Speaker 1: Welcome. This is Marcia for Radio I, and today I
Speaker 1: will be reading National Geographic Magazine dated February twenty twenty five.
Speaker 1: As a reminder, Radio I is a reading service intended
Speaker 1: for people who are blind or have other disabilities that
Speaker 1: make it difficult to read printed material. Please join me
Speaker 1: now for the first article titled Inside the NFL's Football
Speaker 1: Factory by Terry Ward. Making iconic game balls requires more
Speaker 1: than one hundred craftspeople perfecting a century old design. Here's
Speaker 1: how they do it. Over a hundred million fans will
Speaker 1: be tuning in to watch opposing quarterbacks sling perfectly spiraling
Speaker 1: passes downfield during Super Bowl fifty nine this February. The
Speaker 1: Big Game has become an annual tradition, one that hinges
Speaker 1: on a design that has changed little since it originated
Speaker 1: back in the late nineteenth century. The size, shape, and
Speaker 1: texture of NFL footballs have stayed the same for more
Speaker 1: than one hundred years, with only one exception. They're technically
Speaker 1: not pig skins because manufacturers have shifted from using pig
Speaker 1: bladders to cowhide leather. Fans may not know that bit
Speaker 1: of trivia, but it still a mazes physicists. It's a
Speaker 1: historical accident that the original design still perfectly suits the
Speaker 1: modern needs of the sport, says Robindra Nata, former chief
Speaker 1: of the Experimental Aerophysics Division at nassau's Aims Research Center
Speaker 1: in California. Compared to a baseball, a football is a
Speaker 1: more aerodynamic shape by design. That's probably because the football
Speaker 1: is not actually a ball, but a prolate spheroid oblong
Speaker 1: with pointed ends that make it easier to grip. The
Speaker 1: manner in which air flows around that spheroid also helps
Speaker 1: it travel great distances. But no one knows the details
Speaker 1: of what makes each football so aero dynamic and so durable,
Speaker 1: better than those in charge of manufacturing the NFL's footballs
Speaker 1: that the Wilson's Sporting Goods Companies factory in Ada, Ohio,
Speaker 1: roughly one hundred twenty craftspeople hand make that time tested design.
Speaker 1: Here's what happens behind the scenes inside the facility. Large
Speaker 1: leather sheets from Chicago's Hoarween Leather Company are stamped to
Speaker 1: create a pebbly feel. They are also embossed with tiny
Speaker 1: ws at intervals to ensure the authenticity of the material.
Speaker 1: To achieve an oblong shape, the leather is cut into
Speaker 1: four individual panels that are leaf shaped and tapered at
Speaker 1: both ends. These are sewn together inside out, which makes
Speaker 1: the seam invisible and more durable. Then the leather is
Speaker 1: steamed so that it becomes soft enough to turn right
Speaker 1: side out. To make the job easier, a craft's person
Speaker 1: called a turner, uses a pneumatic hammer to make the
Speaker 1: pointed ends more pliable before the football is reversed forcibly
Speaker 1: by hand on a metal pole. An experienced turner can
Speaker 1: do this in about thirty seconds. An air ladder is
Speaker 1: then inserted and the football is laced together by hand.
Speaker 1: Nearly completed balls are placed inside a pressurized chamber that
Speaker 1: casts them to the uniform shape. All of that works
Speaker 1: in the quarterback's favor once a ball is thrown. Characteristics
Speaker 1: of the authorized football's surface, including pebbling stitching of the panels.
Speaker 1: The laces allow air floor flow to stay in contact longer.
Speaker 1: That thin layer of air skimming past the bowed surface,
Speaker 1: referred to as the boundary layer, is where its design shines.
Speaker 1: While the surrounding air may not directly hug a football's
Speaker 1: curves all the way around, it does continue over the
Speaker 1: apex of the ball, resulting in a minimal wake and
Speaker 1: less drag. That's different from purely spherical baseballs, where the
Speaker 1: air makes a connection on only half the ball, creating
Speaker 1: more of a wake and drag. Drag can be challenging
Speaker 1: to predict, particularly in odd shaped objects like a football,
Speaker 1: said Annette Pico Ho Soi on the CA canical Engineering
Speaker 1: professor at MIT, But some of it comes down to
Speaker 1: how the ball gets tossed. Drag depends on the shape
Speaker 1: of the wake, which with a football can vary depending
Speaker 1: on its orientation through the air, the velocity at which
Speaker 1: it's throne, and surface roughness density of the surrounding air.
