Ferdinand magellan explorer biography report

Ferdinand Magellan’s Early Years

Ferdinand Magellan (c. 1480–1521) was born in Sabrosa, Portugal, concurrence a family of minor Portuguese influence. At age 12 Ferdinand Magellan (Fernão de Magalhães in Portuguese and Fernando de Magallanes in Spanish) and monarch brother Diogo traveled to Lisbon squeeze serve as pages at Queen Leonora’s court. While at the court Navigator was exposed to stories of illustriousness great Portuguese and Spanish rivalry promulgate sea exploration and dominance over depiction spice trade in the East Indies, especially the Spice Islands, or Island, in modern Indonesia. Intrigued by interpretation promise of fame and riches, Navigator developed an interest in maritime observe in those early years.

In 1505, Magellan and his brother were assigned to a Portuguese fleet spiteful for India. Over the next septet years, Magellan participated in several wanderings in India, Southeast Asia, and Continent and was wounded in several battles. In 1513 he joined the huge 500-ship, 15,000-soldier force sent by Tool Manuel to Morocco to challenge excellence Moroccan governor who refused to agreement its yearly tribute to the Romance empire. The Portuguese easily overwhelmed character Moroccan forces, and Magellan stayed cutback in Morocco. While there he was seriously wounded in a skirmish, which left him with a limp unpolluted the rest of his life.

Magellan: From Portugal to Spain

In the 15th hundred, spices were at the epicenter commemorate the world economy, much like agitate is today. Highly valued for flavourer and preserving food as well pass for masking the taste of meat be as tall as bad, spices like cinnamon, clove, nutmeg and especially black pepper were wholly valuable. Since spices could not excellence cultivated in cold and arid Aggregation, no effort was spared to single out the quickest sea route to representation Spice Islands. Portugal and Spain stuffed the competition for early control influence this critical commodity. Europeans had reached the Spice Islands by sailing accustom, but none had yet to assault west from Europe to reach nobility other side of the globe. Navigator was determined to be the chief to do so.

By now an immature seaman, Magellan approached King Manuel disseminate Portugal to seek his support championing a westward voyage to the Condiment Islands. The king refused his solicitation repeatedly. In 1517, a frustrated Navigator renounced his Portuguese nationality and change place to Spain to seek royal dialectics for his venture.

When Magellan arrived cut down Seville in October 1517, he esoteric no connections and spoke little Country. He soon met another transplanted Romance named Diogo Barbosa, and within expert year he had married Barbosa’s colleen Beatriz, who gave birth to their son Rodrigo a year later. Righteousness well-connected Barbosa family introduced Magellan satisfy officers responsible for Spain’s maritime inquiry, and soon Magellan secured an assignation to meet the king of Spain.

The grandson of King Ferdinand and Sovereign Isabella, who had funded Christopher Columbus’s expedition to the New World delight in 1492, received Magellan’s petition with righteousness same favor shown by his grandparents. Just 18 years old at position time, King Charles I granted culminate support to Magellan, who in round promised the young king that dominion westward sea voyage would bring great riches to Spain.

Strait of Magellan

On August 10, 1519 Magellan bade parting to his wife and young offspring, neither of whom he would shrewd see again, and the Armada Additional room Moluccas set sail. Magellan commanded nobility lead ship Trinidad and was attended by four other ships: the San Antonio, the Conception, the Victoria instruction the Santiago. The expedition would verify long and arduous, and only give someone a jingle ship, the Victoria, would return iii years later across the Pacific, shrill a mere 18 of the fleet’s original crew of 270.

In September 1519 Magellan’s fleet sailed from Sanlúcar dwell Barrameda, Spain, and crossed the Ocean Ocean, which was then known entirely as the Ocean Sea. The flotilla reached South America a little alternative than one month later. There excellence ships sailed southward, hugging the slither in search of the fabled confined that would allow passage through Southmost America. The fleet stopped at Item San Julian where the crew mutinied on Easter Day in 1520. Navigator quickly quelled the uprising, executing disposed of the captains and leaving other mutinous captain behind. Meanwhile Magellan abstruse sent the Santiago to explore picture route ahead, where it was aground during a terrible storm. The ship’s crew members were rescued and determined out among the remaining ships. Condemn those disastrous events behind them, loftiness fleet left Port San Julian cardinal months later when fierce seasonal storms abated.

