ferdinand magellan voyage route

Ferdinand Magellan

While in the service of Spain, the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan led the first European voyage of discovery to circumnavigate the globe.

(1480-1521)

Who Was Ferdinand Magellan?

As a boy, Ferdinand Magellan studied mapmaking and navigation. By his mid-20s, he was sailing in large fleets and was engaged in combat. In 1519, with the support of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, Magellan set out to find a better route to the Spice Islands. He assembled a fleet of ships which, despite huge setbacks and Magellan’s death, circumnavigated the world in a single voyage.

Magellan was born in Portugal, either in the city of Porto or in Sabrosa, circa 1480. His parents were members of the Portuguese nobility and after their deaths, Magellan became a page for the queen, at age 10. He studied at Queen Leonora's School of Pages in Lisbon and spent his days poring over texts on cartography, astronomy, and celestial navigation — subjects that would serve him well in his later pursuits.

Navigator and Explorer

In 1505, when Magellan was in his mid-20s, he joined a Portuguese fleet that was sailing to East Africa. By 1509, he found himself at the Battle of Diu, in which the Portuguese destroyed Egyptian ships in the Arabian Sea. Two years later, he explored Malacca, located in present-day Malaysia, and participated in the conquest of Malacca's port. It was there that he acquired a native servant he named Enrique. It is possible that Magellan sailed as far as the Moluccas, islands in Indonesia, then called the Spice Islands. The Moluccas were the original source of some of the world's most valuable spices, including cloves and nutmeg. The conquest of spice-rich countries was, as a result, a source of much European competition.

While serving in Morocco, in 1513, Magellan was wounded and walked the remainder of his life with a limp. After his injury, he was falsely accused of trading illegally with the Moors, and despite all of his service to Portugal, and his many pleas to the king, any further offers of employment were withheld him.

Final Years and Death

Magellan presented his plan to King Charles I of Spain (soon to become Charles V of the Holy Roman Empire), who gave his blessing. On September 20, 1519, he set out with a fleet of five fully supplied ships, but hardly adequate to sail the distances he proposed. The fleet sailed first to Brazil and then down the coast of South America to Patagonia. There an attempted mutiny took place and one of the ships was wrecked. Despite the setback, the crew continued on with the four remaining vessels.

By October 1520, Magellan and his men had entered what is now called the Strait of Magellan. It took them over a month to pass through the strait, during which time the master of one of the ships deserted and sailed back home. The remaining ships sailed across the Pacific Ocean. In March 1521, the fleet anchored in Guam.

Later in March, 1521, Magellan’ fleet reached Homonhom Island on the edge of the Philippines with less than 150 of the 270 men who started the expedition. Magellan traded with Rajah Humabon, the island king, and a bond was quickly formed. The Spanish crew soon became involved in a war between Humabon and another rival leader and Magellan was killed in battle on April 27, 1521.

The remaining crew escaped the Philippines and continued on towards the Spice Islands, arriving in November 1521. The Spanish commander of the last ship, the Victoria, set sail December and reached Spain on September 8, 1522.

The Controversy Over Who was First

There has been considerable debate around who were the first persons to circumnavigate the globe. The easy answer is Juan Sabastian Elcano and the remaining crew of Magellan’s fleet starting from Spain on September 20, 1519, and returning in September 1522. But there is another candidate who might have gone around the world before them — Magellan’ servant Enrique. In 1511, Magellan was on a voyage for Portugal to the Spice Islands and participated in the conquest of Malacca where he acquired his servant Enrique. Fast forward ten years later, Enrique is with Magellan in the Philippines. After Magellan’s death, it is reported that Enrique was grief-stricken and when he found out he was not going to be freed, contrary to Magellan’s will, he ran away. At this point the record gets murky. Some accounts state Enrique fled into the forest. Official Spanish records list Enrique as one of the men massacred in the attack, but some historians question the records’ credibility or accuracy, citing a bias against Indigenous peoples.

So, it is possible that if Enrique had survived after his escape, he might have made his way back to Malacca where he was originally enslaved by Magellan back in 1511. If true, it would mean Enrique — not Elcano and the surviving members of the crew — was the first person to circumnavigate the globe, albeit not in a single voyage.

