Magellan's Jerez



I have imagined the cargo of wine carried by the so-called "Armada de Maluco" of Ferdinand Magellan in his voyage to the Spice Islands. According to the Seville archives, the armada of 5 ships was loaded with 508 butts of wine from Jerez de la Frontera. One butt is approximately 60 to 80 gallons. Could we equate one butt to middle size barrels? Yes, it is possible. So we can imagine that each ship could have carried close to ten barrels, some even more. People would wonder, perhaps, if it was a happy trip after all. Never. In the 270 men that started the journey, only 18 were able to return to Europe.

Precisely 500 years ago today, Magellan's armada left the port of Sanlúcar de Barrameda heading towards the Canary Islands (Islas Canarias).

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