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Ferdinand Magellan

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Ferdinand Magellan (/məˈɡɛlən/[1] or


/məˈdʒɛlən/;[2] Portuguese: Fernão de
Magalhães, IPA: [fɨɾˈnɐ̃w dɨ mɐɣɐˈʎɐ̃jʃ];
Spanish: Fernando de Magallanes, IPA: [feɾ
ˈnando ðe maɣaˈʎanes]; c. 1480 – 27 April
1521) was a Portuguese explorer who
organised the Spanish expedition to the
East Indies from 1519 to 1522, resulting in
the first circumnavigation of the Earth,
completed by Juan Sebastián Elcano.
Ferdinand Magellan

Born Fernão de Magalhães


February 3, 1480
Sabrosa, Portugal

Died April 27, 1521 (aged 41)


Kingdom of Mactan
(now Lapu-Lapu City,
Philippines)

Nationality Portuguese

Known for The first


circumnavigation of the

Earth, from Europe to


Earth, from Europe to
East, and to West; for
the first expedition from
Europe to Asia by the
West; and for
captaining the first
expedition across the
Atlantic Ocean to the
Strait of Magellan and
across the Pacific
Ocean
Signature

Born into a family of the Portuguese


nobility in around 1480, Magellan became
a skilled sailor and naval officer and was
eventually selected by King Charles I of
Spain to search for a westward route to
the Maluku Islands (the "Spice Islands").
Commanding a fleet of five vessels, he
headed south through the Atlantic Ocean
to Patagonia, passing through the Strait of
Magellan into a body of water he named
the "peaceful sea" (the modern Pacific
Ocean). Despite a series of storms and
mutinies, the expedition reached the Spice
Islands in 1521 and returned home via the
Indian Ocean to complete the first circuit
of the globe. Magellan did not complete
the entire voyage, as he was killed during
the Battle of Mactan in the Philippines in
1521. His gift, the Santo Niño de Cebú
image, remains one of his legacies during
his arrival.

Magellan had already reached the Malay


Archipelago in Southeast Asia on previous
voyages traveling east (from 1505 to
1511–1512). By visiting this area again
but now travelling west, Magellan achieved
a nearly complete personal
circumnavigation of the globe for the first
time in history.[3][4]

The Magellanic penguin is named after


him, as he was the first European to note
it.[5] Magellan's navigational skills have
also been acknowledged in the naming of
objects associated with the stars,
including the Magellanic Clouds, now
known to be two nearby dwarf galaxies;
the twin lunar craters of Magelhaens and
Magelhaens A; and the Martian crater of
Magelhaens.[6]

Early life and travels

Effigy of Ferdinand Magellan in the Monument of the


Discoveries, in Lisbon, Portugal
Statue in Ponte da Barca, Portugal

Magellan was born in northern Portugal in


around 1480, either at Vila Nova de Gaia,
near Porto, in Douro Litoral Province, or at
Sabrosa, near Vila Real, in Trás-os-Montes
e Alto Douro Province. He was the son of
Rodrigo de Magalhães, Alcaide-Mor of
Aveiro (1433–1500, son of Pedro Afonso
de Magalhães and wife Quinta de Sousa)
and wife Alda de Mesquita and brother of
Leonor or Genebra de Magalhães, wife
with issue of João Fernandes Barbosa.[7]

In March 1505 at the age of 25, Magellan


enlisted in the fleet of 22 ships sent to
host D. Francisco de Almeida as the first
viceroy of Portuguese India. Although his
name does not appear in the chronicles, it
is known that he remained there eight
years, in Goa, Cochin and Quilon. He
participated in several battles, including
the battle of Cannanore in 1506, where he
was wounded. In 1509 he fought in the
battle of Diu.[8] He later sailed under Diogo
Lopes de Sequeira in the first Portuguese
embassy to Malacca, with Francisco
Serrão, his friend and possibly cousin.[9] In
September, after arriving at Malacca, the
expedition fell victim to a conspiracy
ending in retreat. Magellan had a crucial
role, warning Sequeira and saving
Francisco Serrão, who had landed.[10]

In 1511, under the new governor Afonso


de Albuquerque, Magellan and Serrão
participated in the conquest of Malacca.
After the conquest their ways parted:
Magellan was promoted, with a rich
plunder and, in the company of a Malay he
had indentured and baptized, Enrique of
Malacca, he returned to Portugal in 1512.
Serrão departed in the first expedition sent
to find the "Spice Islands" in the Moluccas,
where he remained. He married a woman
from Amboina and became a military
advisor to the Sultan of Ternate, Bayan
Sirrullah. His letters to Magellan would
prove decisive, giving information about
the spice-producing territories.[11][12]

