Ferdinand Magellan

Ferdinand Magellan was a Portuguese sea captain who led five Spanish ships and 251 men in the first around-the-world sailing expedition. This voyage was filled with challenges, disasters, and tragedy, but it was one of the most important events in the history of exploration.

Magellan first went to sea in 1505. He was interested in the way that Columbus sailed and studied Columbus's maps of his routes for many years. He was sure that he could get to the riches of the Far East quicker by sailing westward, but he had no idea how far it really was from Europe to the Far East.

In 1513 Magellan asked King Manuel of Portugal for permission to sail to the Spice Islands in the Far East. These islands grew cloves and many other spices which would be very valuable if brought back to Spain. He was convinced that he could sail to the Spice Islands (which are now part of Indonesia) by going around the southern tip of South America. He thought that this route would be shorter than the eastward trip to the southern tip of Africa and across the Indian Ocean. He didn't realize how big the Pacific Ocean was. Nobody knew at that time. King Manuel refused Magellan's proposal because he didn't like Magellan.

In 1518 Magellan left Portugal and went to Spain. He presented the information he had learned about the Spice Islands to King Charles I of Spain. The king promised to support his voyage.

Getting ready for the voyage took more that a year. The voyage began on September 20, 1519. His first destination was southern Spain. From his ship Magellan commanded a total of 241 men and a fleet of five ships. The fleet sailed across the Atlantic Ocean to South America. The ships followed the South American coast. They landed on the bay where Rio de Janeiro now stands. They remained there for two weeks and then sailed south to find a passage to the Pacific Ocean. However, they could not find the passage before the end of summer in the southern hemisphere.

In late March 1520, Magellan's fleet anchored for the winter at Puerto San Julian in what is now southern Argentina. During the winter a storm destroyed the Santiago. In addition, a mutiny broke out shortly after the men set up their winter quarters. Magellan and his crew resumed their voyage on Oct. 18, 1520.

They were the first Europeans ever to sail across the Pacific, and it was far larger then anyone had imagined. They went for 98 days without seeing any land and ran out of food and used almost all their water. They ate rats and sawdust to avoid starvation. Nineteen men died before they reached the Pacific island of Guam on March 6, 1521. Conflicts with the people of Guam and the nearby islands prevented Magellan from fully resupplying his ships. The crew finally got enough food to set out westward again, toward the Philippines.

Magellan and his crew stayed in the Philippines for many weeks and they got to know the islanders very well. On April 27, 1521, Ferdinand Magellan was killed when he took part in a battle between rival Filipino groups on the island of Mactan.

After the battle only about 110 of the original members remained. That was not enough to sail three ships. Therefore they abandoned one of the ships, called Conception. The two remaining ships sailed to the Spice Islands. At the Spice Islands the ships were loaded up with spices for the trip back.

The ship called the Trindad tried to return back to Spain the same way they had came. They sailed eastward across the Pacific Ocean but were caught in really bad weather. More than half of the crew members died. The rest of the group was forced to return to the Spice Islands and where they arrived there, the Portuguese imprisoned them.

The last ship that remained was the Victoria. That ship continued back to Spain. The Victoria experienced many hardships and many of the crew members died of malnutrition and starvation. Finally, on September 6, 1522, they reached Sanlucar de Barrameda in Spain, nearly three years after the voyage started. Five ships and 241 men began the journey. Only eighteen survivors returned to the starting spot. Those people completed the first voyage around the world that started with the dream of Ferdinand Magellan.