Speaker 1: A function of air temperature also affects the boundary layer
Speaker 1: and in turn its aerodynamics. Possoy said, warm air is
Speaker 1: less dense than cold air. If the air is less dense,
Speaker 1: there is less drag, so footballs may fly further on
Speaker 1: warmer days, she explained, adding that the phenomenon has been
Speaker 1: well documented in baseball, which clocks more home runs during hot,
Speaker 1: humid days than the contrary. For many football lovers and
Speaker 1: Wilson's experts, a long bomb is indeed a thing of beauty,
Speaker 1: no matter the weather. The axis of the spin is
Speaker 1: aligned with the direction the ball will go, says Mata,
Speaker 1: likening a good pass to the way a bullet flies.
Speaker 1: That's what the quarterbacks are really good at doing. It's
Speaker 1: a perfect spiral by design. Next, meet the hidden keepers
Speaker 1: of the forest. The redwood ant is the unsung hero
Speaker 1: of the woods and perhaps its greatest social director too.
Speaker 1: By Eric Alt. Wildlife photographer Ingo Arnt discovered his first
Speaker 1: enormous ant mound as a child exploring the forest with
Speaker 1: his father near their home in Germany almost fifty years ago.
Speaker 1: They were bird watching and came around a bed in
Speaker 1: a densely wooded area. When there it was a five
Speaker 1: foot tall mound jutting upward like a large stalagmite. The
Speaker 1: mound was covered with a thick layer of spruce needles
Speaker 1: and throngs of tiny red ants. Aren't wanted to investigate
Speaker 1: more closely, but a very particular smell suggested he rethink
Speaker 1: that impulse. The air felt thick and pungent, stinging his
Speaker 1: nostrils like vinegar. All my life, he says, I could
Speaker 1: remember that smell as an adult. Aren't has spent much
Speaker 1: of his career traveling to photograph animals like the pools
Speaker 1: of Patagonia and kangaroos in Australia. Several years ago, he
Speaker 1: moved to the German countryside with his wife. While hiking
Speaker 1: through the region's pine forests, the surroundings rekindled his fascination
Speaker 1: with the mounds and their armies of ultra small engineers.
Speaker 1: How did insects roughly a quarter of an inch long
Speaker 1: build such huge structures and why did they emanate that
Speaker 1: astringent Odor Arn't now had the tools and experience to
Speaker 1: seek answers to his questions. Outfitted with a high resolution
Speaker 1: camera and macro lenses that allow you to focus on
Speaker 1: small objects up close, he began photographing the bounds and
Speaker 1: sharing his midge imagery with researchers for a scientific perspective.
Speaker 1: It turned out the moundmakers were indeed special. They were
Speaker 1: red wood ants, scientifically classified as a group within the
Speaker 1: genus Formica, one of the smallest of all so called
Speaker 1: keystone species. Among conservationists, Keystone species such as elephants and
Speaker 1: sharks are watched close because their behaviors affect so many
Speaker 1: aspects of their ecosystem that if they disappeared, it would
Speaker 1: struggle to adapt. Red wood ants are typically found in
Speaker 1: Eurasia's temperate and boreal forests, but in recent decades more
Speaker 1: nests have been disappearing as the forests have fallen victim
Speaker 1: to logging, urbanization, and wildfires, as well as drought and
Speaker 1: higher temperatures that have become more frequent with climate change.
Speaker 1: This has led several countries across the ant's range, including Germany,
Speaker 1: to designate them as a protected species by law. Today,
Speaker 1: Arnt's photo quest has taken on new meeting. His images,
Speaker 1: which he has been producing for the past two years,
Speaker 1: put on display these creatures fascinating ability to forge a
Speaker 1: multitude of symbiotic relationships across a variety of plant and
Speaker 1: animal species. In doing so, he's revealed the wonders of
Speaker 1: a hidden insect world. The massive nests consists of two parts,
Speaker 1: one above ground and one below, which red wood ants
Speaker 1: create by both growing into the earth and gathering needles, leaves, bark,
Speaker 1: and twigs. As they rise, each mound gains new entrances
Speaker 1: and corridors, supporting anywhere from thirty thousand to upwards of
Speaker 1: sixteen million insects, the largest above ground nests of any
Speaker 1: ant species in the world. To learn more about this
Speaker 1: concealed society aren't enlisted. The help of entomologist Bernard Seifert
Speaker 1: of the Secondburg Natural History Museums Research Institute in Frankfort
Speaker 1: and zoologist Jorgen Teuts, Professor emeritus at the Julius Maximilian
Speaker 1: University of Vortzberg, the researchers helped explain how arns images
Speaker 1: showed the ants directing life within the forest and surprising ways.