After taking a leave without permission,


Magellan fell out of favour. Serving in
Morocco, he was wounded, resulting in a
permanent limp. He was accused of
trading illegally with the Moors. The
accusations were proved false, but he
received no further offers of employment
after 15 May 1514. Later on in 1515, he
got an employment offer as a crew
member on a Portuguese ship, but
rejected this. In 1517 after a quarrel with
King Manuel I, who denied his persistent
demands to lead an expedition to reach
the spice islands from the east (i.e., while
sailing westwards, seeking to avoid the
need to sail around the tip of Africa[13]), he
left for Spain. In Seville he befriended his
countryman Diogo Barbosa and soon
married the daughter of Diogo's second
wife, María Caldera Beatriz Barbosa.[14]
They had two children: Rodrigo de
Magalhães[15] and Carlos de Magalhães,
both of whom died at a young age. His
wife died in Seville around 1521.

Meanwhile, Magellan devoted himself to


studying the most recent charts,
investigating, in partnership with
cosmographer Rui Faleiro, a gateway from
the Atlantic to the South Pacific and the
possibility of the Moluccas being Spanish
according to the demarcation of the Treaty
of Tordesillas.

Voyage of circumnavigation
Background: Spanish search for a
westward route to Asia
Christopher Columbus's voyages to the
West (1492–1503) had the goal of
reaching the Indies and to establish direct
commercial relations between Spain and
the Asian kingdoms. The Spanish soon
realized that the lands of the Americas
were not a part of Asia, but a new
continent. The 1494 Treaty of Tordesillas
reserved for Portugal the eastern routes
that went around Africa, and Vasco da
Gama and the Portuguese arrived in India
in 1498.

Castile (Spain) urgently needed to find a


new commercial route to Asia. After the
Junta de Toro conference of 1505, the
Spanish Crown commissioned expeditions
to discover a route to the west. Spanish
explorer Vasco Núñez de Balboa reached
the Pacific Ocean in 1513 after crossing
the Isthmus of Panama, and Juan Díaz de
Solís died in Río de la Plata in 1516 while
exploring South America in the service of
Spain.

Funding and preparation

In October 1517 in Seville, Magellan


contacted Juan de Aranda, Factor of the
Casa de Contratación. Following the arrival
of his partner Rui Faleiro, and with the
support of Aranda, they presented their
project to the Spanish king, Charles I,
future Holy Roman Emperor Charles V.
Magellan's project, if successful, would
realize Columbus' plan of a spice route by
sailing west without damaging relations
with the Portuguese. The idea was in tune
with the times and had already been
discussed after Balboa's discovery of the
Pacific. On 22 March 1518 the king named
Magellan and Faleiro captains so that they
could travel in search of the Spice Islands
in July. He raised them to the rank of
Commander of the Order of Santiago. The
king granted them:[16]
Monopoly of the discovered route for a
period of ten years.
Their appointment as governors of the
lands and islands found, with 5% of the
resulting net gains.
A fifth of the gains of the travel.
The right to levy one thousand ducats
on upcoming trips, paying only 5% on
the remainder.
Granting of an island for each one, apart
from the six richest, from which they
would receive a fifteenth.

The expedition was funded largely by the


Spanish Crown, which provided ships
carrying supplies for two years of travel.
Expert cartographer Jorge Reinel and
Diogo Ribeiro, a Portuguese who had
started working for Charles V in 1518[17]
as a cartographer at the Casa de
Contratación, took part in the development
of the maps to be used in the travel.
Several problems arose during the
preparation of the trip, including lack of
money, the king of Portugal trying to stop
them, Magellan and other Portuguese
incurring suspicion from the Spanish, and
the difficult nature of Faleiro.[18] Finally,
thanks to the tenacity of Magellan, the
expedition was ready. Through the bishop
Juan Rodríguez de Fonseca they obtained
the participation of merchant Christopher
de Haro, who provided a quarter of the
funds and goods to barter.

Fleet

Victoria, the sole ship of Magellan's fleet to complete


the circumnavigation. Detail from a map by Ortelius,
1590.

The Nao Victoria Replica in the Nao Victoria Museum,


Punta Arenas, Chile

The fleet provided by King Charles V


included five ships:

The flagship Trinidad (110 tons, crew


55), under Magellan's command
San Antonio (120 tons; crew 60)
commanded by Juan de Cartagena
Concepción (90 tons, crew 45)
commanded by Gaspar de Quesada
Santiago (75 tons, crew 32) commanded
by João Serrão
Victoria (85 tons, crew 43), named after
the church of Santa Maria de la Victoria
de Triana, where Magellan took an oath
of allegiance to Charles V; commanded
by Luis Mendoza.[19]