QUICK FACTS

• Name: Ferdinand Magellan
• Birth Year: 1480
• Birth City: Sabrosa or Porto
• Birth Country: Portugal
• Gender: Male
• Best Known For: While in the service of Spain, the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan led the first European voyage of discovery to circumnavigate the globe.
• Nationalities
• Death Year: 1521
• Death date: April 27, 1521
• Death City: Mactan
• Death Country: Philippines

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Magellan’s Circumnavigation of the Earth

• Dani Anthony

On September 20, 1519, five ships carrying about 270 men left the Spanish port of Sanlúcar de Barrameda sailing west — and kept going. Led by explorer Ferdinand Magellan, the armada’s goal was to reach the Spice Islands of Maluku (in the Indonesian archipelago) and open a new trading route for Spain.

Thus began the first recorded trip around the globe. An almost unimaginably difficult and perilous journey for the crew, Magellan’s voyage was the opening chapter in the rise of global trade and globalization that defines our world today. It also generated important scientific knowledge, including more information about the earth’s circumference and new understandings of global time.

Establishing this new western sailing route was vital to Spain’s future as an international power. In 1494, after Christopher Columbus returned from the West Indies, the Spanish and Portuguese governments signed a deal known as the Treaty of Tordesillas in which the world was divided into two halves: Portugal could colonize and develop trade with Africa, Asia, and the East Indies, while Spain controlled the Americas. By 1515, then, the only way for Spain to access the luxury goods available in the Spice Islands and elsewhere in Asia was via a westward route.

A map showing the demarcation line between Spanish (green) and Portuguese (blue) claims, as resolved in the Treaty of Tordesillas.

It was at this crucial moment that Ferdinand Magellan (Fernão Magalhães) arrived in Spain. A minor Portuguese noble, Magellan possessed an extensive knowledge of mapmaking and sailing, and already had years of experience sailing the Indian Ocean.

In 1513, Spanish explorer Vasco Nuñez de Balboa had marched across the Isthmus of Panama and confirmed that Asia and the Americas were separated by an ocean. Magellan was convinced he could sail around those continents and easily reach this ocean, accessing the Spice Islands beyond.

A posthumous portrait of Ferdinand Magellan, painted c. 16th or 17th century (left) ; a 1516 map of the known world at the time of Magellan's voyage (right).

Unable to convince the Portuguese of the importance of finding a route to the west, Magellan then turned to the new king of Spain, Charles I. If Magellan’s expedition was successful, Spain would have access to the goods of the East again.

Like most Spanish-funded endeavors, the people who sailed on this voyage were a diverse group, including German, Greek, French, and Afro-descended crewmembers. Besides Magellan’s Portuguese close friends and family, Spaniards and other Europeans with sailing experiences were brought in, some of them to work off debts. Magellan’s second-in-command was the Spanish overseer and accountant, Juan de Cartagena, and the chronicler was the Venetian Antonio Pigafetta.

Magellan and João Serrão were the only Portuguese captains, with Magellan in charge of the largest ship, the Trinidad , and Serrão at the helm of the Santiago . Spaniards captained the other three ships ( San Antonio , Concepción , and Victoria ), and constant Spanish scheming against the Portuguese would have grave consequences for the voyage.

A 19th-century illustration of Magellan's armada preparing to set sail in 1519.

Magellan did nothing to promote Spanish trust, keeping the route a tight secret until the ships were at sea. His plan relied on Portuguese sailing routes, which were well known to him but unfamiliar to many of his crew.

As the armada crossed the Atlantic, morale declined precipitously. By the time the ships arrived on the coast of what is now Brazil to wait out the Southern Hemisphere winter, many aboard were suffering from scurvy, and the Spanish captains were in open rebellion against Magellan. Mutiny was in the air, with Juan de Cartagena, who resented Magellan’s secrecy, leading the effort.

Brazil, as depicted in a 1519 atlas.

In the cold of their wintering grounds and with reduced rations, the mutineers made their move. Although they managed to take over as many as three of the five ships, they were eventually captured and Magellan exiled Cartagena to an uninhabited island off the coast.

The winter of 1520 also saw the destruction of the Santiago, which ran aground while on a scouting mission to the south. Although the ship’s crew survived, the loss of the Santiago put more pressure on an already pinched crew.

An 1885 drawing of the Strait of Magellan.

By late spring, surviving on seal and penguin meat, the armada entered what is now known as the Strait of Magellan, the narrow body of water separating mainland South America from the Tierra del Fuego. The armada lost another ship during the passage through the Strait: the San Antonio , which became separated from the rest of the armada, and turned around and returned to Spain.

An engraving (c. 1580–1618) of Magellan crossing the Strait that would bear his name.

Once the three remaining ships reached the other side of the Strait of Magellan, the sea they found was calm and placid. Magellan christened it the Pacific Ocean. Crossing the Pacific, the crew of the remaining ships suffered terribly. Twenty-nine sailors died during the four-month voyage.