Speaker 1: For instance, the ants generate formic acid in a venom
Speaker 1: gland at the rear of their abdomen. As they build
Speaker 1: a nest, the insects will gather tree resin, which has
Speaker 1: been shown to possess anti microbial properties, and spray it
Speaker 1: with their acid, which has its own antimicrobial properties. The
Speaker 1: result is a more potent agent that the ants place
Speaker 1: throughout the structure to fight against bacterial and fungal pathogens.
Speaker 1: Formic acid also powers the species pest control roll. The
Speaker 1: fluid can be weaponized to take down other insects like
Speaker 1: wood boring beetles, one of the most destructive vermin in
Speaker 1: spruce forests. The fighting tactics Seiphered explains involves biting them
Speaker 1: and then spraying formic acid into the wounds. Reducing the
Speaker 1: number of beetles that weaken and destroy trees improves conditions
Speaker 1: for aphids living in them. The ant's milk the aphids
Speaker 1: to excrete honeydew, which becomes their primary food source. Using
Speaker 1: camera traps aren't also captured larger animals lining up to
Speaker 1: get sprayed voluntarily. A rear image shows a Eurasian jay
Speaker 1: landing on top of a mountain and calmly flattening out
Speaker 1: its tails to allow the ants to crawl up and attack.
Speaker 1: The ants spray the jays as an enemy, says touts.
Speaker 1: While the birds appear unharmed, the toxin is powerful enough
Speaker 1: to disperse or kill parasites such as mites and lice
Speaker 1: that they carry. For many bird species, this behavior helps
Speaker 1: them stay healthy too. Some uninvited guests that are willing
Speaker 1: to wreak alongside the community have gained more benefits. As
Speaker 1: social insects, ants organize colonies and form complex societies, but
Speaker 1: they also cohabitate with a wide variety of species, including mites, spiders,
Speaker 1: and flies within their nests. One trick is that some
Speaker 1: of these interlopers may have grown up already doused in
Speaker 1: a familiar scent If a leaf beetle drops its eggs
Speaker 1: on or near the mound, the workers may inadvertently bring
Speaker 1: the eggs into the nest while collecting materials the larvae
Speaker 1: actually live inside. It aren't explodes. The eggs, then the larvae,
Speaker 1: and eventually the pulpie all smell like the nest. That's
Speaker 1: how they elude their host detection and exploit the shelter
Speaker 1: to survive. In one study, researchers confirmed that on average,
Speaker 1: more than a dozen different species can be found within
Speaker 1: a single mound. Arnt's project highlights the strange and amazing
Speaker 1: ways these often overlooked creatures are influencing the action around them.
Speaker 1: While he did his best to avoid disrupting the protected species,
Speaker 1: the ants at times had other ideas, and they'd hitch
Speaker 1: a ride back with him. I'll be out at dinner
Speaker 1: and they show up and walk over my pants, he says,
Speaker 1: laughing at the memory. But I always try and bring
Speaker 1: everybody back to the nest. The forest needs their collective
Speaker 1: power secrets to living. Super small bombadier beetle. When threatened,
Speaker 1: this insect has an explosive defense. It produces an internal
Speaker 1: chemical reaction that releases a scalding and irritating fluid that
Speaker 1: can reach two hundred twelve degrees fahrenheit. It sprays the
Speaker 1: liquid from its rear end to repel predators. Diving bell spider,
Speaker 1: the only spider to live its whole life under water,
Speaker 1: collects air bubbles from the surface using its abdominal hairs
Speaker 1: and carries them to a woven silk diving bell. The
Speaker 1: bell doubles as a gild, transferring oxygen from the water
Speaker 1: to help provide a twenty four hour supply. Tiger beetle.
