EARLY YEARS AND EDUCATION:

Ferdinand Magellan was born in 1480 in a very small

town in Portugal. Magellan was born into a wealthy

family and live a very privileged childhood. His father was

the mayor of the town he was from. Given the

connections from his father, Magellan was able to assist

in the royal court as a page to the Queen of Lisbon.

He was given the opportunity to be tutored by the most

respected tutors in Portugal. It was then when Magellan

discovered his interests in exploration and

navigation.

THE DE ALMEIDA

EXPEDITION:Given Ferdinand Magellan connections with important

and wealthy people, it was easy for him to sign up

and be apart of explorations departing from Spain

and Portugal. In 1505 Magellan was given the chance

to go on expedition with the famous Fransisco De

Alemeida who was also known as the Viceory of India.

Alemeida was very prepared for all of his expeditions,

and had all of the right equipment. Magellen and

Alemeida fired Islamic territory and established forts

and towns in Africa. Short after in 1510 Alemeida

caught news of Magellan illegitimately trading to the

Islamics and faulted him of doing so. Magellen then

returned home in Portugal ashamed and no one

wanting to go on any expeditions with him.

THE STRAIT OF MAGELLAN:

In 1520 between October and

November four ships sailed out

searching

for a opening around South America.

They

were able to find their way through the

the islands and waterways and found a

opening up on the southern tip of the

continent. That opening is known as

The Straight of Magellan to this day.

Also,

on November 28, 1520 Magellan

discovered a body of water that he

named

Mar Pacifico which is now known as the

Pacific Ocean.

DEATH OF MAGELLAN:After sailing to The Spice Island Magellan

found

himself on Homonhon Island which is known as

the Philippines today. Magellen had a

man with him that was able to speak the

their language which was Malay. The

Homonhon

Island was uninhabited but locals spotted

Magellens ship by Chief Humabon and took

Megellan to Cebu. Humabon and his wife was

led to Christianity and even so, Humabon

convinced

Magellan to attack and destroy Lapu-Lapu

also their enemies. Magellan rallied up his men

and set out for their attack on April 27, 1521. A

turn of event, Magellan and his men were killed

by the islanders and his body was never found.

RETURN TO SPAIN:On September 26, 1522 only one ship out of

four returned and that was ship Victoria.

The Victoria set out with 270 healthy men

and returned 3 years later with a 18 very

sick men. The ship Trinidad was able to find

The Spice Islands and loaded up on cinnamon

and cloves. As Trinidad crossed the Indian

Ocean the ship had a leak and eventually

sank. Not all of the men died some were

fortunate enough and swam to India and as

time went they on found their way back to Spain.

LEGACY:

A lot of assumptions were made about Ferdinand de

Magellan. The main reasons for his expeditions were to find

a route to The Spice Islands. He never intended to travel in

a circle. Magellan was given the title of the first to

circumnavigate the world. But everyone believes that Jose

Sebastian Elcano who was the captain of the ship Victoria

which was the only ship to return from Magellans expedition

3 years later. People believed that Jose Sebastian Elcano

deserved the first circumnavigator title because Magellan

died halfway in the expeditions and that he never wanted to

travel in a circle but to find The Spice Islands. Magellan may

not have completed what he set out to do, but he did find

other magnificent discoveries. He found the Pacific Ocean, a

great deal of islands, waterways, and also animals such as

penguins and guanacos.