In the village of Sabrosa in Portugal.
Magellan came from a poor provincial noble family, served as a page at the royal court. In 1505 he went to East Africa and served in the navy for eight years. He took part in the ongoing clashes in India, was wounded and in 1513 recalled to Portugal.
Returning to Lisbon, Ferdinand Magellan developed a project for sailing by the western route to the Moluccas, where valuable spices and spices grew. The project was rejected by the Portuguese king.
In 1517, Magellan went to Spain and proposed this project to the Spanish king, who appointed him commander-in-chief of a flotilla heading to search for a western sea route to India.
Magellan's flotilla consisted of five ships - the flagship "Trinidad", "San Antonio", "Santiago", "Concepción" and "Victoria".
On September 20, 1519, the navigator set off from the port of Sanlúcar (at the mouth of the Guadalquivir). Magellan did without nautical charts, and although he knew how to determine latitude by the sun, he did not have reliable instruments even for an approximate determination of longitude.
At the end of November, the flotilla reached the coast of Brazil, and about a month later - the mouth of La Plata, not finding a passage to the west of it, in February 1520
Magellan moved south and traced the coast of an unknown land (which he called Patagonia) for more than two thousand kilometers, while opening the large bays of San Matnas and San Jorge.
In March 1520, the flotilla entered San Julian Bay, where a mutiny broke out on three ships, suppressed by Magellan. In August 1520, after wintering in San Julian Bay, Magellan moved further south with four ships and on October 21, 1520 opened the entrance to the strait (later named Magellan), explored it, discovering the Tierra del Fuego archipelago to the south.
In November 1520, Magellan entered the ocean, called by his companions the Pacific Ocean and, having traveled more than 17 thousand kilometers without stopping, in March 1521 he discovered three islands from the Mariana Islands group beyond 13 ° north latitude, including the island of Guam, and then the Philippine Islands. islands (Samar, Mindanao, Cebu). Magellan entered into an alliance with the ruler of the island of Cebu, undertook a campaign for him against the neighboring island of Mactan, and on April 27, 1521 was killed in a skirmish with the locals.
The team continued their journey west. The Victoria and Trinidad, which had remained on the move by that moment, were the first of the Europeans to reach the island of Kalimantan and anchored off the city of Brunei, after which they began to call the whole island Borneo. In early November, the ships reached the Moluccas, where they bought spices - cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves. Soon the Trinidad was captured by the Portuguese, and only the Victoria, having completed the world's first circumnavigation, returned to Seville in September 1522 with 18 people on board. The sale of brought spices paid off all the costs of the expedition. Spain received the "right of first discovery" to the Marianas and the Philippine Islands and laid claim to the Moluccas.
The famous Portuguese navigator and discoverer Ferdinand Magellan forever left his mark on the history of mankind, becoming one of the most famous explorers. He embarked on a brave journey, the results of which replenished our store of knowledge and told a lot of new things to Magellan's contemporaries. It is impossible to overestimate his merits, and you can be sure that the name of Ferdinand Magellan will never be forgotten.
- Magellan is the first person to circumnavigate the world.
- Not only the famous strait is named after Magellan, but also two galaxies - the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds, as well as a crater on the Moon.
- It was Magellan who discovered the Philippine Islands to Europeans, where the republic of the same name is now located (see).
- In the naval battle of Diu, which took place on February 3, 1509, Magellan's caravel broke through the formation of enemy ships, and Magellan boarded the flagship of the opponents.
- Once, several ships of the flotilla, in which Magellan was then sailing, crashed, and the sailors in boats reached a desert island. It was decided that some of the sailors would go on boats for help, while the rest would wait on the island from their return. Ordinary sailors were outraged that all the officers were leaving in boats, leaving only sailors on the shore, fearing that no one would return for them. A riot almost broke out, but Magellan reassured the team, remaining on the island with the sailors. Soon they were all saved.
- Once Magellan lent a merchant a solid amount of money, which he did not want to return. The debt was returned to Magellan only six years after the trial.
- Before his famous journey, Magellan fought a lot - in Malaysia, and in India, and in Africa. Subsequently, leaving military service, he decided to devote his life to the study of the world.
- Magellan traveled around the world under the Spanish flag, as the king of Portugal did not want to finance his expedition. But the Spanish crown deservedly appreciated the famous navigator.
