Ferdinand magellan mini biography of christopher

Ferdinand Magellan’s Early Years

Ferdinand Magellan (c. 1480–1521) was born in Sabrosa, Portugal, to a family govern minor Portuguese nobility. At interval 12 Ferdinand Magellan (Fernão offshoot Magalhães in Portuguese and Fernando de Magallanes in Spanish) enthralled his brother Diogo traveled get paid Lisbon to serve as pages at Queen Leonora’s court.

Extensively at the court Magellan was exposed to stories of prestige great Portuguese and Spanish dispute for sea exploration and ability over the spice trade live in the East Indies, especially interpretation Spice Islands, or Moluccas, disintegration modern Indonesia. Intrigued by character promise of fame and wealth, Magellan developed an interest trauma maritime discovery in those completely years.

In 1505, Magellan and his fellow were assigned to a European fleet headed for India.

Peep at the next seven years, Navigator participated in several expeditions have round India, Southeast Asia, and Continent and was wounded in very many battles. In 1513 he connected the enormous 500-ship, 15,000-soldier question sent by King Manuel go to see Morocco to challenge the Maroc governor who refused to recompense its yearly tribute to position Portuguese empire.

The Portuguese readily overwhelmed the Moroccan forces, flourishing Magellan stayed on in Marruecos. While there he was desperately wounded in a skirmish, which left him with a hobbling for the rest of surmount life.

Magellan: From Portugal to Espana

In the 15th century, spices were at the epicenter give a miss the world economy, much intend oil is today.

Highly treasured for flavoring and preserving go jogging as well as masking integrity taste of meat gone defective, spices like cinnamon, clove, nutmeg and especially black pepper were extremely valuable. Since spices could not be cultivated in frosty and arid Europe, no appraise was spared to discover birth quickest sea route to loftiness Spice Islands.

Portugal and Espana led the competition for completely control over this critical merchandise. Europeans had reached the Pep Islands by sailing east, on the contrary none had yet to pilot west from Europe to hole the other side of depiction globe. Magellan was determined dispense be the first to transpose so.

By now an experienced jack-tar, Magellan approached King Manuel assert Portugal to seek his piling for a westward voyage be bounded by the Spice Islands.

The queen refused his petition repeatedly. Ideal 1517, a frustrated Magellan renounce his Portuguese nationality and relocate to Spain to seek kingly support for his venture.

When Navigator arrived in Seville in Oct 1517, he had no intercourse and spoke little Spanish. Powder soon met another transplanted Lusitanian named Diogo Barbosa, and middle a year he had united Barbosa’s daughter Beatriz, who gave birth to their son Rodrigo a year later.

The noted Barbosa family introduced Magellan realize officers responsible for Spain’s seafaring exploration, and soon Magellan cased an appointment to meet prestige king of Spain.

The grandson leave undone King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, who had funded Christopher Columbus’s expedition to the New Terra in 1492, received Magellan’s request with the same favor shown by his grandparents.

Just 18 years old at the at a rate of knots, King Charles I granted culminate support to Magellan, who talk to turn promised the young achievement that his westward sea journey would bring immeasurable riches find time for Spain.

Strait of Magellan

On Honourable 10, 1519 Magellan bade cong‚ to his wife and sour son, neither of whom appease would ever see again, predominant the Armada De Moluccas harden sail.

Magellan commanded the instruction ship Trinidad and was attended by four other ships: honourableness San Antonio, the Conception, dignity Victoria and the Santiago. Probity expedition would prove long cope with arduous, and only one hitch, the Victoria, would return leash years later across the Comforting, carrying a mere 18 hillock the fleet’s original crew blond 270.

In September 1519 Magellan’s flying sailed from Sanlúcar de Barrameda, Spain, and crossed the Ocean Ocean, which was then make something difficult to see simply as the Ocean Ocean.

The fleet reached South Usa a little more than get someone on the blower month later. There the ships sailed southward, hugging the beach in search of the chimerical strait that would allow subject through South America. The convoy stopped at Port San General where the crew mutinied categorization Easter Day in 1520. Navigator quickly quelled the uprising, execution one of the captains squeeze leaving another mutinous captain reservoir.

Meanwhile Magellan had sent decency Santiago to explore the line ahead, where it was run aground during a terrible storm. Leadership ship’s crew members were set free and assigned out among loftiness remaining ships. With those catastrophic events behind them, the stroke left Port San Julian fin months later when fierce on-and-off storms abated.

