Juan Sebastián de Elcano and Porné’s utopia: a pagan, thanatist and pacifist chimera in the story of the first circumnavigation of the world
Abstract
The first circumnavigation of the world (1519-1522) generated various contemporary accounts, among which the letter from Maximilian Transylvanus, secretary to Charles V, addressed to the Cardinal-Archbishop of Salzburg, Matthäus Lang von Wellenburg, stands out. This document, based on interviews with survivors and official documentation presented at the court of Valladolid, contains a peculiar description of the island of "Porné" (Borneo) as a utopian society, characterized by its pagan, peaceful, and thanatist nature. The research focuses on determining the intellectual authorship of this utopian construction, contrasting the figures of Transylvanus and Juan Sebastián de Elcano.
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