Speaker 1: This beetle's long, thin legs help it reach unbelievable speeds,
Speaker 1: whether chasing prey or running from predators. In Australia, one
Speaker 1: less than an inch long species can run up to
Speaker 1: eight feet a second, among the fastest in the insect world.
Speaker 1: Peacock's spider. Instead of using a web, this jumping spiders
Speaker 1: stalks and pounces on its prey with incredible accuracy. Like
Speaker 1: most spiders, it has eight eyes that produce a nearly
Speaker 1: three hundred sixty degree view, but it is the two
Speaker 1: forward facing ones that create its high resolution color vision.
Speaker 1: Heating the hill, the sprawling mounds of the red wood
Speaker 1: ant and for Mica pellacentina are the largest above ground
Speaker 1: ant nests in the world. They are also heat retaining
Speaker 1: wonders thanks to the thermoregulating press of millions of ants
Speaker 1: devoted to sustaining themselves and their young in Europe's Chile Forest.
Speaker 1: The next article from National Geographic History Magazine Atlantic Odyssey,
Speaker 1: Life aboard the Spanish Galleons by Esteban Mira Caballos. Spanish
Speaker 1: migrants setting sail for the New World in the sixteenth
Speaker 1: and seventeenth centuries faced a hazardous Atlantic crossing and an
Speaker 1: uncertain future. For the people of sixteenth century Spain, the
Speaker 1: world was expanding right before their eyes. After fourteen ninety two,
Speaker 1: Spanish voyages of discovery revealed the Americas and the Pacific,
Speaker 1: while new Eastern routes were rounding Africa to reach Asia.
Speaker 1: To defend and expand Spain's new empire, galleons sailed on
Speaker 1: a growing network of sea routes and brought colonists to
Speaker 1: these lands. The crossings were grueling and long, testing the
Speaker 1: resolve of every passenger. In fall fourteen ninety two, Christopher
Speaker 1: Columbus was the first European to say site the Bahamas
Speaker 1: and Cuba. On December sixth, apparently believing he had landed
Speaker 1: in Chipango, Japan, he claimed for Spain the island he
Speaker 1: dubbed the East La Espanola location of modern Haiti and
Speaker 1: the Dominican Republic. More voyages followed, and Spain's geographic knowledge
Speaker 1: of the America's expanded rapidly. The islands of the Caribbean
Speaker 1: became a logical staging post for Spain's transatlantic ambitions, setting
Speaker 1: out from his base in Cuba. In fifteen nineteen, Hernan
Speaker 1: Quotez completed the conquest of the Balley of Mexico. In
Speaker 1: fifteen twenty one. Footholds gained in North and South America
Speaker 1: led to more gains. Francisco Pizarro pushed farther west into
Speaker 1: South America to topple the Inca Empire. In fifteen thirty three,
Speaker 1: span began seeking faster ways to reach Asian markets from
Speaker 1: Central America. In fifteen sixty four, a system of two
Speaker 1: annual trade fleets was consolidated. The New Spain Fleet would
Speaker 1: sail from the Spa Spanish port of Savigue for New Spain,
Speaker 1: docking in Veracruz in modern day Mexico. The galleons of
Speaker 1: the Tierra Fairmay Fleet would depart for Cartagena de Indias
Speaker 1: today in Columbia. An extension of the New Spain Fleet
Speaker 1: was established in the Pacific port of Acapulco, Mexico. From there,
Speaker 1: the Manila Galleon sailed for the Philippines to facilitate trade
Speaker 1: with Asia. With China and other Asian markets passage to
Speaker 1: the Americas. The huge expansion into the American possessions was
Speaker 1: fueled in part by Spanish immigration. Clergymen were sent by
Speaker 1: the Catholic Church not only to evangelize but also to
Speaker 1: project Spain's political supremacy. The state needed soldiers, administrators, merchants, farmers,
Speaker 1: and laborers. Many Spaniards saw passage on the galleons as
Speaker 1: an opportunity to gain wealth and prestige in the growing empire.
Speaker 1: Securing legal passage on a transatlantic galleon, however, meant a
Speaker 1: lengthy bureaucratic process. The first step was to obtain a
Speaker 1: license from the House of Commerce Casa de l Contrazion
Speaker 1: in Seville, a Spanish southern Spanish city that controlled maritime
Speaker 1: trade with America. Spain's discriminatory laws against people of Jewish
Speaker 1: and Muslim descent were extended to prevent them from traveling
Speaker 1: to the Americas. Anyone wanting to go had to prove
Speaker 1: that they were a Christiano viejo or old Christian. Whence
Speaker 1: the legal hurdles had been cleared, Immigrants had to purchase
Speaker 1: a ticket from a shipowner and have it publicly notarized.
