Ferdinand Magellan;

The First Man Around The World

by Han

        Ferdinand Magellan was the first man to travel around the world. He was the first man ever to go around South Africa. He also named the Pacific Ocean. However, he was most famous for proving to everyone that the Earth was round like a sphere instead of flat. 
        He sailed under the flags of Portugal and Spain. He served Portugal from 1502 to 1516, for fourteen solid years. He sailed for Spain from 1519 to 1521, for only two years. Magellan always wanted to be a professional sailor and make a difference in this world, but I doubt that he wanted his life to be taken in the process…. 
        Since Magellan's dream was to be a sailor he asked the king, Manuel, for funding and ships. However since King Manuel was different from the late King John, he refused Magellan for six whole years. The reason was that King Manuel didn't like exploration, so he didn't like Magellan. The things that King Manuel did want were money and power. The only way to get this was to chase the Arab sailors and traders away from the sea. Once the Arabs were gone, Portugal, instead of the Arabs, could bring spices to Europe from the East. The Arabs became rich because of the spices, so King Manuel thought that it would be the same for him. He built twenty-two fighting ships just to chase the Arabs away. Magellan saw a chance and asked King Manuel again. Finally after six years of asking, King Manuel agreed and even put him in command of a galley. Ferdinand Magellan started to sail in 1505 at the young age of 25. 
        Magellan's first voyage at sea was towards India. He sailed with the fleet of Francisco de Almedia, which was Portugal's first Viceroy (the governor of Portugal who rules as the representative of King Manuel) to India. There were many sea battles against the Arabs and Magellan sank and destroyed many ships. However, he was wounded near the port of din around northwest India during a great battle against an Arab fleet. In the end, the Portuguese sailors still won the small war. 
        Magellan, a unique and curious person, liked exploring the unknown more than fighting even though he was good at both. He was in luck because as a reward for defeating the Arabs, the king gave him the command of a ship. He sailed with a mission. He was determined and his determination let him down the Malacca straits to the Spice Islands (Moluccas; now Melaka) and towards the northeast into the unknown and he discovered the Philippines. Despite all the goodness, Magellan saw a downside to this. There was a treaty called the Treaty of Tordesillas. Any land that was discovered east of an imaginary line belonged to Portugal, and the land west of the line belonged to Spain. The line went through Brazil from north to south. Magellan guessed that the Philippines might belong to Spain instead of Portugal because it was so far east. At that time, nobody knew exactly how big the Earth was so Magellan could have been right. When King Manuel found out, he was furious because that meant he might not get all the gold and spices that came from the Spice Islands and the Philippines.
        Magellan went back to Lisbon around 1512. He was sent to fight the Moroccans at Azamor. This battle left Magellan wounded and limped for life. Two years later, Magellan went back to Lisbon and asked for an increase in his salary of his royal allowance. King Manuel refused because someone had spread a false rumour about Magellan saying that he misbehaved while he was away. Since Magellan didn't get his wish, he was sent back to Morocco. Two years after that, Magellan tried his luck again by asking for and increase but the stubborn king didn't agree. Magellan wanted to test his theory. He believed that by sailing west instead of east, he could still reach the Spice Islands. 
        A friend of his, Rui Faleiro, also believed Magellan's theory. They studied astronomy and navigation together. Since Manuel refused their request, they asked the king of Spain, King Charles I to support them instead. Between the years of 1516 and 1517, Magellan and Faleiro became Spaniards. They asked King Charles many times. They told him that they could prove that the Spice Islands were in the Spanish hemisphere according to the Treaty of Tordesillas. Finally on the 22nd of March, the king agreed to help them. Magellan was given five ships, which were named the following: the Trinidad, the San Antonio, the Santiago, the Concepcion and the Victoria. It took more than a year to get everything ready. Magellan employed many Portuguese sailors. The Spaniards became very suspicious so King Charles forced Magellan to employ Spanish sailors instead. Faleiro couldn't sail since he went mad from a disease.