Crew

The crew of about 270 included men from


several nations, including Spain, Portugal,
Italy, Germany, Belgium, Greece, England
and France.[20] Spanish authorities were
wary of Magellan, so that they almost
prevented him from sailing, switching his
mostly Portuguese crew to mostly men of
Spain. It included about 40 Portuguese,
among them Magellan's brother-in-law
Duarte Barbosa, João Serrão, a relative of
Francisco Serrão, Estêvão Gomes and
Magellan's indentured servant Enrique of
Malacca. Faleiro, who had planned to
accompany the voyage, withdrew prior to
boarding. Juan Sebastián Elcano, a
Spanish merchant ship captain settled at
Seville, embarked seeking the king's
pardon for previous misdeeds. Antonio
Pigafetta, a Venetian scholar and traveller,
asked to be on the voyage, accepting the
title of "supernumerary" and a modest
salary. He became a strict assistant of
Magellan and kept an accurate journal.
The only other sailor to report the voyage
would be Francisco Albo, who kept a
formal logbook. Juan de Cartagena was
named Inspector General of the
expedition, responsible for its financial and
trading operations.

Departure and crossing of the


Atlantic

On 10 August 1519, the five ships under


Magellan's command left Seville and
descended the Guadalquivir River to reach
the Atlantic Ocean at Sanlúcar de
Barrameda, at the mouth of the river. There
they remained more than five weeks.
Finally they set sail on 20 September 1519
and left Spain.[21]
King Manuel I ordered a Portuguese naval
detachment to pursue Magellan, but the
explorer evaded them. After stopping at
the Canary Islands, Magellan arrived at
Cape Verde, where he set course for Cape
St. Augustine in Brazil. On 27 November
the expedition crossed the equator; on 6
December the crew sighted South
America.

On 13 December anchored near present-


day Rio de Janeiro. Although in 1500,
Pedro Alvares Cabral claimed the eastern
most shores of Brazil for Portugal,
Portugal did not maintain a permanent
settlement there to protect its brazilwood
monopoly (the French were able to help
themselves to the timber without
interference.) Magellan's armada arrived
without Portuguese notice.[22] There the
crew was resupplied, but bad conditions
caused them to delay. Afterwards, they
continued to sail south along South
America's east coast, looking for the strait
that Magellan believed would lead to the
Spice Islands. The fleet reached Río de la
Plata in early February, 1520.[23]

For overwintering, Magellan established a


temporary settlement called Puerto San
Julian on March 30, 1520. On Easter (April
1 and 2), a mutiny broke out involving
three of the five ship captains. Magellan
took quick and decisive action. Luis de
Mendoza, the captain of Victoria, was
killed by a party sent by Magellan, and the
ship was recovered. After Concepción's
anchor cable had been secretly cut by his
forces, the ship drifted towards the well-
armed Trinidad, and Concepcion's captain
de Quesada and his inner circle
surrendered. Juan de Cartagena, the head
of the mutineers on the San Antonio,
subsequently gave up. Antonio Pigafetta
reported that Gaspar Quesada, the captain
of Concepción, and other mutineers were
executed, while Juan de Cartagena, the
captain of San Antonio, and a priest named
Padre Sanchez de la Reina were marooned
on the coast. Most of the men, including
Juan Sebastián Elcano, were needed and
forgiven.[24] Reportedly those killed were
drawn and quartered and impaled on the
coast; years later, their bones were found
by Sir Francis Drake.[25][26]

Passage into the Pacific

The Strait of Magellan cuts through the southern tip of


South America connecting the Atlantic Ocean and
Pacific Ocean.
Pacific Ocean.

The journey resumed. The help of Duarte


Barbosa was crucial in facing the riot in
Puerto San Julian; Magellan appointed
him as captain of the Victoria. The
Santiago was sent down the coast on a
scouting expedition and was wrecked in a
sudden storm. All of its crew survived and
made it safely to shore. Two of them
returned overland to inform Magellan of
what had happened, and to bring rescue to
their comrades. After this experience,
Magellan decided to wait for a few weeks
more before resuming the voyage with the
four remaining ships.
At 52°S latitude on 21 October 1520, the
fleet reached Cape Virgenes and
concluded they had found the passage,
because the waters were brine and deep
inland. Four ships began an arduous trip
through the 373-mile (600 km) long
passage that Magellan called the Estrecho
(Canal) de Todos los Santos, ("All Saints'
Channel"), because the fleet travelled
through it on 1 November or All Saints'
Day. The strait is now named the Strait of
Magellan. He first assigned Concepcion
and San Antonio to explore the strait, but
the latter, commanded by Gómez,
deserted and headed back to Spain on 20
November. On 28 November, the three
remaining ships entered the South Pacific.
Magellan named the waters the Mar
Pacifico (Pacific Ocean) because of its
apparent stillness.[27] Magellan and his
crew were the first Europeans to reach
Tierra del Fuego just east of the Pacific
side of the strait.

Death in the Philippines


Monument in Lapu-Lapu City, Cebu in the Philippines.