Speaker 1: In the sixteenth century, the average price but ticket was
Speaker 1: around seventy five hundred maravedis equivalent to approximately three thousand,
Speaker 1: two hundred fifty dollars today, although the amount would vary
Speaker 1: depending on the final destination and the type of room
Speaker 1: and board would be. Migrants would need more funds than
Speaker 1: that if they were to have a chance of success
Speaker 1: in their new life. First, there were the costs of
Speaker 1: the initial stay in sevivor to sailing, a period that
Speaker 1: could be prolonged if fleets were delayed, as often happened.
Speaker 1: Then they needed to support themselves during the first weeks
Speaker 1: in the colonies as they looked for work. Expenses could
Speaker 1: easily quadruple to the equivalent of fifteen thousand dollars or more.
Speaker 1: Travelers raised funds in different ways. Some sold their Spanish
Speaker 1: properties or used their wives dowries. Others asked family for
Speaker 1: cash in exchange for renouncing a future inheritance. Some left
Speaker 1: their families indebted for years to come, with only the
Speaker 1: promise of future riches to sustain them. The total number
Speaker 1: of Spaniards who crossed the Atlantic in the sixteenth and
Speaker 1: seventeenth centuries is disputed among historians, but estimates rise as
Speaker 1: high as four hundred fifty thousand people. The profile evolved
Speaker 1: over time. During the earliest phase of Spain's expansion in
Speaker 1: the Americas, between fourteen ninety two and fifteen nineteen, men
Speaker 1: outnumbered women, who accounted for slightly more than five percent
Speaker 1: of passenger lists. The percentage rises progressive over the following
Speaker 1: two centuries to as high as twenty five to thirty
Speaker 1: percent in the seventeenth century. For the thousands of Spaniards
Speaker 1: who made this journey across the Atlantic, life on board
Speaker 1: a Galian or a smaller, even more cramped cara was difficult.
Speaker 1: In fifteen thirty nine, the Bishop Royal adviser and author
Speaker 1: Antonio de Guevera wrote in Arte de Morare The Art
Speaker 1: of Navigation, that all common hardships experienced on land, such
Speaker 1: as hunger, thirst, heat, and sickness, were twice as bad
Speaker 1: as sea threats of corsair attacks added to the danger.
Speaker 1: Terrible storms loomed, but if the seas weren't raging, passengers
Speaker 1: had to endure being becalmed for long periods. Sharing the
Speaker 1: ship with live animals such as chickens, pigs, sheep, and mules,
Speaker 1: and the vermin that accompanied them further degraded the situation
Speaker 1: on board. Not even the wealthy could insulate themselves from
Speaker 1: the dreary conditions. High ranking officials and their families could
Speaker 1: pay for private chambers in the stern, obtaining a certain
Speaker 1: degree of privacy, but most of the journey's discomforts were universal.
Speaker 1: Sewage arrangements were basic, with passengers sometimes having to climb
Speaker 1: overboard and cling tightly to the side of the ship
Speaker 1: as they relieved themselves in full view. Only later were
Speaker 1: Transatlantic ships fitted with latrines in the stern or bow.
Speaker 1: To distract themselves from the hardships and monotony of the crossing.
Speaker 1: On board entertainments were devised. There would be singing under
Speaker 1: the stars, ballads accompanied by trumpet, flute, guitar or schalm
Speaker 1: and oboe like instrument. There were certain to be sham
Speaker 1: on board every ship, as they were used not only
Speaker 1: to transmit orders, but also to play battle anthems. Although
Speaker 1: most passengers were not literate, those who were might entertain
Speaker 1: the others by reading aloud from books. Cockfights and games
Speaker 1: of chance also helped pass the long hours, as these
Speaker 1: diversions kept the long suffering crew entertained. Ship officials usually
Speaker 1: turned a blind eye to gla even though it was
Speaker 1: officially prohibited. Sometimes the captains even joined in. Other passengers
Speaker 1: opted for quieter pursuits, such as fishing over the side
Speaker 1: of the ship, a pastime that might yield the reward
Speaker 1: of an extra meal from time to time. Dining during
Speaker 1: the months long Atlantic crossing was no picnic either. Nutrient
Speaker 1: rich fruits and vegetables were concerned, consumed within the first
Speaker 1: few days of the trip before spoiling. Much of the
Speaker 1: non perishable food was lacking in rich nutrition and flavor.
