Ferdinand Magellan (Portuguese: Fernão de Magalhães, IPA: [fɨɾˈnɐ̃ũ dɨ
mɐgɐˈʎɐ̃ĩʃ] Spanish: Fernando de Magallanes) (Spring 1480 – April 27, 1521,
Mactan Island, Cebu, Philippines) was a Portuguese maritime explorer who, while
in the service of the Spanish Crown, tried to find a westward route to the Spice
Islands of Indonesia
Ferdinand Magellan
Explorer
Ferdinand Magellan was the leader of
the first expedition to circumnavigate the real world. He was the first European
to sail across the Pacific Ocean and discovered a route by which ships could
sail a complete circle around the world. The Straits of Magellan, located at the
Southern tip of South America are named for him. This strait proved to be the
connection between the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans.
Magellan was born the son of Pedro
Ruy de Magalhaes and Alda de Mezquita in Sabrosa, Portugal in 1480. In
Portuguese his name was Fernao de Magalhaes. Of noble parentage, he became a
page at the Portuguese court where he learned astronomy and nautical science. At
a young age he was preoccupied by voyages of discovery. In 1505, sailing with
Francisco d’Almeida, Magellan took part in an expedition to India for the
purpose of establishing Portuguese royalty in India. By the year 1510 he had
been promoted to the rank of captain. In 1511, he took part in the Portuguese
conquest of Malacca, gaining control of the Strait of Malacca. Although it is
not absolutely documented, Magellan may have been part of the voyage that
reached the Spice Islands in 1511. Returning home in 1512, he took part in the
Portuguese expedition to Marocco and was severely wounded, leaving him lame for
life. Feeling he was not sufficiently rewarded for his services, Magellan left
the army without permission, leading to his disgrace with the king. He gave up
his nationality and offered his services to King Charles I (later Holy Roman
Emperor Charles V), ruler of Spain in 1517.
Portugal had claimed as theirs the
islands of the Far East as a result of the Treaty of Tordesillas of 1494.
Magellan claimed that many of them, including the rich Spice Islands, actually
lay in Spain’s territory, that Portuguese maps had been falsified to conceal
this fact. In 1513, Vasco de Balboa had found an ocean on the far side of the
New World discovered by Christopher Columbus. Magellan proposed to the Spanish
king an expedition to find a passage through the New World to this ocean and to
sail west to the Moluccas, thus proving that the Spice Islands lay on the
Spanish side of the line of demarcation. King Charles approved the plan.
Magellan took the oath of allegiance in the church of Santa Maria de la Victoria
de Triana in Seville, and received the imperial standard. He also gave a large
sum of money to the monks of the monastery in order that they might pray for the
success of the expedition. After a year of preparations the expedition left
Seville in September of 1519 in five small vessels.
Sailing across the Atlantic Ocean he
reached South America at the Bay of Rio de Janeiro by December 13th. They
arrived at the estuary of the Rio de la Plata by January 10, 1520 and probed for
the passage to the vast western ocean. By March 31st, Magellan decided to spend
the next six months there during winter storms. During this time, one ship, The
Santiago, was wrecked, a mutiny occurred and was quelled, and another ship was
lost to desertion headed back to Spain. The voyage was resumed on August 24,
1520. By October he had sighted what he assumed to be the sought after strait.
Ships went ahead and reported what they thought to be an ocean beyond. However,
this only proved to be another large bay. After deliberating with his
navigators, Magellan decided to proceed. Magellan had just sailed through the
strait that would later bear his name, the Strait of Magellan. Those straits
were originally called the Canal de Todos los Santos (All Saints’ Channel) by
Magellan himself. By late November (November 28) Magellan and the three
remaining ships finally reached the ocean which seven years earlier, Balboa had
discovered. Because of its apparent calmness, he named it Mar Pacifico, the
Pacific Ocean.
The voyage proceeded along the coast
of South America and on December 18th headed west into the Pacific. One month
into the voyage, hardships were encountered. Supplies were depleting, food and
drinking water were scarce. Many of the crew died of scurvy. Land was sighted
but no landfall was made until Magellan reached the Marianas (or Ladrone)
Islands by March of 1521. There he took on more provisions. Landing on the
island of Cebu on April 7th, he was received in a friendly manner by the chief
and ruler of the island. After eight days, Magellan was able to covert the ruler
to Christianity along with hundreds of natives. The ruler agreed to aid him in
an attack on the natives of neighboring island, Mactan. There, involved in
fighting with natives, Magellan was killed on April 27, 1521.
The two remaining ships were
refitted and spices purchased. Under Juan Sebastian del Cano they set sail for
the return voyage to Spain. Only one ship, the Victoria, with a crew of only
eighteen men and 4 East Indians reached Seville, Spain on September 8, 1522
after a voyage across the Indian Ocean, around the Cape of Good Hope and north
through the Atlantic. Completing a voyage of more than three years, they had
succeeded in circumnavigating the globe. The spices they brought them amply
repaid the expenses of the voyage.
Magellan himself had not succeeded
in his principal purpose, to circumnavigate the globe in one voyage. He had,
however, provided the skill and determination that made this achievement
possible.
