the archipelago to the south,
which enabled his fleet to avoid the stormy open seas south of Cape Horn. He called this passage All Saints' Channel, but it is now known as the Strait of Magellan after the great navigator. As the ships passed through, the sailors were overawed by the snowy mountains on either side. To the north was the southern tip of Patagonia, and to the south the islands they called the Land of Fire—
Tierra del Fuego
—because of the fires lit by the native people that burned on the shore. Once they had passed through the strait, they found themselves facing a vast expanse of open water. In honor of the steady, gentle wind that blew them across it, Magellan named the ocean the Pacific.

For ninety-eight days Magellan's crew sailed northwestwards across the open ocean, spotting only an occasional rocky, barren island. They had little water, and what they did have was bad. They ran out of supplies and were reduced to eating moldy biscuit, rats and sawdust. But still Magellan pushed onwards, saying that he would rather eat the ships' leather than give up. And that was exactly what the crew did, chewing leather from the yardarms.

In March 1521 they reached the Philippines, which Magellan originally named after St. Lazarus (they would later be renamed after King Phillip II of Spain). They took on supplies and reached the island of Cebu, where Magellan befriended the native king. By purporting to convert to Catholicism, the king managed to convince Magellan to become involved in his violent feuds with neighboring islands, and it was in an attack on one of these on April 27 that Magellan was killed. The treacherous king then murdered two of Magellan's men before the crew could regroup and head home for Spain.

Only eighteen crewmen, four South American natives and one ship, the
Victoria
, made it around the Cape of Good Hope and back to Spain, plagued by contrary winds, harassment from the Portuguese, malnourishment and scurvy. Although Magellan was
not among them, by the time of his death he had traveled well past the longitude of his original voyages to the east, when he had visited the Moluccas. He had also discovered the holy grail of navigators and traders: a passage to the eastern Spice Islands via the western ocean. This in turn helped to pave the way for Spanish and Portuguese dominance across the globe during the 16th century.

Great explorers like Columbus and Marco Polo may have discovered the hitherto unknown parts of the world, but it was Magellan who joined them all together.

1483–1530

Wine makes a man act like an ass in a rich pasture
.

Saying attributed to Babur

Babur was the nomad prince who emerged from a tiny Mongol kingdom to found India's Mughal empire. Babur's reign was brief, but he was a talented conqueror and intellectual, and his power over, and respect for, the myriad peoples whom he ruled created a vast empire of an incomparable cultural magnificence.

Claiming descent from Genghis Khan, the young Zahir-ud-din Muhammad was directly descended from the Turkic-Mongol conqueror Tamurlane (Timur). The family had lost much of Tamurlane's empire, so he was for much of his youth a king without a kingdom. Called Babur by tribesmen unable to pronounce his real name, he inherited the tiny central Asian state of Fergana at the age of twelve. Having fended off his uncles' attempts to unseat him,
Babur set out to conquer neighboring Samarkand. The fifteen-year-old prince miscalculated. In his absence rebellion at home robbed him of Fergana, and when he marched back to reclaim it, his troops deserted Samarkand, depriving him of that too. “It came very hard on me,” Babur later recalled of his nomad years. “I could not help crying a good deal.”

Defeat strengthened Babur's resolve. By 1504 the hardened warrior had secured himself the kingdom of Kabul in today's Afghanistan. From there he looked east into Hindustan's vast lands. After several attempts, Babur finally triumphed in 1526 at the Battle of Panipat, where his 12,000 men routed the sultan of Delhi's 100,000-strong army. Over the next three years he defeated the Rajputs, the Afghans and the sultan of Bengal, to become the unchallenged ruler of Hindustan—today's India. Thus did this descendant of Tamurlane carve out what was to become known as the Mughal empire, after the Persian word for Mongol.

Babur ascribed his astounding victories to “the fountain of the favor and mercy of God.” Weaponry helped. Babur introduced to India the matchlock musket and the cannon, although initially they only earned him ridicule. As Babur's tally of victories attests, it soon became clear that with effective firepower his almost absurdly small armies could make huge inroads against opponents with a vast numerical superiority.

A supremely well-trained collection of Pashtuns, Persians, Arabs and Chaghatai Turks, Babur's men revered their consummate commander. He was a warrior of legendary strength—it was reported that he could run up slopes carrying a man on each shoulder, and that he had swum across every major river he had encountered, including the Ganges. The Mughal armies terrified their enemies and not without just cause, for vanquished combatants were beheaded and their heads strung up from parapets. Babur considered his son
and heir Humayun's decision to have 100 prisoners of war shot at Panipat, rather than released or enslaved as was the custom, “an excellent omen.”

In contrast, as a ruler, Babur was merciful. The Muslim emperor ruled over an array of peoples with immense tolerance and respect. He never forced their conversion or sought to alter their practices. Preach Islam “by the sword of love and affection,” he told Humayun, “rather than the sword of tyranny and persecution.” His clarity of vision and his humanity allowed him to see that his vast empire could flourish in all its diversity: “Look at the various characteristics of your people just as characteristics of various seasons,” he told his son. An advocate of justice regardless of race or religion, he hated hypocrisy, describing it as “the lies and flattery of rogues and sycophants.”