        On September 20th of 1519, Magellan set sail westwards from Sanlucar de Barrameda in southern Spain.
        Other records show that he sailed from Seville on August 10th instead of September 20th. The crew had people from nine different countries. They carried 20, 000 small brass bells as presents to anyone they met. Magellan went to the southwest to Tenerife Island. He reached Tenerife Island on September 29th. They passed through the Cape Verde Islands, always being able to see some land. He changed his course and headed for Brazil. When they sighted Brazil's other coast, he steered himself to the southeast along the coast as far as Cabo-frio (it's in the twenty-three degrees south latitude) and from here, he steered to the west for a matter of thirty leagues. He was headed for the Rio de Janeiro-which is in the same latitude as Cabo-frio. On December 13th, he landed at Rio and gathered wood for his trip. He stayed there until December 16th. 
They left on December 26th and went along the coast to the Cape of St. Mary. As soon as they saw it, they went west-northwest (they thought they would find a passage) and they found a river of fresh water, which they named the river of St. Christopher. They remained there until February 2nd.
        After that, they navigated along the coast and further south and named a river Point St. Antony, then named a cape, that was southwest of Point St. Antony, Cape St. Apelonia. To the west-southwest were some shoals that they named Shoals of the Currents. Out to sea, they saw a bay that was the first sight of land for two or three days. They thought it was an outlet for Maluco and named it St. Matthew Island. Along the coast there was another bay with many sea-wolves and birds, which they named Bay of Labours. At the Port of St. Julian, they stayed for the winter starting from March 31st of 1520. 
Three captains started a mutiny against Magellan saying that he was taking them all to destruction. Magellan, with the assistance of foreigners whom he bought along, went to the ships and killed one captain who was the treasurer of the five ships by the name of Luis de Mendo‡a. Later, Magellan killed another captain, and the mutiny stopped. 
        They repaired any damages to the ship at a port. The smallest ship, Santoago, had been lost. It had been sent to reconnoitre. The crew recovered during five months and twenty-four days. On August 24th Magellan set sail towards the southwest. 
        They enter a river called Santa Cruz and took in goods and merchandise. This place was a very small civilization and they took a few savages with them on their trip.
        On October 18th, they continued along the coast until the 21st. They discovered a cape and named it the Cape of Virgins because it was found on the day of eleven thousand virgins. They followed the cape and it lead them to the mouth of a strait. They sailed along the coast within the strait and entered and anchored their ship. Magellan discovered three channels, which were to be known as the Straits of Magellan in the future. Magellan sent two ships to explore these straits. One ship returned and the other ship, San Antonio, didn't. Magellan-who thought the captain had betrayed him-left. He went south, and took another course, which ran northwest and southeast, and a quarter west and east. 
        Magellan and his crew met many dead ends, so Magellan sent the boats and the ships followed and soon they saw the great sea. They were so happy that they fired canons to celebrate. They stayed in the strait from October 21st to November 26th. They went west, north and west again. They went like this for many days and they reached two uninhabited islands. Magellan guessed that they were in the neighbourhood of Maluco. Actually there were people here. Those people stole their skiff, flags and ropes, so that's why they named it Thieves' Island (dos ladroes).
        Magellan wanted revenge so he burned their village, killing about seven or eight people but he did get what he wanted. He managed to get food from the burning village as he left by stealing it. However, he was unable to stay and rest there. 
        On November 28th Magellan, with his three remaining ships sailed into an extremely peaceful ocean, which Magellan named the Pacific Ocean. He sailed through the Pacific Ocean for over ninety days and their food ran out. Many died from scurvy and smallpox. 
        On March 7th, 1521, Magellan and his crew reached land. This land was a part of the Philippines. Magellan named a few more things. He named an island, Good Signs (because he found gold). While they were there, two people bought them fowls and cocoa nuts. They told them they had already seen men like them. Magellan named a few more islands with the help of these people. The names were Valley Without Peril, St. Lazarus, and Macangor. They placed a cross at Macangor because they were very well received.
The king there conducted them to another island named Cabo. Magellan was able to do what he pleased with the consent of the country. He spread Christianity around and in one day eight hundred people became Christian. Since Magellan spread the Christian belief so easily, he did it again. However, less people became Christian. Magellan seeing that, got his boats one night and burned villages who wouldn't become Christian. Magellan became power-hungry and wanted many things. One village didn't grant his wishes. During the morning of April 28th of 1521, Magellan, with some of his people fought three or four thousand men. The natives won and Magellan was killed with six others that day on the island of Mactan. 
        After Magellan died, the Christians got back to their ships. They thought they could find two captains and governors whom they could obey. The two captains were going to ask the natives to guide them through the islands to Borneo. However, the natives killed the two captains and twenty-six other men. They finally agreed on having Juan Sebastian del Cano take command. Since there were less people and three ships, it was hard for them to keep all three ships. The Concepcion was burned. There were only one hundred and ten crewmen left.
        There were some friendly natives. The crew could have used their help in navigating through the islands. However, their translator was one of the men that were killed along with Magellan. They had to get through by themselves and they did.
        On the island of Carpyam, they made friends with the natives. They supplied Magellan's crew with food and water for their voyage. They sailed mostly southwest after that. They land on another island, which is named Caram. However, this time the natives were unfriendly and shot arrows at them. There were many injuries but no deaths. 
        On November 6th of 1521, they reached the Spice Islands. The two remaining ships were loaded with many spices, which they hoped to bring back to their home countries. 
They sailed along coasts since none of them were really great navigators like Magellan. They stayed near the shores hoping not to get lost. However, they had to sail northwest through the India Ocean to get to South Africa. 
        The crew that used to be Magellan's seemed to have gotten more determination after Magellan died. They faced many challenges against natives, food shortages, bad weather and many other hard-to-solve problems.
A big challenge was the Portuguese. They were trying to sabotage their voyage. They didn't want Spain to gain the riches that were in the Spice Islands. In other words, Portugal was greedy and wanted everything for themselves. They were going to do anything to get what they wanted. However, The Oceans are vast and it's difficult to find a single ship among many. To try to escape the Portuguese, the Trinidad and the Victoria split up and went in different directions. The Trinidad was headed east for Panama in the Americas, but the Victoria was still headed for Spain.
        On September 6th, the Victoria arrived at Sanlucar de Barrameda with only seventeen crewmen out of the original 261men. These seventeen were the first to CIRCUMNAVIGATED the world for the first time. Magellan was the person with the idea and the determination. However, he died during the voyage. However, he became famous because he was responsible for the people that did circumnavigated the world. The spices and gold found were enough to compensate for the money that had been spent on the expedition. 
Ferdinand Magellan will always be remembered for proving that our world is round. What he discovered opened new doors to a larger and better world for many others. 

