Hans Barge

Hans Varga (* probably before 1500; † 1527 in Lisbon ) was the second German circumnavigator . As a member of Ferdinand Magellan's Moluccas expedition, along with Maestre Anes ("Hans from Aachen"), he was one of the 34 survivors of the first circumnavigation of the earth.

According to the team list, Varga (son of Barge and Elisabet) hired as one of three Germans on the Concepción in 1519 . On Tidore , one of the Moluccas Islands , Hans Varga switched to the Trinidad , the second remaining ship in the fleet that had to stay behind for repair reasons while the Victoria completed her voyage around the world to the west.

The Trinidad was supposed to return to Spain via the Pacific Ocean and America, but failed in the Pacific Ocean at 42 ° North and had to return to Tidore. Meanwhile, a Portuguese fleet of seven caravels with 300 men had landed on the neighboring island of Ternate and built a fortress. The only 18 survivors of the Trinidad surrendered to the Portuguese in October 1522. They claimed the Spice Islands for themselves and tried to prevent the success of the Spanish Moluccas expedition.

For Varga and his fellow prisoners, an almost five-year odyssey began as prisoners on Portuguese ships and through various dungeons. From Ternate they were first brought to the Banda Islands , in February 1523 to Malacca and in late 1524 to Cochin in India. There they were presented to Vasco da Gama , who at that time resided as the Portuguese Viceroy of India. In 1526 Varga, Gonzalo Gomez de Espinosa, Gines de Mafra and Leon Pancaldo were finally shipped to Europe and reached Lisbon. They were detained here for another seven months. Varge died in dungeon in Lisbon between January and July 1527.

In the older literature, Hans Varga is often confused with Maestre Anes (from Aachen), which often led to confusion, see for example Hans Plieschke 1922, page 148. Harry Kelsey was able to solve this historical error with "The First Circumnavigatores" from 2016 1922 stopped, clarify.

literature

• The First Circumnavigatores / Harry Kelsey ISBN 978-0-300-21778-0
• Hans Plischke: Fernao de Magalhaes - The first circumnavigation. FABrockhaus, Leipzig 1922, p. 148.
• Laurence Bergreen: Over the Edge of the World. Perennial, New York 2004, ISBN 0-06-093638-X .
• P. Werner Lange: Like the sun ... FABrockhaus, Leipzig 1983, pages 102 and 220