- A squadron of five ships set off on a round-the-world trip, taking food for two years with them, and Magellan hid the sailing route from sailors and other captains, which repeatedly caused discontent.
- Magellan for many years remained the only captain who led the flotilla through the strait, which received his name, without losing a single ship.
- The Pacific Ocean got its name precisely thanks to Magellan, who crossed it, passing 17 thousand kilometers and not encountering a single storm. As practice has shown, this name turned out to be reckless - the Pacific Ocean is famous for its violent character. Magellan was just lucky in his voyage.
- Magellan was not going to circumnavigate the world - he was looking for a passage to the Moluccas.
- Magellan himself never circumnavigated the globe, dying in the Philippines. During the voyage, most of the expedition perished - out of five ships, on board of which there were 250-300 people, only one ship with 18 people on board returned to Spain. Thus, Magellan's expedition became the first circumnavigation of the world.
- The archipelago of Tierra del Fuego got its name also thanks to Magellan, who mistook the fires of Indian fires for volcanoes. In fact, there is not a single volcano on the archipelago (see).
- On the island of Mactan, Philippines, a monument to Magellan was erected. And next to it stands another monument - to the native leader, from whose hand Magellan died.
The Japanese name for Japan Nihon (日本) is made up of two parts, ni (日) and hon (本), both of which are Sinic. The first word (日) in modern Chinese is pronounced rì and means, as in Japanese, "sun" (transmitted in writing by its ideogram). The second word (本) in modern Chinese is pronounced bӗn. Its original meaning is "root", and the ideogram that conveys it is the tree ideogram mù (木) with a dash added below to indicate the root. From the meaning "root" the meaning "origin" developed, and it was in this meaning that it entered the name of Japan Nihon (日本) - "origin of the sun" > "land of the rising sun" (modern Chinese rì bӗn). In ancient Chinese, the word bӗn (本) also had the meaning of "scroll, book". In modern Chinese it has been superseded in this sense by the word shū (書), but remains in it as a counter for books. The Chinese word bӗn (本) was borrowed into Japanese both in the meaning of "root, origin" and in the meaning of "scroll, book", and in the form hon (本) means book in modern Japanese as well. The same Chinese word bӗn (本) in the meaning of "scroll, book" was also borrowed into the ancient Turkic language, where, after adding the Turkic suffix -ig to it, it acquired the form *küjnig. The Turks brought this word to Europe, where it from the language of the Danubian Turkic-speaking Bulgars in the form of a book got into the language of the Slavic-speaking Bulgarians and spread through Church Slavonic to other Slavic languages, including Russian.
Thus, the Russian word book and the Japanese word hon "book" have a common root of Chinese origin, and the same root is included as a second component in the Japanese name for Japan Nihon.
I hope everything is clear?)))
Magellan (Magalhaes) Fernand (1480-1521), Portuguese navigator.
Born in the spring of 1480 in Sabroz in an impoverished noble family. In 1492-1504. served as a page in the retinue of the Portuguese queen.
In 1505, as part of the team of Frincisco de Almeida, he went to East Africa; lived for a long time in India and Mozambique. In 1512 he returned to Lisbon and developed a project for sailing by the western route to the Moluccas. The Portuguese king rejected him.
In 1517, Magellan arrived in Spain and entered the service of King Charles I, who appointed him commander of a flotilla heading to search for a new sea route to India. On September 20, 1519, an expedition of five ships left the harbor of Sanlucar de Barrameda (Spain) and in January 1520 reached the mouth of the La Plata River. From here, the ships, moving south, in search of the strait, entered all the bays. Magellan discovered the bays of San Matias and San Jorge on the land he called Patagonia. In March 1520, he put down a mutiny that broke out on three ships during the winter in San Julian Bay. In August, Magellan moved further south and on October 21, 1520 entered the strait, which he called the Strait of All Saints (later renamed the Strait of Magellan). Having explored it, the navigator discovered the Tierra del Fuego archipelago. During the passage of the strait, the crew of the San Antonio rebelled and turned back to Spain.
November 28, 1520 Magellan went into the ocean, called by his companions the Pacific. Further navigation was very difficult due to lack of provisions and fresh water. Having covered more than 17,000 km, in March 1521 Magellan discovered three islands from the Mariana Islands group (including Guam), and then the Philippine Islands (Samar, Mindanao and Cebu).