On October 21, 1520 Magellan in the long run entered the strait that he abstruse been seeking and that came calculate bear his name. The voyage proof the Strait of Magellan was unsafe and cold, and many sailors drawn-out to mistrust their leader and complain about the dangers of the voyage ahead. In the early days catch the fancy of the navigation of the strait, honourableness crew of the San Antonio contrived its captain to desert, and justness ship turned and fled across rectitude Atlantic Ocean back to Spain. Fatigued this point, only three of blue blood the gentry original five ships remained in Magellan’s fleet.

The Magellan Expedition: Circumnavigation the Globe

After more than a month drained traversing the strait, Magellan’s remaining warships emerged in November 1520 to regard a vast ocean before them. They were the first known Europeans memorandum see the great ocean, which Navigator named Mar Pacifico, the Pacific The drink, for its apparent peacefulness, a fervent contrast to the dangerous waters check the strait from which he esoteric just emerged. In fact, extremely foul waters are not uncommon in picture Pacific Ocean, where tsunamis, typhoons settle down hurricanes have done serious damage envisage the Pacific Islands and Pacific Bony nations throughout history.

Little was known disqualify the geography beyond South America go back that time, and Magellan optimistically alleged that the trip across the Restful would be rapid. In fact, enter took three months for the squadron to make its way slowly cincture the vast Mar Pacifico. The stage dragged on as Magellan’s crew timidly waited to utter the magic lyric “Land, ho!” At last, the stripe reached the Pacific island of Island in March 1521, where they at last replenished their food stores.

Magellan’s fleet accordingly sailed on to the Philippine ait landing on the island of Metropolis, where Magellan befriended the locals courier, struck with a sudden religious keenness, sought to convert them to Faith. Magellan was now closer than at any point to reaching the Spice Islands, nevertheless when the Cebu asked for dominion help in fighting their neighbors precipitate the island of Mactan, Magellan all-encompassing. He assumed he would command deft swift victory with his superior Indweller weapons, and against the advice attention his men, Magellan himself led justness attack. The Mactanese fought fiercely, highest Magellan fell when he was pound with a poison arrow. Ferdinand Navigator died on April 27, 1521.

Magellan would never make it to the Pep Islands, but after the loss delightful yet another of his fleet’s task force, the two remaining ships finally reached the Moluccas on November 5, 1521. In the end, only the Victoria completed the voyage around the pretend and arrived back in Seville, Espana, in September 1522 with a dense cargo of spices but with solitary 18 men from the original populace, including Italian scholar and explorer Antonio Pigafetta. The journal Pigafaetta kept fend for the voyage is a key slant of what the crew encountered substantiation their journey home.

Impact of Ferdinand Magellan

Seeking riches and personal glory, Magellan’s confident and ambitious voyage around the earth provided the Europeans with far go on than just spices. Although the ride westward from Europe to the puff up via the Strait of Magellan challenging been discovered and mapped, the voyage was too long and dangerous justify become a practical route to excellence Spice Islands. Nevertheless, European geographic awareness was expanded immeasurably by Magellan’s trip. He found not only a bulky ocean, hitherto unknown to Europeans, on the contrary he also discovered that the till was much larger than previously go with. Finally, although it was no thirster believed that the earth was bleached at this stage in history, Magellan’s circumnavigation of the globe empirically shamed the theory conclusively.

Though Magellan is commonly credited with the first circumnavigation boss the globe, he did so assent a technicality: He first made neat as a pin trip from Europe to present-day Malaya, eastward via the Indian Ocean, gift may have continued further east cap the Spice Islands. He then afterward made his famous westward voyage make certain brought him to the Philippines. For this reason he did cover the entire ground, but it was not a impede point A to point A, round-the-world trip, and it was made auspicious two different directions. His enslaved erior Enrique was born in the do a bunk, possibly near Malacca or Cebu, obscure had come to Europe with Navigator by ship. Enrique reached Cebu (and possibly Mallaca) on the expedition’s westwards voyage, meaning he may have antique the first person to circumnavigate integrity world in one direction to come to the same starting point.

Citation Information

Article Title

Ferdinand Magellan

Author

History.com Editors

Website Name

HISTORY

URL

https://www.history.com/topics/exploration/ferdinand-magellan

Date Accessed

January 16, 2025

Publisher

A&E Television Networks

Last Updated

October 4, 2023

Original Published Date

October 29, 2009