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INPRIMATU
John Sebastian Elkano
  • We are celebrating the fifth centenary of the first round of the world and its glory and honour belongs to Juan Sebastián Elcano.
Fernando Merino 2019ko uztailaren 04a

In 1500, the monarchy's fortune was state and vice versa. That is, they did not differentiate between the particular property of kings and the public treasury. In order to distribute the king's and the state's money, it was necessary to create public finances and the central banks of the countries, and there were still many centuries to do so.

All the monarchs of the state wanted to increase their heritage by annexing territories. Therefore, the real reason for the expeditions to discoveries and conquest was the increase in the wealth of the promoters. The property of all new lands discovered or found was divided between the kings of Spain and Portugal: West of the Atlantic Ocean for Spanish and east for Portuguese.

The subject of the king of Portugal, Fernando de Magallanes, like Christopher Columbus, believed that navigating to the west would reach the islands of species. He presented his project to the king of Portugal to find new roads, but he did not take it into consideration, which led him to present it to the king of Spain. The king of Spain accepted the project and took over most of the financing of the commercial expedition expenses, along with other individuals who contributed money.

This new situation turned the subject Magellan into a traitor before his king of Portugal, and the project he tried in a thousand malicious ways failed. Today, if he had the same attitude, Magellan would be considered VIP executive.

In 1519 five boats departed from Sanlúcar de Barrameda (Andalusia, Spain) to the orders of Magallanes, and Elkano was one of the members of this expedition. The aim was to open a new commercial route from the west to the islands of species. In addition, they carried the express order of the king of Spain not to invade the territories that depended on Portugal.

On 27 April 1521, in Mactan, Magellan died in a battle with his citizens of origin, who refused to accept the king of Spain as head and, therefore, to pay taxes.

When he decided to go home through the Philippines, Elkano ordered to march west, because the brisas of the winter monsoon did him well, breaking the king's initial desire. The other boat that came back east never reached its destination. Elkano Victoria sailed in Seville in September 1522, together with 17 other surviving, hungry, sick and exhausted sailors.

The celebration of these events was intended to give a Spanish patriotic color, since it is important to strengthen this feeling in the Basque territories. Thus, important officers of the army and the army participate. We seem to be touched by an old reflection of the previous Francoist period

Elkano, in addition to his fame, wanted to get economic benefits from this expedition, but he didn't get everything he wanted. The king of Castile granted him a pension of 500 ducees a year and the possibility of placing a sphere of the world on his shield with the slogan Primus Circumdedisti me (the first that turned me around).

The king of Spain, led by the ambition of power and wealth, was not satisfied with the new sources of wealth and territory (species, etc.). of Urazandi, I also wanted to annex the kingdom of Navarre. The Magallanes-Elkano commercial expedition began in 1519 and ended in 1522. In these years the Duke of Alba moved to Euskal Herria and finally conquered Navarre in 1524.

Today, we want to forget the commercial character that inspired this expedition, highlighting its etheric and spiritual objectives. But the aim was to get as much profit as possible in allocating land and money between partners and shareholders, i.e. between owners of capital. In this case, the king of Spain and some individuals.

In these days, the San Martial Forces are being held in Irun, in Getaria, the fifth centenary of the first round of the world, and that the Spanish army had its third centenary in Gipuzkoa – because customs changed their place in 1717 and to crush the revolt of 1718.

To celebrate these sensitive ephemerides, we have sought to give a Spanish patriotic color to the acts programmed in these places, since it is important to strengthen that feeling in the Basque territories. Thus, important officers of the army and the army participate. We seem to be affected by an old reflection of the previous Francoist era, when a civil celebration could not be held without an army representative.

And in the face of that, it's citizen consciousness that is showing the difference between official history and real history.