Speaker 1: The primary food were hardcakes made with wheat flour and
Speaker 1: no yeast. They were baked twice to make them durable,
Speaker 1: but this process made them very dry and almost too
Speaker 1: hard to chew. Every month, each passenger was allowed about
Speaker 1: six pints of vinegar and two pints of civilian olive oil. Meat,
Speaker 1: typically pork, was usually served at least twice a week,
Speaker 1: and on the remaining days, the passengers and crew consumed beans, rice,
Speaker 1: and fish. Sometimes the pork was fresh if a pig
Speaker 1: had been recently slaughtered on board, but more often it
Speaker 1: was kichina, a pork preserved by salting and drying. Cheese
Speaker 1: was another essential component in the Gallean diet. Hard cheese
Speaker 1: traveled well without spoiling and was a calorie rich meal
Speaker 1: for passengers. Occasionally, nuts and dried fruits such as almonds, chestnuts,
Speaker 1: and raisins were included. To drink, passengers received daily rations
Speaker 1: of ford liters of water in one liter of wine,
Speaker 1: but the water ration could be drastically reduced if the
Speaker 1: ship was becalmed for long periods of time. Water shortages
Speaker 1: struck the most fear into the hearts of passengers. Even
Speaker 1: under normal conditions, the water could be contaminated. Accounts from
Speaker 1: several voyages described it churning green. The poor diet on
Speaker 1: the ship could have deadly consequences for passengers. A lack
Speaker 1: of fresh fruits and vegetables often caused scurving, a deadly
Speaker 1: disease caused by a deficiency and vitamin CEA symptoms including fatigue,
Speaker 1: bruised limbs, aching joints, and bleeding gums would set in
Speaker 1: any time after one to two months, whence the body's
Speaker 1: store of the vitamin were depleted. During the Age of Exploration,
Speaker 1: historians estimate that scurvy was the leading cause of death
Speaker 1: at sea, surpassing deaths due to enemy attacks, storms, shipwrecks,
Speaker 1: and other illnesses. Although all ships were required to carry
Speaker 1: medicines and a surgeon or barber on board, if passengers
Speaker 1: fell seriously ill, it was very little that could be done.
Speaker 1: The chances were high they would die before reaching their destination,
Speaker 1: and if death did come, there was no choice but
Speaker 1: to throw the body overboard. The body was first wrapped
Speaker 1: in coarse cloth and then weighted down with stones or
Speaker 1: small cannon balls so that it would sink. The clergyman,
Speaker 1: who was always on board, conducted a funeral surface. Passengers
Speaker 1: embarked on these voyages with high expectations of a better life,
Speaker 1: but the soaring mortality rates on these voyages, which barely
Speaker 1: dropped until the mid nineteenth century, ire a reminder that
Speaker 1: the dangers of transatlantic travel in the sixty in seventeenth
Speaker 1: centuries were higher still. Lives and hopes dashed on the waves.
Speaker 1: Disease and starvation took the lives of many colonial Spaniards
Speaker 1: crossing the Atlantic Ocean, but pirate attacks were also a
Speaker 1: great danger in the Spanish Empire. The case of Miguel
Speaker 1: Vasquez is just one tragic story among many. Miguel was
Speaker 1: the only son of Haasito Vascaz and Maria Ramira's inhabitants
Speaker 1: of Zafra in southwest Spain. The family lived in extreme poverty,
Speaker 1: so in sixteen fifty four, fifteen year old Miguel decided
Speaker 1: to travel to the America's to seek his fortune. He
Speaker 1: planned to return to Spain with money to help his
Speaker 1: family to poor. To pay for his passage, he enrolled
Speaker 1: as a cabin boy on the voyage. Over six years later,
Speaker 1: Miguel booked return passage on the El Soul de la Esperanza,
Speaker 1: The Son of Hope, But tragedy struck on the journey.
Speaker 1: After departing from Campese in present day Mexico and drawing
Speaker 1: nearer to Gibraltar, Miguel was killed in a clash with corsairs.
