Coracle building

. Making Coracle .

Coracles (from the Welsh "cwrwgl") have a history dating back thousands of years. The coracle was originally covered with animal skins and in some countries they are still made this way. In Wales they are now skinned with calico which is waterproofed using a bitumastic paint.

http://www.data-wales.co.uk/coracle1.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coracle


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TiBUCPHjU_8

Magellan - Age of Exploration

.Magellan's Voyage: Why the Explorer Gets Too Much Credit > .

Ferdinand Magellan (Fernão de Magalhães, Fernando de Magallanes; 4 February 1480 – 27 April 1521) was a Portuguese explorer and Hispanic Monarchy's subject from 1518. He is best known for having planned and led the 1519 Spanish expedition to the East Indies across the Pacific to open a maritime trade route in which he discovered the interoceanic passage bearing thereafter his name and achieving the first European navigation from the Atlantic to Asia. This expedition, where Magellan was killed in battle against the natives of Mactan Island (present day Philippines) in 1521, resulted in the first circumnavigation of the Earth when one of the expedition's two remaining ships eventually returned to Spain in 1522.

Born 4 February 1480 into a family of minor Portuguese nobility, Magellan became a skilled sailor and naval officer and was in service of the Portuguese Crown in Asia. Confronted to some criminal offences and after King Manuel I of Portugal refused to support his plan to reach the Maluku Islands (the "Spice Islands") by sailing westwards around the American continent, Magellan left Portugal and proposed the expedition to King Charles I of Spain who accepted it. For this move, Magellan was henceforth considered by many in Portugal as a traitor and was never to return. He adopted the name of Fernando de Magellanes and settled in Seville where he married and fathered two children; and from where he organised the expedition. In consideration to the allegiance to the Hispanic Monarchy, Magellan was appointed in 1518 admiral of the Spanish Fleet to command the expedition, the five-ships Armada of Molucca, as well as Commander of the Order of Santiago, one of the highest military ranks of the Spanish Empire.

Granted with special powers and privileges by the King, he headed the Armada from Sanlucar de Barrameda south through the Atlantic Ocean to the eastern coast of South America down to the Patagonia. Despite a series of storms and mutinies, they made it through the Strait of Magellan into the Mar del Sur which he renamed the "Peaceful Sea" (the modern Pacific Ocean). The expedition reached Guam and shortly after, the Philippine islands, where Magellan was killed during the Battle of Mactan in April 1521. Under the command of captain Juan Sebastian Elcano, the expedition later reached the Spice Islands and, to navigate back to Spain and avoid seizure by the Portuguese, the two remaining ships split, one attempting unsuccessfully to reach New Spain sailing eastwards across the Pacific while the other, commanded by Elcano, sailed westwards via the Indian Ocean and up the Atlantic coast of Africa to finally arrive at the expedition's port of departure, completing the first circuit of the globe.

While at the Kingdom of Portugal's service, Magellan had already reached the Malay Archipelago in Southeast Asia on previous voyages traveling east (from 1505 to 1511–1512). By visiting this area again but now travelling west, Magellan achieved a nearly complete personal circumnavigation of the globe for the first time in history.

Rivers of Midlands

Severn
1 - Tern?
2 - Cound Brook?
3 - Worfe
4 - Mor Brook? Borle Brook
5 - Stour
6 - Salwarpe
7 - Teme
Warwickshire Avon
8 - Arrow?
9 - Stour?
10 - Alne?
Severn
11 - Chelt?
12 - Leadon
Thames (Isis)
13 - Coln
14 - Leech
15 - Windrush
16 - Evenlode
17 - Cherwell
18 - Thame



River Crossings

Importance of river crossings in the olden days - Lindy > .