Everything about Ferdinand Magellan totally explained
Ferdinand Magellan (Spring
1480 –
April 27,
1521,
Mactan Island,
Cebu,
Philippines) was a
Portuguese maritime explorer whom, while in the service of the
Spanish Crown, tried to find a westward route to the
Spice Islands of
Indonesia. This was the first successful attempt to
circumnavigate the
Earth in history. Although he didn't complete the entire voyage (he was killed during the
Battle of Mactan in the Philippines) fellow Basque-navigator
Juan Sebastian Elcano completed the final westward voyage. As Magellan traveled farther west than the
Spice Islands, which he'd visited on earlier voyages from the west, he became one of the first individuals to cross all the
meridians of the globe. He was the first person to lead an expedition sailing westward from
Europe to
Asia and to cross the
Pacific Ocean.
Magellan should also be recognized as the first explorer to enter the Pacific from the
eponymous Strait of Magellan, which he discovered. He is also remembered as the first European to reach the archipelago of what is now known as the Philippines, which was unknown to the western world before his landing. Arab traders had established commerce within the archipelago centuries earlier.
Of the 237 men who set out on five ships to circumnavigate the earth, only 18 completed the circumnavigation of the globe and managed to return to Spain in
1522. They were led by a Basque
Juan Sebastián Elcano, who took over command of the expedition after Magellan's death. 17 other men arrived later in Spain, 12 men captured by the Portugueses in
Cape Verde some weeks later, and in 1525/1526 5 survivors of the
Trinidad.
Origins and first voyage
Called "Fernão de Magalhães" in his native tounge, Magellan (because of his family's royal heritage) became a page to Queen Leonor at the royal court after the death of his parents during his tenth year. Very little is known about Magellan's background. He was the son of Rui de Magalhães (son of Pedro Afonso de Magalhães and wife Quinta de Sousa) and wife Alda de Mesquita, and brother of Duarte de Sousa, Diogo de Sousa and Isabel de Magalhães, but exactly how he's connected to the respective families it's unknown. He was married to Beatriz Barbosa and had two children: Rodrigo de Magalhães and Carlos de Magalhães, both of whom died at a young age.
Magellan made his first experience during the expedition on the sea at the age of 25 in 1505, when he was sent to
India to install
Francisco de Almeida as the
Portuguese viceroy. The voyage gave Magellan his first experience of battle when a local king, who had paid tribute to
Vasco da Gama three years earlier, refused to pay tribute to Almeida, which resulted in the
Battle of Diu in 1509. After taking leave without permission, Magellan fell out of favour with Almeida and was also accused of trading illegally with the
Moors. Several of the accusations were subsequently proved and there were no further offers of employment after
May 15,
1514. Later on in 1515, Magellan had an employment offer as a crew member on a Portuguese ship, but rejected this offer.
Spanish search of the Spice Islands
The aim of
Christopher Columbus' voyage to the West was to reach the coasts of the Spice Islands (or the
Indies) and to establish commercial relations between Spain and the several Asian kingdoms. The Spanish soon realized after Columbus' voyages that the lands of the Americas were not a part of Asia, but a new continent. Once
Vasco da Gama and the Portuguese arrived in India in 1498, it became urgent for Spain to find a new commercial route to Asia. The
Treaty of Tordesillas reserved for Portugal the routes that went around Africa. The Spanish Crown then decided to send out exploration voyages in order to find a way to Asia by travelling westwards.
Vasco Núñez de Balboa sailed the Pacific Ocean in 1513, and
Juan Díaz de Solís died in
Río de la Plata some years later trying to find a passage in South America.
When Magellan arrived at the Court of Spain, he presented
King Charles V with a plan which would bring the ships of the
Crown of Castile full access to the lands of the Spice Islands, after seeing that plan not approved by the Portuguese king,
Manuel I.
Journey
On
August 10,
1519, five ships under Magellan's command –
Trinidad,
San Antonio,
Concepción,
Victoria, and
Santiago – left Seville and travelled from the
Guadalquivir River to Sanlúcar de Barrameda at the mouth of the river, where they remained more than five weeks.
Spanish authorities were wary of the Portuguese Magellan, almost prevented the admiral from sailing, and switched his crew from mostly Portuguese men to men of Spain. Nevertheless, Magellan set sail from Sanlúcar de Barrameda with about 270 men on September 20.
King Manuel ordered a Portuguese naval detachment to pursue Magellan, but Magellan avoided them. After stopping at the
Canary Islands, Magellan arrived at
Cape Verde, where he set course for Cape St. Augustine in
Brazil. On November 27, the expedition crossed the
equator; on December 6, the crew sighted South America.
Since Brazil was Portuguese territory, Magellan avoided it, and on December 13 anchored near present-day
Rio de Janeiro. There the crew was resupplied, but bad conditions caused them to delay. Afterwards, they continued to sail south along
South America's east coast, looking for the strait that Magellan believed would lead to the Spice Islands. The fleet reached
Río de la Plata on
January 10,
1520.
