Straits: Beyond the Myth of Magellan by Felipe Fernández-Armesto
Location: London Global Gateway
Invite-only event
Panel discussion and book launch: Straits: Beyond the Myth of Magellan, by celebrated historian Felipe Fernández-Armesto.
For centuries, Ferdinand Magellan has been celebrated as a hero: a noble adventurer who circumnavigated the globe in an extraordinary feat of human bravery; a paragon of daring and chivalry. Now, historian Felipe Fernández-Armesto draws on extensive and meticulous research to conduct a dazzling investigation into Magellan's life, his character and his ill-fated voyage. He reveals that Magellan did not attempt – much less accomplish – a journey around the globe, and that in his own lifetime, the explorer was abhorred as a traitor, reviled as a tyrant and dismissed as a failure.
Panel:
- David Abulafia, Professor of Mediterranean History, University of Cambridge
- Jerry Brotton, Professor of Renaissance Studies, Queen Mary University of London
- Felipe Fernández-Armesto, Professor of History, University of Notre Dame
About the Author:
Felipe Fernández-Armesto spent twenty years at Oxford University and occupied a Chair in environmental history at the University of London (Queen Mary College) before moving to the U.S. His work has appeared in twenty-seven languages and has won, among other awards, Spain's national prizes for geographical research and food-writing, the World History Association Book Prize, the John Carter Brown Medal, the Caird Medal of the National Maritime Museum, the Tercentenary Medal of the Society of Antiquaries, the IACP Prize, and the Gran Cruz de Alfonso el Sabio, Spain's highest honor for services to education and scholarship. He has been short-listed for the UK ́s most valuable literary prize.