Heading northwest, the crew reached the


equator on 13 February 1521. On 6 March
they reached the Marianas and Guam.
Pigafetta described the "lateen sail" used
by the inhabitants of Guam, hence the
name "Island of Sails", but he also writes
the inhabitants "entered the ships and
stole whatever they could lay their hands
on", including "the small boat that was
fastened to the poop of the flagship."[28]:129
"Those people are poor, but ingenious and
very thievish, on account of which we
called those three islands the islands of
Ladroni."[28]:131

On 16 March Magellan reached the island


of Homonhon in the Philippines, with 150
crew left. Members of his expedition
became the first Europeans to reach the
Philippine archipelago.[29]

Magellan relied on Enrique, his Malay


servant and interpreter, to communicate
with the native tribes. He had been
indentured by Magellan in 1511 after the
colonization of Malacca, and had
accompanied him through later
adventures. They traded gifts with Rajah
Siaiu of Mazaua[30] who guided them to
Cebu on 7 April.

Rajah Humabon of Cebu was friendly


towards Magellan and the Spaniards; both
he and his queen Hara Amihan were
baptized as Christians and were given the
image of the Holy Child (later known as
Santo Niño de Cebu) which along with a
cross (Magellan's Cross) symbolizes the
Christianization of the Philippines.
Afterward, Rajah Humabon and his ally
Datu Zula convinced Magellan to kill their
enemy, Datu Lapu-Lapu, on Mactan.
Magellan wanted to convert Lapu-Lapu to
Christianity, as he had Humabon, but Lapu-
Lapu rejected that. On the morning of 27
April 1521, Magellan sailed to Mactan with
a small force. During the resulting battle
against Lapu-Lapu's troops, Magellan was
struck by a bamboo spear, and later
surrounded and finished off with other
weapons.[31]

Pigafetta and Ginés de Mafra provided


written documents of the events
culminating in Magellan's death:

When morning came, forty-nine


of us leaped into the water up to
our thighs, and walked through
water for more than two cross-
bow flights before we could
reach the shore. The boats could
not approach nearer because of
certain rocks in the water. The
other eleven men remained
behind to guard the boats.
When we reached land, [the
natives] had formed in three
divisions to the number of more
than one thousand five hundred
people. When they saw us, they
charged down upon us with
exceeding loud cries... The
musketeers and crossbow-m en
shot from a distance for about a
half-hour, but uselessly...
Recognizing the captain, so
many turned upon him that they
knocked his helmet off his h ead
twice... A native hurled a
bamboo spear into the captain 's
face, but the latter immediately
killed him with his lance, which
he left in the native's body. Then,
trying to lay hand on sword, he
could draw it out but halfway,
because he had been wounded
in the arm with a bamboo
spear. When the natives saw
that, they all hurled themselves
upon him. One of them wounded
him on the left leg with a large
cutlass, which resembles a
scimitar, only being larger. That
caused the captain to fall face
downward, when immediately
they rushed upon him with iron
and bamboo spears and with
their cutlasses, until they killed
our mirror, our light, our
comfort, and our true guide.
When they wounded him, he
turned back many times to see
whether we were all in the
boats. Thereupon, beholding
him dead, we, wounded,
retreated, as best we could, to
the boats, which were already
pulling off. [31]

Magellan provided in his will that Enrique,


his interpreter, was to be freed upon his
death. But after the battle, the remaining
ships' masters refused to free the Malay.
Enrique escaped his indenture on 1 May
with the aid of Rajah Humabon, amid the
deaths of almost 30 crewmen.
Pigafetta had been jotting down words in
both Butuanon and Cebuano languages –
which he started at Mazaua on 29 March
and his list grew to a total of 145 words.
He continued communications with
indigenous peoples during the rest of the
voyage.

"Nothing of Magellan's body


survived, that afternoon the
grieving rajah-king, hoping to
recover his remains, offered
Mactan's victorious chief a
handsome ransom of copper
and iron for them but Datu
Lapulapu refused. He intended
to keep the body as a war
trophy. Since his wife and child
died in Seville before any
member of the expedition could
return to Spain, it seemed that
every evidence of Ferdinand
Magellan's existence had
vanished from the earth." [32]

Return
The Magellan–Elcano voyage. Victoria, one of the
original five ships, circumnavigated the globe, finishing
16 months after Magellan's death.

The casualties suffered in the Philippines


left the expedition with too few men to sail
all three of the remaining ships.
Consequently, on 2 May they abandoned
and burned Concepción. Reduced to
Trinidad and Victoria, the expedition fled
westward to Palawan. They left that island
on 21 June and were guided to Brunei,
Borneo, by Moro pilots, who could
navigate the shallow seas. They anchored
off the Brunei breakwater for 35 days,
where Pigafetta, an Italian from Vicenza,
recorded the splendour of Rajah Siripada's
court (gold, two pearls the size of hens'
eggs, porcelain from China, eyeglasses
from Europe etc.). In addition, Brunei
boasted tame elephants and an armament
of 62 cannons, more than five times the
armament of Magellan's ships. Brunei
people were not interested in the Spanish
cargo of cloves, but these proved more
valuable than gold upon the return to
Spain.