        Magellan was also called Fernando de Magalhaes. Fernando de Magalhaes is Portuguese and Ferdinand Magellan is a translation of his real name. Not many people would know how to pronounce Magalhaes correctly. 
        Magellan grew up to be a navigator and explorer. His voyage around the world was a huge part of history. He also named the Pacific Ocean along with many other places including lakes, rivers and capes. He died in the Philippines, but his crew made it all the way around the world. 
        In 1480, Ferdinand Magellan was born in the Oporto, Ponte de Lima Country, which is in Northern Portugal. His father was Rui de Magalhaes and his mother was Alda de Mespuita who belonged the Portuguese nobility. At the age of ten, both of Magellan's parents had died. When he was twelve, he became a court page to Queen Leonor in Lisbon. At the court, he was educated and he was promoted to squire in 1496 at the age of sixteen. He was a clerk in the marine department. His job was to help get ships ready for trade along the west coast of Africa. As a page, he learnt all about the voyages of Christopher Columbus and Vasco de Gama. Vasco de Gama sailed back to Lisbon when Magellan was 19. This was the longest voyage that time and Gama was loaded with silks, pearls, and spices from India. 
        When Magellan was a page, he found a very good friend. His name was Francisco Serrao. Serrao also became an explorer when he grew up. Another reason for Magellan's desire to travel was because of Serrao. Serrao moved to the Moluccas Islands and decided to stay there. Magellan wanted to find his friend along with proving his theory. He never did find his friend, Serrao again, but he defiantly proved his theory.
        In 1517, two years before his big voyage, he married Beatrix Barbosa and they had a son named Rodrigo. Just two years after that, Magellan bid them farewell as he set sail. That was the last time they ever saw him since Magellan died in the Philippines.
        Magellan's contributions to this world are enormous. Some people think that his voyage around the world was the greatest navigational feat in all of history. Without him, we wouldn't have known that the world is round. Many places wouldn't have been named. Not many people would have the courage to do what Magellan did. Despite the fear of the unknown, he carried out his dream of doing something truly remarkable. When we don't know the unknown places, we make up monsters that are supposedly to live there. We still do that today. We don't know what's out in the vast universe, so we say that aliens live out there somewhere. However, Magellan was brave enough to face all that. 
        Magellan also had to face all the rejections he got from King Manuel and King Charles. He never gave up. He asked and asked again until he got what he wanted. He had determination and diligence. He didn't even know himself if his theory was true. It was based mostly on guesses. If his voyage failed, he would have wasted all the funding that King Charles gave him. 
        The spices and the gold found was enough to pay for the expenses for the expedition. Spain sold their interests to Portugal because the route that Magellan took was too long and difficult to be a practical route to the Moluccas. At the beginning, Spain didn't recognize the importance of the Philippines, but Manila became the greatest Spanish trading centre in the East. The voyage also laid down a foundation for trade in the Pacific between the New World (America) and the East. 
        Many people died during the Expedition. They died from battles, hunger, smallpox, and misdirection (getting lost). The crew had two hundred sixty-one men at the beginning and only seventeen people returned to Spain. Out of the two hundred forty-four people that died or left, was Magellan himself. He died in a battle against some native Philippines. He tried to make everyone into Christians. Since he was the one that bought people near to God, everyone obeyed him. Those who didn't obey had their villages burned down. There was a whole village that didn't obey Magellan and all three thousand or four thousand people fought Magellan. Magellan died on April 27th, 1521 at the age of forty-one. 
        Even though Magellan went a little power-hungry before he died, he was a great explorer with many qualities and his contributions greatly influenced what everyone thought about the world.

Maps

Bibliography

http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1519magellan.html Modern History Sourcebook:
Ferdinand Magellan's Voyage Round the World, 1519-1522 CE.  © Paul Halsall June 1998

http://www.stemnet.nf.ca/CITE/exmagellan.htm Ferdinand Magellan by Jim Cornish. 2000.