While Mexico was being conquered Magellan was endeavouring to complete the work of Columbus, and sail westwards to the East Indies for the sake of the spice trade. Portuguese by birth, he had himself visited the East Indies, perhaps having gone as far as the Moluccas, and had realized that the spice trade was the source of enormous wealth. As we have seen, the Portuguese were not interested in the Western Way to the Indies ; the Spaniards were not greatly interested in the spice trade, but rivalry with Portugal induced them to give assistance to Magellan as they had given assistance to Columbus.
Magellan's task was that of both Diaz and Columbus. Like Diaz and his predecessors he had to find a passage round the south of the great land mass which separated the oceans, and like Columbus he had to cross a mighty ocean which had never been traversed. He had to pass farther south than had Diaz, and to cross a mightier ocean than had Columbus ; yet the very fact that similar difficulties had been overcome made success the more probable, as the sailors were more willing to continue at work though the actual difficulties were really much greater.
Magellan's attempt was successful, though he perished. The East Indies were reached, westwards ; spices— cloves — were brought home. Lands on the far East became Spanish; and the Spanish occupation left its results; the Philippines still bear the name of a Spanish king; they remained Spanish for four centuries, for more than three of which they kept the calendar of ships sailing westward from Spain not eastward from Portugal; and even now they inherit the evil results of a nominal but ineffective rule granted by a pope to Spain when she was a power fighting the infidel Moors.
Yet the Spanish route to the Indies was a failure. Not only was the western route much longer than the eastern, but that greater length was due to the fact that it had to cross a vast stretch of ocean, half-way round the world (North China, on the one side, is the antipodes of the south of South America, on the other). In this vast expanse of water there is no land. Now, on the ocean movement is more easy, there is less expenditure of energy for a given result than on the land; but on the land alone can man settle to produce things—to make energy available. On this vast ocean nothing could be produced, and in the Indies on the farther side only spices, which, however they were valued by the Portuguese, were thought nothing of by the Spaniards, who despised trade and thought only of gold and silver.
Thus the discovery of the oneness of the Ocean resulted in the Portuguese holding the keys of world commerce in place of the Arabs, while the discovery of the shape of the globe led to the Spaniards bringing under their control much of America, though even in that continent Brazil fell to Portugal, as it was held to lie within the Portuguese half of the world.