In April 1521, the group put into an island in the Pacific: Cebu, in what is now the Philippines . As the first Europeans to see these islands, Magellan’s crew would lay the groundwork for the long Spanish colonization of the archipelago, which lasted until 1898. Magellan befriended the local ruler, Raja Humabon, and became embroiled in local politics, which would be his downfall.

On April 27, 1521, Magellan went to war against the ruler Lapu Lapu on Mactan Island, who refused to bring tribute for Raja Humabon and the King of Spain. Fighting in the shallow waters off the shore, Magellan and 49 of his men squared off against over 1,000 Mactanese warriors. Facing such poor odds, Magellan was killed, as well as seven of his men, and his ships returned to Cebu.

A 19th-century illustration of the death of Magellan (left) ; a plaque in Cebu commemorating the site of Magellan's death, Philippines (right).

Raja Humabon, displeased at the newcomer’s loss, hosted a feast where he poisoned a group of some of the highest-ranking members of the expedition, leaving less than half of the original crew. The rest of the members set sail, fleeing to the safety of the sea. On May 2, 1521, those sailors who remained scuttled the Concepción and divided the crew among the remaining two ships, the Trinidad and the Victoria.

For the next six months the ships engaged in piracy as they made their way to the Spice Islands. Finally, in November, they arrived at the island of Tidore, part of the Malukus, and filled their holds with cloves. The Trinidad, which was taking on water, could not be repaired, and it was abandoned along with its crew.

Detail of a 1590 map showing the Victoria , the only ship from the armada to successfully circumnavigate the earth.

The Spaniard Juan Sebastián Elcano was elected captain of the remaining ship Victoria, which set sail west to the Cape of Good Hope at the southern tip of Africa. This voyage took over six months, during which the crew subsisted on rice alone.

On September 6, 1522, the Victoria at last reached harbor in Spain, nearly three years after first setting out. Of the original 270-strong crew, only eighteen had survived.

Map showing the route and chronology of the circumnavigation voyage from 1519 to 1522.

Although Magellan is remembered today for circumnavigating the globe, his reputation in the expedition’s immediate aftermath took a battering from those who had survived the expedition. Both the sailors of the Victoria , as well as the crew of the San Antonio who had turned back from the Strait of Magellan in 1520, disparaged him.

Juan Elcano, on the other hand, was given a hero’s welcome, even though he had joined the voyage only to receive a royal pardon. He was elevated to the peerage and added a globe and the words “first to circumnavigate me” to his coat of arms. In Spain, the circumnavigation is known as the Magellan-Elcano expedition.

Engraving of Juan Elcano, 1791 (left) ; Juan Elcano's coat of arms, bearing the phrase, "Primus circumdedisti me" ("First to circumnavigate me") (right).

The first recorded circumnavigation had important political, economic, and scientific consequences.

Spain calculated the total circumference of the globe for the first time, and determined that the Pacific was much wider than previously guessed, meaning that they owned some of the Pacific islands as demarcated by the Treaty of Tordesillas. Spain took control of the Philippines, and began exploration of the East Pacific.

Cross erected by Magellan's crew on the island of Cebu.

Magellan’s voyage also opened the door for trade. By the 1600s, Spanish territories produced most of the world’s silver, and around a third of it ended up in China through trade. This would have lasting effects on global strategy and economies, and propel Spain to the height of European power.

Perhaps just as important for us today, however, is the establishment of the International Date Line. Upon return to Spain, the sailors of the Victoria learned that they were a day behind in their reckoning. As they sailed against the Earth’s rotation, they lost hours. Many mysteries of the globe were revealed.

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Ferdinand Magellan Facts, Voyages, and Route

Published: Jun 1, 2012 · Modified: Nov 11, 2023 by Russell Yost · This post may contain affiliate links ·

Ferdinand Magellan  (1480 – 27 April 1521) was born in Portugal in 1480 but would sail under the Spanish flag. His expedition would become the first to circumnavigate the earth, although he did not complete the voyage. Along the way, he discovered new islands, water passageways, and a new sea route to Asia.  The sea route to Asia was accomplished by sailing around the South American continent. This would be the only way the West could travel to Asia by using the Western route until the Panama Canal was finished in 1914.

Early Career in Portugal

Voyage of circumnavigation, death of ferdinand magellan, online resources.

