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Documento original sobre la espedición de Magallanes

Spanish administrative records of wages, merchandise and royal grants for the fleet Magellan organized to sail to the Spice Islands.

Administrative records of the fleet Magellan organized, showing the financial and bureaucratic machinery behind his voyage.

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Manuscript page in brown ink on aged paper, Archivo General de Indias, Contaduría 425, with handwritten Spanish text headed 'Relación del sueldo' listing wages for captains and crews of the ship Victoria and company, with a dark circular ink blot near the top center and a stamp at lower left.
Informaciones sobre sueldos, mercancías y mercedes relativas a la Armada a la Especiería. Archivo General de Indias, Contaduría 425.

About this source

What it is

This is a manuscript document from the Archivo General de Indias recording wages, merchandise and grants connected to the Armada to the Spice Islands, the fleet organized by Ferdinand Magellan. It lists payments for captains and crew, including those of the ship Victoria, and shows the expedition was organized in Seville.

Why it matters

Behind Magellan's famous voyage was a large bureaucratic and commercial operation involving the Spanish crown, merchants and officials. Documents like this reveal the practical side of exploration — contracts, payrolls and funding — that made the voyage possible, showing it was as much a business venture as an adventure.

Look closer

  • What does a document about wages and merchandise tell us that a dramatic story of the voyage does not?
  • Why would the Spanish crown need such detailed records of an expedition?
  • What does this paperwork suggest about who really controlled and profited from Magellan's voyage?

This document is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Ferdinand Magellan on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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