On April 27, 1521, the navigator was killed during a skirmish with the natives on Mactan Island (Philippines). His companions continued, but only two ships returned to Spain - the previously deserted San Antonio and Victoria.
The expedition of Magellan made the first circumnavigation of the world, proving the existence of a single world ocean and providing practical evidence of the sphericity of the Earth.
Fernand Magellan (Fernand de Magalhaes) - (born November 20, 1480 - death April 27, 1521)
What did Magellan Ferdinand discover?
The outstanding Portuguese navigator Magellan Fernand, his expedition made the first ever circumnavigation of the world, which involved the search for a western route to the Moluccas. This proved the existence of a single world ocean and provided practical proof of the spherical shape of the Earth. Magellan discovered the entire coast of South America south of La Plata, circled the continent from the south, discovered the strait, which was named after him, and the Patagonian Cordillera; first crossed the Pacific Ocean.
Biography of Ferdinand Magellan
Among the people who made global upheavals in the minds of people and the development of mankind, travelers could also play a significant role. The most striking figure of them is the Portuguese Fernand de Magalhaes, who became known to the whole world under the Spanishized name of Fernand Magellan.
Ferdinand Magellan was born in 1470 in the locality of Sabrosa, in the remote northeastern province of Portugal, Traz os Leontes. His family belonged to a noble but impoverished knightly family and was respected at court. It was not in vain that King João II of Fernand's father, Pedro Ruy de Magalhães, appointed senior alcalde * of the strategically important harbor of Aveiro.
(* Alcalde is a judicial or municipal official who had executive power. His main task was to maintain public order).
Education
Connections at court made it possible for the alcalde in 1492 to attach his eldest son as a page to Queen Eleanor. So, Fernand received the right to be brought up in the royal residence. There, in addition to the knightly arts - horseback riding, fencing, falconry - he was able to master astronomy, navigation and cartography. At the Portuguese court, these items have been mandatory for young courtiers since the time of Prince Henry the Navigator. It was they who had to go on long-distance sea expeditions with the aim of conquering and discovering new lands. No wonder their lessons were observed by King Manuel himself, who replaced Juan on the throne.
The ambitious Fernand became seriously interested in navigation. In an effort to stay away from palace intrigues, in 1504 he asked the king to let him go to India under the leadership of the viceroy of India, Francisco de Almeida, and, having received consent, left Lisbon in the spring of 1505.
Career of Magalhaes the Navigator
Almeida's expedition was purely military in nature and had the goal of subduing the recalcitrant Muslim rulers from Sofala to Hormuz and from Cochin to Bab el-Mandeb. Muslim fortifications had to be wiped off the face of the earth and Portuguese fortresses had to be built in their place.
Magalhaes took part in the sea and land battles at Kilva, Sofal, Mombasa, Kannanur, Calicut, as well as in the sacking of these cities, and over time turned into a valiant warrior, experienced and accustomed to any cruelties and misadventures of his harsh era. He quickly gained a reputation as a brave captain, skilled in combat and navigation. At the same time, even then, concern for brothers in arms became one of the main features of the future pioneer of circumnavigations.
1509 - During the battles near Malacca, Magalhaes was able to become famous, almost single-handedly coming to the aid of a handful of his compatriots who were attacked by the Malays. He acted in the same nobility during his return from Malacca to India. At the head of only 5 people, Fernand hurried to the aid of the Portuguese caravel and helped to win.
At the very beginning of 1510, the career of Magalhaes as a navigator almost came to an end: during the unsuccessful assault on Calicut, he was seriously wounded, and for the second time. The first wound, received during a campaign against Morocco, made him lame for the rest of his life. Dejected, Fernand decided to return to his homeland.
Magellan's route
In the spring, a small flotilla of three ships left Cochin for Portugal. On board one of the ships was Magalhaes. But this time he never made it home. A hundred miles from the Indian coast, two ships ran into the pitfalls of the dangerous Padua shoal and sank. The officers and distinguished passengers decided to return to India on the remaining ship, leaving their rootless companions without water and food on a narrow sandy shoal, for whom there was no place on the ship. Fernand refused to sail with them: nobility and high rank were a kind of guarantee that help could still be sent for those who remained. In the end, that is what happened. Two weeks later, the shipwrecked were rescued, and upon their arrival in India, they everywhere spoke about the extraordinary firmness of their patron, who managed, under difficult conditions, to arouse hope in people and strengthen stamina.
