This Week in History #3

Written by Ananya Nayar, edited by Misaki Tomiyama

Statue of Pope Urban II in Châtillon-sur Marne

On the 27th of November 1095, Pope Urban the Second made one of the most important and persuasive speeches of the 11th century. He calls all Christians in Europe for war against Muslims to ‘reclaim the Holy Land’ claiming that God desires them to. By the end of the 11th century, the Holy Land was called the Middle East.

Pope Urban the Second, original name Odo of Châtillon-sur-Marne, was born in a noble family of France. He was elected as Pope on March 12, 1088.

Ferdinand de Magellan, a Portuguese explorer and navigator became the first European explorer to finish an expedition from the Pacific to the Atlantic. He set sail with three ships on the 20th of September 1519 from Spain and arrived three years later after circumnavigating the globe on the 8th of September 1522.

French map of the first world circumnavigation of Ferdinand de Magellan from 1519 to 1522

Image by Nelson Minar is lisenced under CC BY-SA 2.0

Image by Sémhur is lisenced under CC BY-SA 3.0