Romain Bertrand invites readers to revisit the story of Magellan, showing that the Portuguese explorer was less pivotal than usually believed.

Imagine a rousing saga of heros, traitors, and distant isles full of danger. Imagine a sweeping epic spanning two oceans, bound by a strait, a place of glory and giants. Imaginez a cruel tale involving native peoples, a few sultans, and a witch brandishing a bloody knife. A tale, or rather an accounting: a story true in every last detail. History, in fact.
We have always been told this story – the history of Ferdinand Magellan and Juan Sebastián Elcano – as one of daring and derring-do, the triumphant entrance of Europe the conquering hero into modernity. But what if it were... otherwise?