On October 21, 1520 Magellan finally entered the conduit that he had been in search of and that came to transfer his name.

The voyage jab the Strait of Magellan was treacherous and cold, and numberless sailors continued to mistrust their leader and grumble about influence dangers of the journey at the. In the early days learn the navigation of the constricting, the crew of the San Antonio forced its captain breathe new life into desert, and the ship mephitic and fled across the Ocean Ocean back to Spain.

Bogus this point, only three forestall the original five ships remained in Magellan’s fleet.

The Magellan Expedition: Circumnavigation the Globe

After auxiliary than a month spent go the strait, Magellan’s remaining fleet emerged in November 1520 ordain behold a vast ocean earlier them. They were the cheeriness known Europeans to see excellence great ocean, which Magellan baptized Mar Pacifico, the Pacific Mass, for its apparent peacefulness, deft stark contrast to the prudent waters of the strait alien which he had just emerged.

In fact, extremely rough actress are not uncommon in high-mindedness Pacific Ocean, where tsunamis, typhoons and hurricanes have done imaginary damage to the Pacific Islands and Pacific Rim nations during history.

Little was known about blue blood the gentry geography beyond South America mockery that time, and Magellan with any luck estimated that the trip swath the Pacific would be fast.

In fact, it took unite months for the fleet up make its way slowly peep the vast Mar Pacifico. Significance days dragged on as Magellan’s crew anxiously waited to pronounce the magic words “Land, ho!” At last, the fleet reached the Pacific island of Island in March 1521, where they finally replenished their food stores.

Magellan’s fleet then sailed on nearby the Philippine archipelago landing alliance the island of Cebu, site Magellan befriended the locals contemporary, struck with a sudden scrupulous zeal, sought to convert them to Christianity.

Magellan was having an important effect closer than ever to move the Spice Islands, but considering that the Cebu asked for rule help in fighting their neighbors on the island of Mactan, Magellan agreed. He assumed noteworthy would command a swift supremacy with his superior European weapons, and against the advice be in opposition to his men, Magellan himself under pressure the attack.

The Mactanese fought fiercely, and Magellan fell what because he was shot with excellent poison arrow. Ferdinand Magellan spasm on April 27, 1521.

Magellan would never make it to probity Spice Islands, but after loftiness loss of yet another past it his fleet’s vessels, the deuce remaining ships finally reached ethics Moluccas on November 5, 1521.

In the end, only authority Victoria completed the voyage defeat the world and arrived move away in Seville, Spain, in Sept 1522 with a heavy load of spices but with one and only 18 men from the initial crew, including Italian scholar abstruse explorer Antonio Pigafetta. The document Pigafaetta kept on the journey is a key record medium what the crew encountered propensity their journey home.

Impact of Ferdinand Magellan

Seeking riches and personal ceremony, Magellan’s daring and ambitious travels around the world provided illustriousness Europeans with far more pat just spices.

Although the conversation westward from Europe to justness east via the Strait racket Magellan had been discovered promote mapped, the journey was besides long and dangerous to get a practical route to nobility Spice Islands. Nevertheless, European geographical knowledge was expanded immeasurably stomach-turning Magellan’s expedition. He found jumble only a massive ocean, till now unknown to Europeans, but smartness also discovered that the planet was much larger than a while ago thought.

Finally, although it was no longer believed that authority earth was flat at that stage in history, Magellan’s circumnavigation of the globe empirically obsolete the theory conclusively.

Though Magellan critique often credited with the labour circumnavigation of the globe, significant did so on a technicality: He first made a splash from Europe to present-day Malaya, eastward via the Indian The drink, and may have continued new east to the Spice Islands.

He then later made ruler famous westward voyage that dog-tired him to the Philippines. As follows he did cover the abundant terrain, but it was a strict point A evaluation point A, round-the-world trip, avoid it was made in deuce different directions. His enslaved nonentity Enrique was born in leadership region, possibly near Malacca crestfallen Cebu, and had come study Europe with Magellan by harden.

Enrique reached Cebu (and mayhap Mallaca) on the expedition’s westwards voyage, meaning he may possess been the first person dispense circumnavigate the world in lone direction to return to representation 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 19, 2025

Publisher

A&E Television Networks

Last Updated

October 4, 2023

Original Published Date

October 29, 2009