On March 30, the crew established a settlement that they called
Puerto San Julian. On
April 2, a mutiny involving two of the five ship captains broke out, but it was unsuccessful because the crew remained loyal. Juan Sebastián Elcano was one of those who were forgiven.
Antonio Pigafetta, an Italian from
Vicenza who paid to be on the Magellan voyage, related that Gaspar Quesada, the captain of
Concepcion, was executed; Juan de Cartagena, the captain of
San Antonio, and a
priest named Padre Sanchez de la Reina were instead
marooned on the coast. Another account states that Luis de Mendoza, the captain of
Victoria, was executed along with Quesada. Reportedly those killed were
drawn and quartered and
impaled on the coast; years later, their bones were found by Sir
Francis Drake.
The journey resumed. The
Santiago was sent down the coast on a scouting expedition and was wrecked in a sudden storm. All of its crew survived and made it safely to shore. Two of them returned overland to inform Magellan of what had happened, and bring rescue to their comrades. After this experience, Magellan decided to wait for a few weeks more before again resuming the voyage.
At 52°S latitude on October 21, the fleet reached
Cape Virgenes and concluded they'd found the passage, because the waters were
brine and deep inland. Four ships began an arduous trip through the long passage that Magellan called the
Estrecho (Canal) de Todos los Santos, ("All Saints' Channel"), because the fleet travelled through it on November 1, or
All Saints' Day. The strait is now named the
Strait of Magellan. Magellan first assigned
Concepcion and
San Antonio to explore the strait, but the latter, commanded by Gomez, deserted and returned to Spain on November 20. On November 28, the three remaining ships entered the
South Pacific. Magellan named the waters the
Mar Pacifico (Pacific Ocean) because of its apparent stillness. Magellan was the first European to reach
Tierra del Fuego just east of the Pacific side of the strait.
Death
Heading northwest, the crew reached the equator on
February 13,
1521. On March 6, they reached the
Marianas and
Guam. Magellan called Guam the "Island of Sails" because they saw a lot of sailboats. They renamed it to "Ladrones Island" (Island of Thieves) because many of
Trinidad's small boats were stolen there. On March 16, Magellan reached the island of
Homonhon in the Philippines, with 150 crew left, and became the first European to reach the Philippines.
Magellan was able to communicate with the native peoples because his
Malay interpreter,
Enrique, could understand their language. Enrique was
indentured by Magellan in 1511 right after the sacking of
Malacca (See:
European colonization of Melaka), and was at his side during the battles in Africa, during Magellan's disgrace at the King's court in Portugal, and during Magellan's successful raising of a fleet. They traded gifts with
Rajah Siaiu of
Mazaua, who guided them to
Cebu on April 7.
Rajah Humabon of Cebu was friendly to Magellan, and he and his queen, Juana, even accepted Christianity. Afterward, Humabon and his rival Datu Zula convinced Magellan to go kill their enemy,
Lapu-Lapu, on Mactan. Magellan had wished to convert Lapu-Lapu to Christianity, as he'd Rajah Humabon, a proposal to which Lapu-Lapu was dismissive. On the morning of April 17, 1521, Magellan sailed to Mactan with an army of men. During the resulting Battle of Mactan against indigenous forces led by Lapu-Lapu, Magellan was killed.
Pigafetta and Ginés de Mafra provided the only extant eyewitness accounts of the events culminating in Magellan's death:
Circumnavigation and return
The casualties suffered in the Philippines left the expedition with too few men to sail the three remaining ships. Accordingly, on May 2, they abandoned
Concepción and burned the ship to ensure it couldn't be used against them. The fleet, reduced to
Trinidad and
Victoria, fled westward to
Palawan. They left that island on June 21, and were guided to
Brunei,
Borneo by
Moro pilots who could navigate the shallow seas. They anchored off the Brunei breakwater for 35 days, where Pigafetta, an Italian from
Vicenza, recorded the splendour of Rajah Siripada's court (
gold, two
pearls the size of hens' eggs, etc.). In addition, Brunei boasted tame
elephants and armament of 62 cannons, more than 5 times the armament of Magellan's ships, and Brunei disdained
cloves, which were to prove more valuable than gold, upon the return to Spain. Pigafetta mentions some of the technology of the court, such as
porcelain and
eyeglasses (both of which were not available or only just becoming available in Europe).
After reaching the
Maluku Islands (the Spice Islands) on November 6, 115 crew were left. They managed to trade with the Sultan of
Tidore, a rival of the Sultan of
Ternate, who was the ally of the Portuguese.
The two remaining ships, laden with valuable spices, attempted to return to Spain by sailing west. However, as they left the Spice Islands,
Trinidad began to take on water. The crew tried to discover and repair the leak, but failed. They concluded that
Trinidad would need to spend considerable time being overhauled, but the small
Victoria wasn't large enough to accommodate all the surviving crew. As a result,
Victoria with some of the crew sailed west for Spain. Several weeks later,
Trinidad departed and attempted to return to Spain via the Pacific route. This attempt failed.