When reaching the Maluku Islands (the


Spice Islands) on 6 November, the total
crew numbered 115. They traded with the
Sultan of Tidore, a rival of the Sultan of
Ternate, who was the ally of the
Portuguese.

The two remaining ships, laden with


valuable spices, tried to return to Spain by
sailing westwards. However, as they left
the Spice Islands, the Trinidad began to
take on water. The crew tried to discover
and repair the leak, but failed. They
concluded that Trinidad would need to
spend considerable time being overhauled,
but the small Victoria was not large
enough to accommodate all the surviving
crew. As a result, Victoria with some of the
crew sailed west for Spain. Several weeks
later, Trinidad departed and tried to return
to Spain via the Pacific route. This attempt
failed. Trinidad was captured by the
Portuguese and was eventually wrecked in
a storm while at anchor under Portuguese
control.

Victoria set sail via the Indian Ocean route


home on 21 December, commanded by
Juan Sebastián Elcano. By 6 May 1522 the
Victoria rounded the Cape of Good Hope,
with only rice for rations. Twenty crewmen
died of starvation before Elcano put into
Cape Verde, a Portuguese holding, where
he abandoned 13 more crew on 9 July in
fear of losing his cargo of 26 tons of
spices (cloves and cinnamon). On 6
September 1522, Elcano and the
remaining crew of Magellan's voyage
arrived in Spain aboard the Victoria, almost
exactly three years after the fleet of five
ships had departed. Magellan had not
intended to circumnavigate the world, but
rather had intended only to find a secure
route through which the Spanish ships
could navigate to the Spice Islands. After
Magellan's death, Elcano decided to push
westward, thereby completing the first
known voyage around the entire Earth.

Maximilianus Transylvanus interviewed


some of the surviving members of the
expedition when they presented
themselves to the Spanish court at
Valladolid in the autumn of 1522. He wrote
the first account of the voyage, which was
published in 1523. Pigafetta's account was
not published until 1525, and was not
published in its entirety until 1800. This
was the Italian transcription by Carlo
Amoretti of what is now called the
"Ambrosiana codex." The expedition eked
out a small profit, but the crew was not
paid full wages.[33]

Four crewmen of the original 55 on


Trinidad finally returned to Spain in 1522;
51 had died in war or from disease. In
total, approximately 232 sailors of
assorted nationalities died on the
expedition around the world with
Magellan.

Survivors

When Victoria, the one surviving ship and


the smallest carrack in the fleet, returned
to the harbor of departure after
completing the first circumnavigation of
the Earth, only 18 men out of the original
237 men were on board. Among the
survivors were two Italians, Antonio
Pigafetta and Martino de Judicibus.
Martino de Judicibus (Spanish: Martín de
Judicibus) was a Genoese or Savonese[34]
Chief Steward.[35] His history is preserved
in the nominative registers at the Archivo
General de Indias in Seville, Spain. The
family name is referred to with the exact
Latin patronymic, "de Judicibus". Martino
de Judicibus, initially assigned to the
caravel Concepción, one of five ships of
the Spanish fleet of Magellan, had
embarked on the expedition with the rank
of captain.

18 men returned to Seville aboard Victoria in 1522:


Name Rating

Juan Sebastián Elcano, from Getaria (Spain) Master

Francisco Albo, from Rodas (in Tui, Galicia) Pilot

Miguel de Rodas (in Tui, Galicia) Pilot

Juan de Acurio, from Bermeo Pilot

Antonio Lombardo (Pigafetta), from Vicenza Supernumerary

Martín de Judicibus, from Genoa Chief Steward

Hernándo de Bustamante, from Alcántara Mariner

Nicholas the Greek, from Nafplion Mariner

Miguel Sánchez, from Rodas (in Tui, Galicia) Mariner

Antonio Hernández Colmenero, from Huelva Mariner

Francisco Rodrigues, Portuguese from Seville Mariner

Juan Rodríguez, from Huelva Mariner

Diego Carmena, from Baiona (Galicia) Mariner

Hans of Aachen, (Holy Roman Empire) Gunner

Juan de Arratia, from Bilbao Able Seaman

Vasco Gómez Gallego, from Baiona (Galicia) Able Seaman

Juan de Santandrés, from Cueto (Cantabria) Apprentice Seaman

Juan de Zubileta, from Barakaldo Page

Aftermath and legacy


This section needs additional citations for
verification.

Monument of Ferdinand Magellan in Punta Arenas in


Chile. The statue looks towards the Strait of Magellan.

