Magellan, Ferdinand (1480–1521)

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Magellan, Ferdinand (1480–1521)

The Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan (in Portuguese, Fernáo de Magalháes; known in Spanish as Fernando de Magallanes) was the first man to lead a fleet that circumnavigated the globe. He was born around 1480 in northern Portugal near Oporto. He came from a noble family of the lesser nobility and was orphaned at a young age. He served as a page at the court of the Portuguese queen. It may be there that in 1497 he met Christopher Columbus, who influenced his idea to sail westward to find a passage to Asia.

In 1505 Magellan entered the service to the Portuguese crown under Francisco de Almeida, first viceroy of Portuguese India. As a soldier he served with distinction in Portuguese East Africa (present-day Mozambique) and participated in the conquest of India and Morocco. He fought battles with the Muslims in India and successful attacks on Goa and Malacca in 1511. He was seriously wounded in battles in service to the Portuguese king. After fighting in Morocco, he returned to Lisbon where he was denied a military promotion and pension by King Manuel. Anger at the Portuguese king led him to renounce his Portuguese citizenship and go to Spain, where he married a Spanish noblewoman, to seek aid from King Charles I. He persuaded the king to sponsor a voyage to Asia to verify Spanish claims to the Spice Islands granted under the Treaty of Tordesillas (1494).

Magellan sailed from Spain on September 20, 1519, for the Spice Islands with five ships and 265 men in search of a westward route to Asia, to complete Columbus' dreams. There were problems with the crew from the start, as only one-third were Portuguese and the rest Spanish. Magellan was highly secretive, and the captains and crew objected to being kept in the dark about the extent of the journey. The fleet sailed from Seville to Tenerife in the Canary Islands, then to the Cape Verde Islands, arriving at the coast of Brazil. The fleet had to avoid contact with the Portuguese because Magellan was considered a traitor. They stopped at Rio de Janeiro, hiding in the islands of Guanabara Bay and avoiding any contacts with the Portuguese. The fleet sailed southward looking for an outlet to the Pacific, reaching the Rio de la Plata region in present-day Argentina. They sailed onward to Tierra del Fuego and Patagonia, where the sailors saw the coastal fires of indigenous tribes. It was during this time that Magellan faced a serious mutiny from the Spanish captains and sailors, which he quickly crushed by hanging the ringleaders. The colder waters and temperature of the South Atlantic caused serious problems for the crew. When Magellan reached the tip of South America, one ship deserted the fleet and returned to Spain.

On October 21, 1519, he reached the tip of South America. It took him more than four weeks to go through what was later named the Strait of Magellan to the Pacific Ocean, which he named for its peaceful surface. On November 28, Magellan started sailing on the "unknown sea," but he misjudged the distance across the Pacific to Asia. The journey was exceedingly difficult; because they could not find land, they did not have any fresh food for more than three months. The crew suffered from hunger and scurvy, with nineteen dying en route. The fleet reached Guam on March 6, 1521. After reprovisioning, Magellan sailed again and discovered the Philippine Islands. He persuaded the ruler of the island of Cebú to accept Christianity, but he became involved in a local war. On April 27, 1521, Magellan was killed in a fight with the natives of Mactan Island. He died with his brother-in-law Duarte Barbosa in a skirmish in which his right foot was wounded by a poisoned arrow. He could not retreat from the battle but died with his men. His body was never recovered.

Various accounts dispute the reason for his death. Some paint Magellan as a villain demanding too much food and livestock from the natives whose patience with the Europeans became exhausted. Other accounts describe Magellan and his men as taking sides in a civil war among rival chieftains in the Philippine Islands.

Juan Sebastián de Elcano (c. 1476–1526) assumed command and piloted one ship, the Victoria, to the Moluccas. The ship, loaded with spices, sailed for Spain with forty-seven Europeans and thirteen natives of the islands, reaching Seville on September 8, 1522. Only eighteen Europeans were still alive. Although Magellan himself did not complete the first circumnavigation, his skill and ruthless determination made that achievement possible.

Magellan never did reach the Spice Islands but part of his surviving crew did. Historian Charles R. Boxer calls this voyage the most outstanding voyage of its time because Magellan was the first European navigator to sail into unknown waters in the South Atlantic and the Pacific Ocean and circumnavigate the globe, which was a significant nautical feat for the time.