Trinidad was captured by the Portuguese, and was eventually wrecked in a storm while at anchor under Portuguese control.
Victoria set sail via the
Indian Ocean route home on December 21, commanded by Juan Sebastián Elcano. By May 6, the
Victoria rounded the
Cape of Good Hope, with only rice for rations. Twenty crewmen died of starvation before
Elcano put into
Cape Verde, a Portuguese holding, where he abandoned 13 more crew on July 9 in fear of losing his cargo of 26
tons of spices (cloves and
cinnamon).
On
September 6,
1522, Elcano and the remaining crew of Magellan's voyage arrived in Spain aboard the last ship in the fleet,
Victoria, almost exactly three years after they departed. Magellan hadn't intended to circumnavigate the world, only to find a secure way through which the Spanish ships could navigate to the Spice Islands; it was Elcano who, after Magellan's death, decided to push westward, thereby completing the first voyage around the entire Earth.
Maximilianus Transylvanus interviewed the surviving members of the expedition when they presented themselves to the Spanish court at
Valladolid in the autumn of 1522, and wrote the first account of the voyage, which was published in 1523. The account written by Pigafetta didn't appear until 1525, and wasn't wholly published until 1800. This was the Italian transcription by
Carlo Amoretti of what we now call the Ambrosiana codex. The expedition eked out a small profit, but the crew wasn't paid full wages.
Four crewmen of the original 55 on
Trinidad finally returned to Spain in 1525; 51 of them had died in war or from disease. In total, approximately 232 Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, French, English and German sailors died on the expedition around the world with Magellan.
Legacy
Magellan's expedition was the first to circumnavigate the globe and the first to navigate the strait in South America connecting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Magellan's crew observed several animals that were entirely new to European science, including a "
camel without humps", which could have been a
llama,
guanaco,
vicuña, or
alpaca. A black "
goose" that had to be skinned instead of plucked was a
penguin.
Two of the closest
galaxies, the
Magellanic Clouds, were discovered by crew members in the
southern hemisphere. The full extent of the Earth was also realized, since their voyage was 14,460 leagues (69,800
km or 43,400
mi).
Finally, the need for an
International Date Line was established. Upon returning they found their calendars were a day behind, even though they'd faithfully maintained the ship's log. However, they didn't have clocks accurate enough to observe the very slight lengthening of each day during which they were underway on the journey (and since they traveled west, after circumnavigation they'd rotated about the earth's axis exactly one time less, hence experiencing one less night, than if they'd remained in Spain). This caused great excitement at the time and a special delegation was sent to the Pope to explain the oddity to him.
The course that Magellan charted was followed by other navigators, all of whom met with failure until the voyage of
Sir Francis Drake some fifty years afterwards in
1577.
Survivors
When
Victoria, the only surviving ship, returned to the harbor of departure after completing the first circumnavigation of the Earth. On board the small ship only 18 men out of the original 237 men were onboard.
Victoria in 1522:
>
| Name |
Rating |
| Juan Sebastián Elcano, from Getaria |
Master |
| Francisco Albo, from Rodas (in Tui, Galicia) |
Pilot |
| Miguel de Rodas (in Tui, Galicia) |
Pilot |
| Juan de Acurio, from Bermeo |
Pilot |
| Antonio Lombardo (Pigafetta), from Vicenza |
Supernumerary |
| Martín de Judicibus, from Genoa |
Chief Steward |
| Hernándo de Bustamante, from Alcántara |
Mariner |
| Nicholas the Greek, from Nafplion |
Mariner |
| Miguel Sánchez, from Rodas (in Tui, Galicia) |
Mariner |
| Antonio Hernández Colmenero, from Huelva |
Mariner |
| Francisco Rodrigues, Portuguese from Seville |
Mariner |
| Juan Rodríguez, from Huelva |
Mariner |
| Diego Carmena, from Baiona (Galicia) |
Mariner |
| Hans of Aachen, (Holy Roman Empire) |
Gunner |
| Juan de Arratia, from Bilbao |
Able Seaman |
| Vasco Gómez Gallego, from Baiona (Galicia) |
Able Seaman |
| Juan de Santandrés, from Cueto (Cantabria) |
Apprentice Seaman |
| Juan de Zubileta, from Barakaldo |
Page |
Martino de Judicibus
Among the survivors there were only two Italians,
Antonio Pigafetta and Martino de Judicibus.
Martino de Judicibus was a
Genoese or Savonese
Chief Steward. He served with
Ferdinand Magellan on his historical voyage to find a westward route to the
Spice Islands of
Indonesia. His history is preserved in the nominative registers at the
Archivo General de Indias in
Seville,
Spain. The family name is referred to with the exact Latin patronymic, "de Judicibus".
He was initially assigned to the caravel
Concepción, one of five ships of the small Spanish fleet of Magellan. Martino de Judicibus embarked on the expedition with the rank of
merino.
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