Antonio Pigafetta's journal is the main


source for much of what is known about
Magellan and Elcano's voyage. The other
direct report of the voyage was that of
Francisco Albo, the last Victoria's pilot,
who kept a formal logbook. Europeans
first learned of the circumnavigation
through an account written by
Maximilianus Transylvanus, a relative of
sponsor Christopher de Haro, who
interviewed survivors in 1522 and
published his account in 1523.

Since there was not a set limit to the east,


in 1524 both kingdoms had tried to find
the exact location of the antimeridian of
Tordesillas, which would divide the world
into two equal hemispheres and to resolve
the "Moluccas issue". A board met several
times without reaching an agreement: the
knowledge at that time was insufficient for
an accurate calculation of longitude, and
each gave the islands to their sovereign.
An agreement was reached only with the
Treaty of Zaragoza, signed on 1529
between Spain and Portugal. It assigned
the Moluccas to Portugal and the
Philippines to Spain. The course that
Magellan charted was followed by other
navigators, such as Sir Francis Drake. In
1565, Andrés de Urdaneta discovered the
Manila-Acapulco route.

In 1525, soon after the return of Magellan's


expedition, Charles V sent an expedition
led by García Jofre de Loaísa to occupy
the Moluccas, claiming that they were in
his zone of the Treaty of Tordesillas. This
expedition included the most notable
Spanish navigators: Juan Sebastián
Elcano, who, along with many other
sailors, died of malnutrition during the
voyage, and the young Andrés de
Urdaneta. They had difficulty reaching the
Moluccas, docking at Tidore. The
Portuguese were already established in
nearby Ternate and the two nations had
nearly a decade of skirmishing over the
"possession." (occupied by indigenous
peoples.)

Magellan's expedition was the first to


circumnavigate the globe and the first to
navigate the strait in South America
connecting the Atlantic and the Pacific
oceans. Magellan's name for the Pacific
was adopted by other Europeans.

Magellan's crew observed several animals


that were entirely new to European
science, including a "camel without
humps", which was probably a guanaco,
whose range extends to Tierra del Fuego.
The llama, vicuña and alpaca natural
ranges were in the Andes mountains. A
black "goose" that had to be skinned
instead of plucked was a penguin.

The full extent of the globe was realized,


since their voyage was 14,460 Spanish
leagues (60,440 km or 37,560 mi). The
global expedition showed the need for an
International Date Line to be established.
Upon returning the expedition found its
date was a day behind, although they had
faithfully maintained the ship's log. They
lost one day because they traveled west
during their circumnavigation of the globe,
opposite to Earth's daily rotation.[36] This
caused great excitement at the time, and a
special delegation was sent to the Pope to
explain the oddity to him.

The Order of Magellan was established in


1902 to honour those who complete a
circumnavigation and make other
contributions to humanity.

Two of the closest galaxies, the


Magellanic Clouds in the southern
celestial hemisphere, were named for
Magellan sometime after 1800. The
Magellan probe, which mapped the planet
Venus from 1990 to 1994, was named
after Magellan. The Ferdinand Magellan
train rail car (also known as U.S. Car. No.
1) is a former Pullman Company
observation car that was re-built by the
U.S. Government for presidential use from
1943 until 1958.
A replica of the Victoria, the only ship of
Magellan's to survive the entire voyage,
can be visited in Puerto San Julian.

Three craters, two located on the Moon


and one on Mars, have been named after
Magellan using the spelling "Magelhaens".
The names were adopted by the
International Astronomical Union in 1935
(Magelhaens on the Moon), 1976
(Magelhaens on Mars), and 2006
(Magelhaens A on the Moon).[6] The
asteroid 4055 Magellan, discovered in
1985, and the Magellan probe to Venus
(1989–1994) were also named after him.
The five hundredth anniversary of
Magellan's expedition and
circumnavigation will be commemorated
in a series of events organised by the
municipal council of Sanlucar de
Barrameda in Spain, and supported by
philanthropic organisations.[37]

Media portrayals
Portrayed by Oscar Keesee in the 1955
Filipino film, Lapu-Lapu.
Portrayed by Dante Rivero in the 2002
Filipino film, Lapu-Lapu.
Portrayed by Dingdong Dantes in the
2011 Philippine TV series, Amaya.