Babur's respect for his conquered lands helped to forge an exquisite and unique culture. Babur brought to India his Timurid inheritance: the skills and practices of the jewel-city of Tamurlane's old capital, Samarkand. The resulting fusion produced centuries of breathtaking art and architecture, such as the monumental Taj Mahal. Himself a skilled author, calligrapher and composer, Babur initiated his dynasty's patronage of all these arts. He created magnificent formal gardens as a respite from India's ferocious heat. They were the first of their kind on the subcontinent, stocked with plants and fruits that he brought from his homelands to the northwest. Buried according to his wishes in the garden of Baghe-Babur in his beloved Kabul, the inscription on Babur's tomb reads: “If there is a paradise on earth, it is this, it is this, it is this!”

Babur's flaw was his excess. He drank heavily and developed a notable fondness for marijuana. His extravagant generosity emptied his coffers. And when Humayun seemed mortally ill, Babur was said to have offered up his life in return for his son's. Babur's last words say much about the ruthlessness of the time and the
humanity of the man: “Do nothing against your brothers,” he told Humayun, “even though they may deserve it.”

Babur's extraordinary story is recounted in his personal journal, the
Babur-nama
, charting his progress from Fergana's boy-king to Mughal emperor. It encompasses battles, intrigues, flora, fauna, geography, peoples, poetry, art, music, polo matches and feasts. It also gives the first documented mention of the priceless diamond the Koh-i-Noor. Encompassing even Babur's personal feelings, the
Babur-nama
is an astounding record of the era and a startling insight into the man.

1485–1547

He came dancing across the water
With his galleons and guns
Looking for the new world
In that palace in the sun …
He came dancing across the water
Cortéz, Cortéz
What a killer
.

Neil Young, “Cortez the Killer”

Hernán Cortés was like Pizarro the personification of the triumphant conquistador whose deeds—both blood-spattered and heroic—brought so much of the New World under the harsh rule of Spain. Arriving in Mexico at the head of a tiny mercenary army, he slaughtered the innocent and pillaged the land, destroying the
civilization of the Aztecs and enriching himself beyond his wildest dreams. But the evidence suggests he was not himself cruel and rarely initiated atrocities. He was however a wholly remarkable leader—probably with Pizarro (a distant relative) the outstanding Spaniard of his time, who literally conquered a new empire.

Cortés was born of a noble Castilian family in Medellín, Spain, in 1485. After a sickly childhood, his parents sent him to the prestigious University of Salamanca in the hope that the rarefied intellectual environment might be the making of their son. It was not to be, however, and Cortés soon returned home. Small-town provincial life proved no more satisfactory to young Cortés (except where women were concerned), and in 1502 he decided to move to the New World. Arriving in Hispaniola (modern-day Haiti and the Dominican Republic) in 1503, he soon established himself as a capable man with an eye for an opportunity.

In 1510, at the age of twenty-six, Cortés managed to obtain a place on an expedition to conquer Cuba. The expedition was led by Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar, who went on to become the governor of the newly seized territory; having impressed Velázquez, Cortés was appointed as his secretary. The cordial relationship between the two men did not last, however—in part because of Cortés' continual philandering, even as he secured the hand in marriage of Velázquez's sister-in-law, Catalina.

Cortés grew increasingly restless with his life in Cuba, and in 1518 he persuaded Velázquez to give him command over an expedition that was to explore and colonize the mainland (modern-day Mexico). At the last minute the governor changed his mind and attempted to have Cortés removed from his command. But it was too late: Cortés ignored the countermand and proceeded as originally planned.

In March 1519 Cortés and a force of some 600 men landed on the Yucatán Peninsula, and a month later he formally claimed the
land for the Spanish crown. To create a reality to match the rhetoric, Cortés marched first north and then west, achieving a series of victories over hostile native tribes and proving himself a skilled exponent of divide and conquer.

In October 1519 Cortés and his troops arrived at Cholula, then the second largest city in the region. Many of the city's nobility had gathered in the town's central square in the hope of parleying with the approaching Spaniard, but he was in no mood to listen to them. In an act of calculated terror, he ordered his troops to raze the city. Thousands of unarmed citizens were butchered in the process.

In the wake of this massacre, Cortés and his men were received peacefully by the Aztec emperor, Moctezuma II, in the city of Tenochtitlán (Mexico City). The Aztec empire, which emerged in the 14th and 15th centuries from an alliance of three rapidly growing cities—Tenochtitlán, Texcoco and Tlacopan, had been fashioned by Moctezuma I (
c.
1398–1469) into a cohesive political and cultural unit, with Tenochtitlán at its capital, and reached its zenith under Ahuitzotl (
c.
1486–1502), who more than doubled the territory under Aztec control. He was succeeded on his death by his nephew, Moctezuma II—the man on the throne when Cortés and his mercenaries arrived seventeen years later. The Aztecs practiced human sacrifice of men, women and children—sometimes on a vast scale. On one occasion in the 1480s, it was said that they sacrificed 84,000 prisoners at the Great Pyramid of Tenochtitlan.