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I was born too early to... checks notes die of malnutrition.

1494. Spain and Portugal are both really into this new business of sailing the seas and owning everything you touch, but they have a problem. What if the other country sails the seas and touches the stuff that they own? That would be bad! So they cut the world in half. Spain owns this half of the Earth, and Portugal owns this half of the Earth. Spain gets to colonize the New World and make all the money buying slaves and selling sugar and chocolate and silver. Portugal gets to control who can sail around Africa, which means they get to make all the money trading slaves and spices.

But one day, an enterprising man by the name of Ferdinand Magellan arrives in the Spanish King’s court. He says “Your majesty, what if I told you the islands where Portugal gets its spices are actually on your half of the Earth? And what if I told you, you didn’t have to sail around Africa to get there? I’m like 90% sure we can wiggle underneath South America, and if we do, that’s your ticket to the untold riches of the spice trade. But it will take a captain of unassailable courage. My name is Ferdinand Magellan! I had a place in the conquest of Malacca, I served in the court of the Sultan of Ternate, I took a lance to the knee in Morocco. If you’ll have me, I am prepared to embark on the adventure of an age, to see for the first time with European eyes, ancient and diverse cultures and convert them to Catholicism. I am prepared to attempt what no man has ever dreamed before. Soon will I meet the men who shall be my brothers at sea, and I will be the first to circle the world!

[cue cut anime opening]