See also
See also
Enrique of Malacca
Age of Discovery
Chronology of European exploration of
Asia
History of the Philippines
Military history of the Philippines
Portuguese Empire
Spanish Empire
Ferdinand Magellan Railcar
Magallanica, hypothetical continent
south of the Strait of Magellan

Notes
1. "Magellan" entry in Collins English
Dictionary.
2. "Magellan" entry in Random House
Webster's Unabridged Dictionary.
3. Gordon Miller, Voyages: To the New
World and Beyond , p. 30, University of
Washington Press, First American edition,
2011,ISBN 0-295-99115-1, 978-0-295-
99115-3
4. "Archived copy" . Archived from the
original on 23 October 2014. Retrieved
11 October 2014. Circumnavigations of the
Globe to 1800, Steve Dutch, University of
Wisconsin-Green Bay
5. Hogan 2008
6. From the Gazetteer of Planetary
Nomenclature , maintained by the USGS, in
cooperation with IAU: Magelhaens on
Moon , Magelhaens A on Moon , and
Magelhaens on Mars . Accessed 2012-08-
27.
7. "Fernão de Magalhães, 1478" .
Geneall.net.
8. James A. Patrick, Renaissance and
Reformation, p. 787, Marshall Cavendish,
2007, ISBN 0-7614-7650-4
9. William J. Bernstein, A Splendid
Exchange: How Trade Shaped the World,
pp. 183–185, Grove Press, 2009, ISBN 0-
8021-4416-0
10. Zweig, Stefan, "Conqueror of the Seas –
The Story of Magellan", pp. 44–45, Read
Books, 2007, ISBN 1-4067-6006-4
11. Zweig, Stefan, "Conqueror of the Seas –
The Story of Magellan", p. 51, Read Books,
2007, ISBN 1-4067-6006-4
12. R.A. Donkin, "Between East and West:
The Moluccas and the Traffic in Spices up
to the Arrival of Europeans" , p. 29, Volume
248 of Memoirs of the American
Philosophical Society, Diane Publishing,
2003 ISBN 0-87169-248-1
13. Mervyn D. Kaufman (2004), Ferdinand
Magellan , Capstone Press, pp. 13 ,
ISBN 978-0-7368-2487-3
14. "Beatriz Barbosa, 1495" . Geneall.net.
15. Noronha 1921.
16. Castro 2007
17. "Marvellous countries and lands"
(Notable Maps of Florida, 1507–1846),
Ralph E. Ehrenberg, 2002, webpage: BLib3 :
notes some head mapmakers Archived 12
March 2008 at the Wayback Machine
18. Castro 2007, pp. 329–332
19. "Unique Facts about Oceania: Ferdinand
Magellan" . www.sheppardsoftware.com.
Retrieved 17 February 2017.
20. Nancy Smiler Levinson (2001), Magellan
and the First Voyage Around the World ,
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, p. 39, ISBN 978-
0-395-98773-5, retrieved 31 July 2010,
"Personnel records are imprecise. The most
accepted total number is 270."
21. Beaglehole 1966, p.22
22. Laurence Bergreen (2003). Over the
Edge of the World. Harper Pereenial, 2004.
pp. 96–98. ISBN 978-0-06-621173-2.
23. Beaglehole 1966, p. 23
24. Laurence Bergreen (2003). Over the
Edge of the World. Harper Pereenial 2003.
pp. 134–150. ISBN 978-0-06-621173-2.
25. Drake 1628.
26. Cliffe 1885.
27. "Ferdinand Magellan" , Catholic
Encyclopedia, New Advent, retrieved
14 January 2007
28. Nowell, C.E., 1962, Magellan's Voyage
Around the World, Antonio Pigafetta's
account, Evanston: NorthwesternUniversity
Press
29. Suárez 1999, p. 138
30. Thought to be Limasawa, Southern
Leyte, though this is disputed
31. "The Death of Magellan, 1521" .
Eyewitnesstohistory.com. Retrieved
16 November 2010.
32. Manchester, William (1993). A World Lit
Only by Fire. Little, Brown and Company.
ISBN 978-0-316-54556-3.
33. Stefoff 1990, p. 127.
34. Documents related to the questioning
performed by the Spanish authorities after
the 18 survivors of the voyage returned to
Seville in 1522 report that de Judicibus was
born in Savona, Italy.
35. A. Pigafetta, "Il viaggio di Magellano
intorno al mondo", review by James
Alexander Robertson, Cleveland, 1906, Ed.
Arthur Clark
36. Maps of the Magellan Strait and a brief
history of Ferdinand Magellan , London,
retrieved 10 March 2006
37. Presentado el logotipo del V Centenario
de la primera circunnavegación de la tierra
Archived 25 January 2016 at the Wayback
Machine. Sanlúcar de Barrameda.tv. 15
November 2010. Accessed: 3 April 2015.