Fernand remained in India for some time. According to the documents, he boldly expressed his opinion in cases where other captains were silent. This, probably, could be the main reason for his disagreement with the new Viceroy Afonso de Albuquerque.
Portugal
Summer 1512 - Magalhaes returned to Portugal. This is evidenced by an entry in the pay slip of the royal court, according to which he was assigned a monthly royal pension of 1000 Portuguese reais. After 4 weeks, it was almost doubled, which may indicate that the merits of the valiant captain were recognized by the court.
During the war with the Moors of Azamora (modern Azemmour in Morocco), Fernand was appointed major, that is, he received a rather prestigious and profitable position. At his complete disposal were the prisoners and all the captured trophies. Fasting provided unlimited opportunities for personal enrichment, therefore Magalhaes had no shortage of ill-wishers.
After some time, he was unreasonably accused of organizing an attack by the Moors on a herd and allowing 400 heads of cattle to be stolen, receiving a lot of money for this. After some time, the charge was dropped, but the offended Fernand resigned.
Left without sufficient means of subsistence, the warrior known for his valor hoped for the mercy of the king. He asked Manuel to increase his pension by only 200 Portuguese reais. But the king did not like people with a strong character and, according to the chronicler Barrush, "... always had an aversion to him," and therefore refused. Indignant, Magalhaes secretly left his homeland in 1517 and moved to Spain.
Spain
Since that time, the history of an unprecedented sea voyage around the Earth begins, the sphericity of which was then only assumed. And the merit of its organization and implementation belongs entirely to Fernand Magalhaes, who from now on has become Ferdinand Magellan.
Later, King Manuel caught on and, with tenacity worthy of a better use, began to prevent Magellan from carrying out his plans. But the mistake could no longer be corrected, and Portugal, for the second time after history, lost the chance to benefit from the discoveries of its great sons, underestimating their potential.
"Moluccan Armada" - ships of Magellan
It is known that even in Portugal he carefully studied nautical charts, made acquaintances with sailors and dealt a lot with the problems of determining geographic longitude. All this helped him a lot in realizing his idea.
According to the papal bull Inter cetera of 1493, all new territories discovered to the east of the demarcation line established in 1494 belonged to Portugal, and to the west - to Spain. But the method of calculating geographic longitude, adopted at that time, did not allow for a clear demarcation of the Western Hemisphere. Therefore, Magellan, as well as his friend and assistant, the astrologer and cosmographer Ruy Faleiro, believed that the Moluccas should not belong to Portugal, but to Spain.
1518, March - they presented their project to the Council of the Indies. After lengthy negotiations, it was accepted, and the Spanish King Carlos I (aka Holy Roman Emperor Charles V) undertook to equip 5 ships and allocate supplies for 2 years. In the event of the discovery of new lands, companions were given the right to become their rulers. They also received 20% of the income. In this case, the rights were to be inherited.
Shortly before this significant event, serious changes took place in the life of Fernand. Arriving in Seville, he joined the colony of Portuguese emigrants. One of them, the commandant of the Alcazar of Seville, Diogo Barbosa, introduced the valiant captain into his family. His son Duarte became a close friend of Fernand, and his daughter Beatrice became his wife.
Magellan really did not want to leave his young, passionately loving wife and recently born son, but duty, ambition and the desire to provide for his family persistently called him to the sea. Could not stop him and the unfavorable astrological forecast made by Faleyru. But it was precisely because of this that Ruy refused to participate in the voyage, and Magellan became its sole leader and organizer.
Magellan's voyage around the world
In Seville, 5 ships were prepared - the flagship Trinidad, San Antonio, Concepción, Victoria and Santiago. On September 20, 1519, Ferdinand Magellan said goodbye to the pregnant Beatrice and the newborn Rodrigo on the pier and ordered the anchor to be raised. They were not destined to see each other again.