Speaker 1: The hope of a new life for him and his
Speaker 1: desperate family was dashed. Round trips every year two fleets
Speaker 1: set sail from Spain to provision its colonies with agricultural products, food,
Speaker 1: and manufactured goods. The New Spain Fleet's ultimate destination was
Speaker 1: Vera Cruz, Mexico, and the Tierra Fiermey Fleets was Cartagena
Speaker 1: de Indias, Columbia. Another fleet applied the Pacific between Acapulco
Speaker 1: and the Philippines to stockop on Asian goods. Later, the
Speaker 1: New Spain and Tierra Fiermey fleets joined in Havana to
Speaker 1: return to Spain laden with goods. They returned under convoy
Speaker 1: to protect them from corsairs. They carried back silver and
Speaker 1: cocoa from the Americas and silk from Asia. Live stock
Speaker 1: like chickens, pigs, goats, and sheep shared space with the
Speaker 1: human passengers on Spain's transatlantic galleons in the sixteenth and
Speaker 1: seventeenth centuries. In addition to these invited animals were stowaways
Speaker 1: rodents like rats and mice. Nineteenth century naval historian Cesario
Speaker 1: Fernandez Duro lauded ships rats as exemplary seafares because they
Speaker 1: adapted better than anyone else to life at sea, never
Speaker 1: got seasick and never abandoned their posts. Rats and mice
Speaker 1: contaminated food supply, nibbled on ropes and sails, and were
Speaker 1: hosts for other vermin, such as fleas and ticks that
Speaker 1: could spread disease among the crew. To control these past,
Speaker 1: European explorers drew on a long tradition, going back to
Speaker 1: the Vikings and ancient Romans, of employing ship cats as
Speaker 1: mousers who earned their keep by protecting the passenger's food supply.
Speaker 1: Seville Port of the Indies. The wealth of the Americas
Speaker 1: in Asia flowed into the port on the guaial Uivere River.
Speaker 1: The bustle of each neighborhood is captured in a sixteenth
Speaker 1: century oil painting attribute to Alonzo Sanjaz Corrello. Cookated more
Speaker 1: than sixty miles from the sea, the river port of
Speaker 1: Seville may seem like a strange place to establish. A
Speaker 1: port controls Spain's new found wealth from the Americas. Although
Speaker 1: maneuvering large ships along the Guadalcivere River required a great skill,
Speaker 1: Seville's inland location was more secure than Kadiz. The pirate
Speaker 1: Barbarossa attacked Spanish ships off Cadiz in fifteen twenty one.
Speaker 1: The English raided Cadiz in fifteen eighty seven under Drake,
Speaker 1: and again in fifteen ninety six as part of an
Speaker 1: Anglo Dutch force. Seville's port was made up of a
Speaker 1: wide esplanade that extended south of the city between the
Speaker 1: city walls and the Guadalgivere River. This area buzzed with activity,
Speaker 1: a meeting place for water carriers, wheelwrights, merchants and soldiers.
Speaker 1: Sevil supplied crews for the Transatlantic fleets and channeled the
Speaker 1: goods needed in the colonies, as well as reserved received
Speaker 1: the wealth brought back from overseas. In a work by
Speaker 1: the sixteenth century playwright Lope de Vega, a character Dona
Speaker 1: Laura discusses the goods being loaded on and off the
Speaker 1: ships in Seville and their origins from the America's come
Speaker 1: ombird breeze, pearls, gold, silver, and leather. Flowing to the
Speaker 1: colonies are iron and pine from northwest Spain, linden from Germany,
Speaker 1: knives from France and from Andalusia, wine, fruit, lime, wheat,
Speaker 1: and even clay across the Atlantic. Fifteen o three, the
Speaker 1: House of com Commerce Casa Deila Contrazion is founded in
Speaker 1: Seville as a means of regulating trade with the Americas.
Speaker 1: Fifteen twenty two, Pirate attacks force Spain to organize a
Speaker 1: system of fleets for protection. Ships will travel to and
Speaker 1: from the Americas in convoys. Fifteen sixty four, Spain designates
Speaker 1: that the New Spain Fleet will serve North and Central America,
Speaker 1: while the Tierra Fairmay Fleet will serve South America sixteen fifty.
Speaker 1: Since fifteen o four, a total of eighteen thousand Spanish
Speaker 1: ships across the Atlantic in both directions.