References
Beaglehole, J.C. (1966), The Exploration of the
Pacific, London: Adam & Charles Black,
OCLC 253002380
Castro, Xavier de; Hamon, Jocelynn; Thomaz,
Luis Filipe de Castro (2007). Le voyage de
Magellan (1519–1522). La relation d'Antonio
Pigafetta & autres témoignages. Paris:
Chandeigne, coll. « Magellane ». ISBN 978-2-
915540-32-1.
Cliffe, Edward (1885). Hakluyt, Richard (ed.).
"The voyage of M. John Winter into the South
sea by the Streight of Magellan, in consort
with M. Francis Drake, begun in the yeere
1577". The principal navigations, voyages,
traffiques and discoveries of the English
nation. Edinburgh: E. & G. Goldsmid.
Drake, Francis (1628), The world
encompassed by Sir Francis Drake: being his
next voyage to that to Nombre de Dios Elibron,
Classics series, Issue 16 of Works issued by
the Hakluyt Society , Adamant Media
Corporation, ISBN 978-1-4021-9567-9
Hogan, C. Michael (2008). N. Stromberg (ed.).
Magellanic Penguin . GlobalTwitcher.com.
Archived from the original on 23 August
2011.
Noronha, Dom José Manoel de (1921).
Imprensa da Universidade (ed.). Algumas
Observações sobre a Naturalidade e a Família
de Fernão de Magalhães (in Portuguese).
Coimbra: Biblioteca Genealogica de Lisboa.
Archived from the original on 7 March 2010.
Stefoff, Rebecca (1990), Ferdinand Magellan
and the Discovery of the World Ocean ,
Chelsea House Publishers, ISBN 978-0-7910-
1291-8
Suárez, Thomas (1999). Early mapping of
Southeast Asia . Tuttle Publishing. ISBN 978-
962-593-470-9.
Online sources

Swenson, Tait M. (2005). "First


Circumnavigation of the Globe by Magellan
1519–1522" . The Web Chronology project.
Retrieved 14 March 2006.

Further reading
Primary sources

Pigafetta, Antonio (1906), Magellan's Voyage


around the World, Arthur A. Clark (orig. Primer
viaje en torno del globo Retrieved on 2009-
04-08)
Magellan (Francis Guillemard, Antonio
Pigafetta, Francisco Albo, Gaspar Correa)
[2008] Viartis ISBN 978-1-906421-00-7
Maximilianus Transylvanus, De Moluccis
insulis, 1523, 1542
Nowell, Charles E. ed. (1962), Magellan's
Voyage around the World: Three Contemporary
Accounts, Evanston: NU Press
The First Voyage Round the World, by
Magellan , full text, English translation by
Lord Stanley of Alderley, London: Hakluyt,
[1874] – six contemporary accounts of his
voyage

Secondary sources

Bergreen, Laurence (2003), Over the Edge of


the World: Magellan's Terrifying
Circumnavigation of the Globe, William
Morrow, ISBN 978-0-06-093638-9, lay
summary
Guillemard, Francis Henry Hill (1890), The life
of Ferdinand Magellan, and the first
circumnavigation of the globe, 1480–1521 , G.
Philip, retrieved 8 April 2009
Hildebrand, Arthur Sturges (1924), Magellan,
New York: Harcourt, Brace & Co, ISBN 978-1-
4179-1413-5
Joyner, Tim (1992), Magellan, Camden, Me.:
International Marine Publishing, ISBN 978-0-
07-033128-0
Nunn, George E. (1932), The Columbus and
Magellan Concepts of South American
Geography
Parr, Charles M. (1953), So Noble a Captain:
The Life and Times of Ferdinand Magellan,
New York: Crowell, ISBN 978-0-8371-8521-7
Parry, J.H. (1979), The Discovery of South
America, New York: Taplinger
Parry, J.H. (1981), The Discovery of the Sea,
Berkeley: University of California Press,
ISBN 978-0-520-04236-0
Parry, J.H. (1970), The Spanish Seaborne
Empire, New York: Knopf, ISBN 978-0-520-
07140-7
Pérez-Mallaína, Pablo E. (1998), Spain's Men
of the Sea: Daily Life on the Indies Fleets in the
Sixteenth Century, trans. Carla Rahn Phillips,
Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press,
ISBN 978-0-8018-5746-1, lay summary
Roditi, Edouard (1972), Magellan of the
Pacific, London: Faber & Faber, ISBN 978-0-
571-08945-1
Schurz, William L. (May 1922), "The Spanish
Lake", Hispanic American Historical Review, 5
(2): 181–194, doi:10.2307/2506024 ,
JSTOR 2506024 .
Thatcher, Oliver J. ed. (1907), "Vol. V: 9th to
16th Centuries" , The Library of Original
Sources, University Research Extension Co,
pp. 41–57, retrieved 8 April 2009
Wilford, John Noble (2000), The Mapmakers,
New York: Knopf, ISBN 978-0-375-70850-3,
lay summary
Zweig, Stefan (2007), Conqueror of the Seas –
The Story of Magellan , Read Books,
ISBN 978-1-4067-6006-4

External links
Ferdinand Magellan on history.com
  Media related to Ferdinand Magellan at
Wikimedia Commons
  Quotations related to Ferdinand
Magellan at Wikiquote
Magellan's untimely demise on Cebu in
the Philippines from History House
Expedición Magallanes – Juan
Sebastian Elcano
Encyclopædia Britannica Ferdinand
Magellan

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