Why read Over the Edge of the World?

Book cover of Over the Edge of the World: Magellan's Terrifying Circumnavigation of the Globe

Book description

The astonishing tale of the first sea voyage to circumnavigate the entire globe. Magellan's dramatic maritime expedition in 1519 discovered the straits that enabled Europe to trade with the Eastern spice islands and changed the course of history.

In an era of intense commercial rivalry between Spain and Portugal,…

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Why read it?

1 author picked Over the Edge of the World as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Glynis Ridley

Author

Before I read this book, all I knew of Magellan was that he led the first expedition to circumnavigate the globe by sea and that he did it by finding the strait at the tip of South America that links the Atlantic and Pacific oceans and that still bears his name.

I imagined the Strait of Magellan as a marine superhighway, easily found if sailing down the continent’s eastern seaboard. Bergreen made me realize how painstakingly slow was the process of finding and navigating the Strait, full of dead-end channels and submerged glacial moraine.

Before the book reaches the Strait,…

From Glynis' list on The best books about famous sea voyages we think we know, but don’t.