Magellan, Ferdinand (Portuguese, Fernão de Magalhães;Spanish, Fernando de Magallanes) (c. 1480-1521), Portuguese navigator and explorer, the first European to cross the Pacific Ocean and the first person to circumnavigate the globe.

Magellan was born in Sabrosa, northern Portugal, of a noble Portuguese family. At the age of 12 he went to court as page to Queen Leonora, consort of the Portuguese King John II. In 1505 Magellan went on the first of several naval voyages to India, helping two successive viceroys, Francisco de Almeida and Diego Lopez de Sequira, to wrest control of key Indian trading ports from the Arabs. In 1509 he and his friend Francisco Serrão were involved in an unsuccessful attempt to take the Malayan port of Malacca (now Melaka). Serrão, and possibly Magellan, went on to Tenate in the Moluccas (then called the Spice Islands) in 1511-1512, marking the beginnings of a lucrative trade in cinnamon and nutmeg. Magellan returned to Portugal in 1512, was promoted to captain, and fought against the Moors in Morocco, where he received wounds that left him lame for life. After his request for an increase in his royal allowance was rejected by Emanuel, King of Portugal, who was indifferent also to Magellan's proposal for a voyage to the Moluccas, Magellan renounced his Portuguese nationality and in 1517 offered his services to the King of Spain, Charles I (later Holy Roman Emperor Charles V).

Magellan had learnt from a variety of sources that the South American continent was probably not joined to the conjectured Great Southern Continent, and that it was likely that the riches of the Far East might be attained by sailing westward around the tip of South America. The route eastward was controlled by Portugal under the terms of the Treaty of Tordesillas. This had laid down a Line of Demarcation, to the east of which the Portuguese were given title, and to the west the Spanish. Since Portugal was strengthening its grip in the East Indies, it was clearly in Spain's interest to establish the position of the corresponding demarcation line on the opposite side of the Earth, in case any of the lucrative territories there fell within their zone. Nobody was certain which side of this line the Moluccas lay. The Spanish Crown was quick to endorse Magellan's plans and finance came from the German banking firm, the House of Fuggers.

After a ceremonial departure from Seville on August 10, 1519, Magellan sailed from the coastal port of Sanlúcar de Barrameda on September 20 with five ships and some 250 men. Following the coast of Africa to Sierre Leone, they crossed the Atlantic and reached South America, exploring the Brazilian coast and in February 1520 reaching the River Plate estuary (which because of its size he mistook for the southern end of the continent). Here he sighted a mountain and shouted "Monte video" ("I see a mountain") so giving the name to the city, founded two centuries later, which became the capital of Uruguay. On March 31, as the southern winter was beginning, his fleet put into what is now Port San Julián, on the southern coast of Patagonia, where it remained for nearly six months. During that period the crew came to resent their Portuguese captain and a mutiny occurred, forcing Magellan to execute the ringleader. One of his ships was wrecked surveying the coast of Patagonia. On October 21, 1520, Magellan sailed into the passage to the Pacific Ocean that is now named after him, the Strait of Magellan. It took 38 days to navigate the treacherous strait, and the crew of the San Antonio deserted and returned to Spain. Fires were seen along the shores to the south, causing Magellan to name this land Tierra del Fuego (land of fire). After a journey of 530 km (330 mi), on November 28, 1520, his three ships sailed into the ocean, which Magellan named "Pacific" (meaning "peaceful") because of its calmness. They sailed northward along the west coast of South America, and then set out westward across the Pacific. Magellan's exact route is not known but he sailed north of the many islands of the South Pacific, only sighting the barren outcrops of the Tuamotu Archipelago (the Islands of Disappointment). By now they were running desperately short of food and fresh water, and many died of scurvy. The survivors resorted to chewing boiled leather, rats, and sawdust before reaching Guam in the Mariana Islands on March 6, 1521. They had been out of sight of land for 100 days. The natives were friendly and enabled them to resupply, but there was a tendency to pilfering , a cultural misunderstanding which led Magellan to call the islands the Ladrones (the Islands of Thieves).

Sailing westward in search of the Moluccas, perhaps not realizing he was far to the north of them, after 10 days Magellan became the first European to see the Philippines, landing on the island of Cebu on April 7. There he made an alliance with the ruler of the island and agreed to aid him in an attack on the inhabitants of the neighbouring island of Mactan. Magellan was killed on April 27 during the Mactan expedition by a group of islanders led by their chief, Lapu-Lapu.

Following Magellan's death, one of the vessels in his fleet was burned by its crew to prevent it being taken, but the other two escaped and reached the Moluccas on November 6, 1521. One of the vessels, the Victoria, commanded by Juan Sebastián del Cano, completed the circumnavigation of the globe, by way of the Cape of Good Hope, finally going ashore at Seville on September 9, 1522.

Although Magellan did not live to complete the voyage, he did circumnavigate the globe (if he made the 1511 journey to the Moluccas) by passing the easternmost point he had reached on an earlier voyage.

The cargo of spices carried back to Spain by the Victoriaalone paid for the expenses of the expedition. The passage through the Strait of Magellan was too long and difficult to be a practical route from Europe to the Moluccas, however, and Spain sold her interests there to Portugal. Nevertheless, the voyage laid the foundation for trade across the Pacific between the New World and the East, and although Spain did not immediately recognize the importance of the Philippines, before the end of the century Manila had become the greatest Spanish trading centre in the East.

Magellan's circumnavigation, together with the earlier voyages of Vasco da Gama and Christopher Columbus, finally re-established in the popular imagination of Europeans that the world was a sphere, and demonstrated that the world's oceans were linked (since ancient Greek times Europeans had thought the Indian Ocean was landlocked). In addition, Magellan enabled cartographers for the first time to make an estimate of the true size and shape of South America, and the full vastness of the Pacific Ocean.

Reviewed By:

Shane Winsermultimedia2 itemsweb centreÄFind the best online information about Magellan, Ferdinand.Encarta Editors' Choices

Ferdinand Magellan

The first to sail around the world

more...further readingThese sources provide additional information on Magellan, Ferdinand.

Resources

Top Categories

Product

Company