There is no greater name than
Ferdinand Magellan in the history of discovery. He succeeded in crossing the
Pacific from east to west. His voyage laid the foundation for trade in the
Pacific between the New World and the East. -
By Charles George
Herbermann
Edited by Stanley L. Klos 2000
Published by Universal Knowledge
Foundation, 1913
Magellan, Ferdinand (Portuguese Fernäo Ma- gaUiäes),
the first circumnavigator of the world; b. about 1480 at Saborosa in Villa Real,
Province of Traz os Montes, Portugal; d. during his voyage of discovery on the
Island of Mactan in the Philippines, 27 April, 1521. He was the son of Pedro Ruy
de Magalhäes, mayor of the town, and of Alda de Mezquita. He was brought up at
the Court of Portugal and learned astronomy and the nautical sciences under good
teachers, among whom may have been Martin Behaim. These studies filled him at an
early age with enthusiasm for the great voyages of discovery which were being
made at that period. In 1505 he took part in the expedition of Francisco
d'Almeida, which was equipped to establish the Portuguese viceroyalty in India,
and in 1511 he performed important services in the Portuguese conquest of
Malacca. He returned home in 1512 and took part in the Portuguese expedition to
Marocco, where he was severely wounded. On account of a personal disagreement
with the commander-in-chief, he left the army without permission. This and an
unfavourable report that nad been made upon him by Almeida led to his disgrace
with the king. Condemned to inactivity and checked in his desire for personal
distinction, he once more devoted himself to studies and projects to which he
was mainly stimulated by the reports of the recently discovered Moluccas sent by
his friend Serrao. Serräo so greatly exaggerated the distance of the Moluccas to
the east of Malacca 'hat the islands appeared to lie within the half of the
world granted by the pope to Spain. Magellan therefore resolved to seek the
Moluccas by sailing to the west around South America. As he could not hope to
arouse interest for the carrying out of his plans in Portugal, and was himself,
moreover, misjudged and ignored, he renounced his nationality and offered his
services to Spain. He received much aid from Diego Barbosa, warden of the castle
of Seville, whose daughter he married, and from the influential Juan de Aranda,
agent of the Indian office, who at once desired to claim the Moluccas for Spain.
King Charles I of Spain (afterwards the Emperor Charles V) gave his consent as
early as 22 March, 1518, being largely influenced to do this by the advice of
Cardinal Juan Rodriguez de Fonseca. The king made an agreement with Magellan
which settled the different shares of ownership in the new discoveries, and the
rewards to be granted the discoverer, and appointed him commander of the fleet.
This fleet consisted of five vessels granted by the government; two of 130 tons
each, two of 90 tons each, and one of 60 tons. They were provisioned for 234
persons for two years. Magellan commanded the chief ship, the Trinidad; Juan de
Cartagena, the San Antonio; Gaspar de Qucsada, the Concepción ; Luis de Mendoza,
the Victoria; Juan Serrano, the Santiago. The expedition also included Duarte
Barbosa, Barbosa's nephew, the cosmographer Andres de San Martin, and the
Italian Antonio Pigafetta of Vicenza, to whom the account of the voyage is due.
Magellan took the oath of allegiance in the church of Santa Maria de la Victoria
de Triana in Seville, and received the imperial standard. He also gave a large
sum of money to the monks of the monastery in order that they might pray for the
success of the expedition. The fleet sailed 20 September, 1519, from San Lucar
de Barameda. They steered by way of the Cape Verde Islands to Cape St. Augustine
in Brazil, then along the coast to the Bay of Rio Janeiro (13 December), thence
to the mouth of the Plata (10 January, 1520). In both these bodies of water a
vain search was made for a passage to the western ocean. On 31 March Magellan
decided to spend the winter below 49° 15' south latitude, and remained nearly
five months in the harbour of San Julian. While in winter quarters here a mutiny
broke out, so that Magellan was forced to execute Qucsada and Mendoza, and to
put Cartagena ashore.
The voyage was resumed on 24 August, and on 21 October the fleet reached Cape
Vírgenes and, with it, the entrance to the long-sought straits. Those straits,
which are 373 miles long, now bear the name of the daring discoverer, though he
himself called them Canal de Todos los Santos (All Saints' Channel). The San
Antonio with the pilot Gomez on board secretly deserted and returned to Spain,
while Magellan went on with the other ships. He entered the straits on 21
November and at the end of three weeks reached the open sea on the other side.
As he found a very favourable wind, he gave the name of Mar Pacifico to the vast
ocean upon which he now sailed for more than three months, suffering great
privation during that time from lack of provisions. Keeping steadily to a
northwesterly course, he reached the equator 13 February, 1521, and the Ladrones
6 March.
On 16 March Magellan discovered the Archipelago of San Lázaro, afterwards called
the Philippines. He thought to stay here for a time, safe from the Portuguese,
and rest his men and repair his ships, so as to arrive in good condition at the
now not distant Moluccas. He was received in a friendly manner by the chief of
the island of Cebú, who, after eight days, was baptized along with several
hundred other natives. Magellan wished to subdue the neighbouring Island of
Mactan and was killed there, 27 April, by the poisoned arrows of the natives.
After both Duarte Barbosa and Serrano had also lost their lives on the island of
Cebú, the ships Trinidad and Victoria set sail under the guidance of Carvalho
and Gonzalo Vaz d'Espinosa and reached the Moluccas 8 November, 1521. Only the
Victoria, with Sebastian del Cano as captain, and a crew of eighteen men,
reached Spain (8 September, 1522). The ship brought back 533 hundredweight of
cloves, which amply repaid the expenses of the voyage.
Magellan himself did not reach his goal, the Spice Islands; yet he had
accomplished the most difficult part of his task. He had been the first to
undertake the circumnavigation of the world, had carried out his project almost
completely, and had thus achieved the most difficult nautical feat of all the
centuries. The voyage proved most fruitful for science. It gave the first
positive proof of the earth's rotundity and the first true idea of the
distribution of land and water.
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