Lecture Series: Food to Cross the Oceans. The Magellan-Elcano Expedition, by Antonio Sánchez de Mora
September 23, 2021: 17:00 MET/CEST via Zoom.
Abstract
In the context of the commemoration of 500 years since the arrival of Ferdinand Magellan and his crew at the Philippines and the First Circumnavigation of the World by Juan Sebastian Elcano the aim of the lecture is an analysis of the dietary context of the expedition in question. It looks at the practical organization of outfitting and victualling such an expedition, the character of the provisions for the long voyage, problems related to food and food storage and risk conditions such as hunger and illnesses. A number of relevant manuscripts that have been preserved in the Archivo General de Indias at Seville documenting the food issue of this oceangoing voyage will be highlighted and their contents discussed. This will serve as an introduction to and a model of any future research on this theme. Original reports, accounts, letters and royal orders provide rich insights into supply operations for oceangoing vessels and the kinds of food loaded on board, and in this way celebrate the informative value of the archive’s documentary heritage.
Antonio Sánchez de Mora is a historian and archivist at the Archivo General de Indias (Seville). His focus is Spanish medieval history, archives and archival history, dissemination of cultural and documentary heritage and, recently, the history of gastronomy during Early Modern times in the Hispanic world. In the last five years he has conducted research about Spanish and Philippine cultural and gastronomic heritage during the Hispanic times and the Spanish gastronomy in the context of the 1st Circumnavigation. In 2013-2014 and 2016-2017 he was curator of two exhibitions related to the history of the Spanish in the Philippines and the Pacific.
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