The lists of a small flotilla included 265 people: commanders and helmsmen, boatswains, gunners, ordinary sailors, priests, carpenters, caulkers, coopers, soldiers and people who did not have specific duties. All this motley multinational crew (in addition to the Spaniards and the Portuguese there were also Italians, Germans, French, Flemings, Sicilians, British, Moors and Malays) had to be kept in obedience. And discontent began almost from the first weeks of sailing. Agents of the Portuguese king infiltrated the ships, and through the zeal of the Portuguese consul in Seville, Alvaris, the holds were partially filled with rotten flour, moldy crackers and rotten corned beef.
On September 26, sailors reached the Canary Islands, on October 3 headed for Brazil, and on December 13 they entered the bay of Rio de Janeiro. From here, travelers headed south along the South American coast in search of a passage to the "South Sea", while moving only during the day, so as not to miss it in the dark. 1520, March 31 - the ships entered the bay of San Julian off the coast of Patagonia for the winter.
rebellion
Ferdinand Magellan - suppression of the rebellion
Soon Magellan had to give the order to reduce the diet. But part of the crew opposed such a decision and began to demand a return to Spain, but received a decisive refusal. Then, during the celebration of Easter, the leaders of the rebels, taking advantage of the fact that the bulk of the crews went ashore, were able to capture three ships.
Magellan decided to use force and cunning. He sent several loyal people to the Victoria with a letter to the rebellious treasurer Luis de Mendoza. He was stabbed while reading the letter, and the crew offered no resistance. The next day, two rebellious captains, Gaspar de Quesada and Juan de Cartagena, tried to withdraw their ships from the bay, but the Trinidad, Santiago and Victoria recaptured from the rebels blocked their path. The San Antonio surrendered without resistance. Quesada, who commanded them, was immediately arrested, and after some time Cartagena was also captured.
By order of Ferdinand Magellan, the dead body of Mendoza was quartered, Quesada was cut off his head, and Cartagena and the traitor priest Pedro Sanchez de la Reina were left on the shore. But the rebellious sailors did not suffer. They were given life, mainly because they were needed for ship work.
Strait of Magellan
Soon the squadron, which lost the Santiago during reconnaissance, moved further south. But the betrayals didn't stop there. On November 1, when the squadron was already moving through the desired strait, later called Magellanic, helmsman Ishteban Gomish, taking advantage of the fact that his ship was out of sight from the rest of the ships, captured the San Antonio and fled to Spain. Magellan never found out about the betrayal, just as he did not know what a fatal role Gomis played in the fate of his family. Arriving in Spain, the deserter accused his captain-general of treason against the king. As a result, Beatrice and her children were placed under house arrest and interrogation. She was deprived of state benefits and left in severe need. Neither she nor her sons lived to see the return of the expedition. And Gomes for "outstanding services rendered to the flotilla of Magellan" was awarded a knighthood by the king.
Discovery of the Marianas
On November 28, the ships of Ferdinand Magellan entered the ocean, on which no European had yet sailed. The weather, fortunately, remained good, and the navigator named the Pacific Ocean. Crossing it, he walked at least 17 thousand km and discovered many small islands, but inaccurate calculations did not allow them to be identified with any specific points on the map. Only the discovery in early March 1521 of two inhabited islands, Guam and Rota, the southernmost of the Mariana Islands, is considered indisputable. Magellan called them Robbers. The islanders stole a boat from the sailors, and the captain-general, having landed with a detachment on the shore, burned several native huts.
This voyage lasted almost 4 months. Despite the absence of hurricanes characteristic of this area, people had a very hard time. They were forced to eat sugar dust mixed with worms, drink rotten water, eat cowhide, sawdust and ship rats. These creatures seemed to them almost a delicacy and were sold for half a ducat apiece.
The crew was tortured by scurvy, many people died. But Magellan continued to confidently lead the squadron forward and somehow, on a proposal to return, he said: “We will go forward, even if we had to eat all the cowhide.”
Discovery of the Philippine Islands
1521, March 15 - the expedition ended up near the island of Samar (Philippines), and a week later, moving still to the west, arrived at the island of Limasava, where the slave of Magellan, the Malay Enrique, heard his native speech. This meant that the travelers were somewhere near the Spice Islands, that is, they had almost completed their task.
And yet the navigator sought to reach the cherished islands. But he decided to stay for a while in order to convert the Filipinos to Christianity.
1521, April 7 - the flotilla anchored off the island of Cebu, where a large port and the residence of the rajah was located. The sincerely religious Magellan insisted that the islanders accept Christianity without counting on any material benefits, but, unwillingly, he convinced the natives that they could count on a benevolent attitude from the powerful Spanish king only if they renounced the old faith and worship the cross.
