Action in the Face of Uncertainty

In a remarkable period between the fifteenth and eighteenth centuries, Europeans explored, and from their own point of view discovered, the rest of the world. They acted in the face of great uncertainty. Continuing to push outward, in 1522 one ship of five launched in Magellan’s expedition returned to Spain from the east with only eighteen men, completing the first voyage around the world. Magellan himself died in the Philippines attempting forcibly to convert locals to his religion. The actions of the explorers dramatically reshaped the human world.