On April 14, the ruler of Cebu Humabon decided to be baptized. The cunning raja, now called Carlos, enlisted the support of Magellan against his pagan enemies and, thus, in one day subjugated everyone who challenged his power. In addition, Humabon secured a promise that when Magellan returned to the Philippines at the head of a large fleet, he would make him the sole ruler of all the islands as a reward for being the first to convert to Christianity. Moreover, the rulers of the nearby islands were also brought to obedience. But the leader of one of these islands, Mactana, named Silapulapu, did not want to submit to Carlos Humabon. Then the navigator decided to use force.
Death of Magellan
Death of Magellan
1521, April 27 - 60 armed men in armor, with several small guns, boarded boats and headed for Mactan. They were accompanied by several hundred Humabon warriors. But luck turned away from the Spaniards. The captain-general underestimated the enemy, not in time remembering the history of the conquest of Mexico, when a handful of Spaniards were able to take over the whole country. In the battle with the warriors of Mactan, his battle-hardened companions were defeated, and the captain-general himself laid down his head. During the retreat to the boats, the natives overtook him in the water. Wounded in the arm and leg, the already lame Magellan fell. What happened next was eloquently described by the chronicler of the expedition, Antonio Pigafett:
“The captain fell face down, and immediately they threw iron and bamboo spears at him and began to strike with cleavers until they destroyed our mirror, our light, our joy and our true leader. He kept looking back, to see if we all had time to dive into the boats ... "
The further fate of the sailors
Subsequent events testified to the correctness of Pigafetta, who called Magellan "the true leader." Apparently, only he could keep this greedy pack in check, ready at any time for betrayal.
His successors failed to hold on to the positions they had won. The first thing they did with feverish haste was to deliver the bartered goods to the ships. Then one of the new leaders thoughtlessly insulted the Malay Enrique, and he persuaded Humabon to betray. The Raja lured some of the Spaniards into a trap and ordered them to be killed, and demanded a ransom for the surviving captain of the Concepción, Juan Serrau. Seeing him as a rival, Juan Carvalo, temporarily appointed commander of the flotilla, abandoned his comrade and ordered to raise the sails.
About 120 people survived. On three ships, by touch, often changing course, they nevertheless reached the Moluccas, destroying the worm-eaten Concepción along the way. Here they, not thinking about the possible danger from the local population, where the Spaniards were not very fond of, and the difficulties of the way home, rushed to buy spices. In the end, the Victoria, under the command of Esteban Elcano, left the Moluccas, and the heavily loaded Trinidad remained for repairs. Finally, his crew, who made an unsuccessful attempt to get to Panama, were captured. For a long time its members languished in prisons and plantations, first in the Moluccas and later in the Banda Islands. Later they were sent to India, where they lived on alms and were under the vigilant supervision of the authorities. Only five in 1527 were lucky enough to return to their homeland.
And the Victoria, under the command of Elcano, diligently bypassing the routes of the Portuguese ships, crossed the southern part of the Indian Ocean, rounded the Cape of Good Hope and, on September 8, 1522, through the Cape Verde Islands, arrived in the Spanish harbor of San Lucar. Of her crew, only 18 people survived (according to other sources - 30).
At home, the sailors had a hard time. Instead of honors, they got public repentance for one “lost” day (as a result of moving around the earth in time zones). From the point of view of the clergy, this could only happen as a result of breaking fasts.
Elcano, however, received honors. He received a coat of arms depicting the globe with the inscription "You were the first to circle around me", and a pension of 500 ducats. And no one remembered Magellan.
The true role of this remarkable man in history was able to appreciate the descendants, and, unlike Columbus, it has never been disputed. His voyage revolutionized the concept of the Earth. After this journey, any attempts to deny the sphericity of the planet completely ceased, it was proved that the world ocean is one, ideas were obtained about the true size of the globe, it was finally established that America is an independent continent, a strait was found between two oceans. And it is not for nothing that Stefan Zweig wrote in his book “The Feat of Magellan”: “Only he enriches mankind who helps him to know himself, who deepens his creative self-consciousness. And in this sense, the feat accomplished by Magellan surpasses all the feats of his time.