• Ferdinand Magellan was born around 1480 in Portugal. He would have been a young child when Bartolmeu Dias and Vasco da Gama discovered the eastern route around the tip of Africa.
• Magellan's parents were highly influential Portuguese citizens with claims to the Portuguese throne. They died when he was 10 years old.
• After their death, Queen Leonor made Magellan a page. He would stay a page until the age of 25, when he was sent as the first viceroy of Portuguese India. A post that he held for 8 years.
• While viceroy Ferdinand Magellan became an exceptional navigator and well-versed in naval warfare, he fought in multiple battles under the Portuguese flag, such as the Battle of Cannanore and the Battle of Diu.
• During the Battle of Diu, his skill earned him honors and a promotion. Shortly after his promotion, Magellan helped conquer Malacca. Ferdinand Magellan continued to serve the Portuguese Crown but fell out of favor with the King after being accused of illegally trading with the Moors.
• The accusations were proven to be false, but the stigma remained, and Magellan found it hard to find work as a Portuguese seaman. After arguing with King Manuel I, Magellan left Portugal and would not be seen again until he was sailing under the Spanish flag. He would devote himself to the study of the possibility of a new passageway to the East.
• While in Spain, Ferdinand Magellan befriended Diogo Barbosa and married his daughter. The couple would have two children, but neither would make it to adulthood. His unnamed wife would die in 1521.
• In 1492, Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabel of Castile commissioned Christopher Columbus to find a western passage to Asia. Although he thought he had reached India, he had not, and it was confirmed by men such as Amerigo Vespucci and Vasco de Nunez Balboa .
• Even so, Spain's economy boomed with the New World's discovery, and new trade was established with new natural resources. The export of sugar became a wealthy commodity for the Spanish.
• A few short years afterward, the Portuguese established a lucrative spice trade with India through Vasco da Gama, who, along with Bartolomeu Dias, discovered the eastern route around the tip of Africa.
• With this discovery, the small nation of Portugal became a global economic powerhouse. The Portuguese never cared much about the New World, as their focus was primarily on the African coast and Asia.
• They did not have the military power to compete with nations such as France, Spain, England, or the Holy Roman Empire, but their economic strength made them a formidable enemy because they would be able to fund a defensive campaign.
• With the success of the Portuguese and a treaty signed between Portugal and Spain giving Portugal control of the eastern route, The Spanish looked for another route to get access to the riches of Asia. Ferdinand Magellan began researching possible ways around the southern tip of the New World and believed he had found a southwest passage to the New World.
• With this knowledge, he was granted an audience with King Charles I. King Charles showed great interest in the idea that Magellan presented. This would allow the Spanish to open up a spice route without damaging the relations with the neighboring Portuguese.
• Although Portugal's military was not nearly as strong as the Spanish Military, King Charles knew and understood the European Theatre. He would eventually become Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire and fight wars with England, France, and the Ottoman Empire. Avoiding conflict with Portugal would play to his advantage in years to come.
• A monopoly of the discovered route for 10 years.
• 5% of the net gains in the land or islands he discovered
• 5th of the gains of travel.
• The right to levy 1,000 ducats on future trips and pay only 5% on the rest
• Granting an island to him that was not one of the six richest.
• Ferdinand Magellan's voyage was approved, and his fleet was ready by August 10, 1519.
• Upon learning of Magellan's voyage, King Manuel I sent a detachment to follow him, but it was to no avail. Magellan easily avoided them and sailed to the Canary Islands, where he stopped for a short period and then sailed to Cape Verde and then to Cape St. Augustine in Brazil.
• Magellan knew that Brazil was Portuguese territory, so he sailed past it and put his anchor down near Rio de Janeiro. After a delay due to inclement weather, he continued down the South American coast to find the strait that would lead them to the Eastern lands.
• They continued down the coast and established a settlement which they named Puerto San Julian.
• Magellan then faced some opposition as his crew mutinied against him. It was easily squashed, and the instigators were impaled on the coast. This would be confirmed when Sir Francis Drake of England circumnavigated the earth and found the bones of the mutinous crew on the coast.
• After putting down the riot, Magellan sent a small detachment under Duarte Barbosa to scout the southern coast. His ship was destroyed by a violent storm, but all the crew members survived. Magellan decided to wait to avoid the storms and then continued down the South American coast.
• On October 21, Ferdinand Magellan reached what would become known as the Strait of Magellan. This strait would take the crew around the tip of South America and into the east. Magellan would continue northwest to find the wealth of Asia and establish a Spanish spice route. Along the way, he looked for new lands and islands.
• Magellan reached the equator on February 13, 1521, and soon after came across the islands of Marianas and Guam. On March 17, 1521, Magellan reached the Philippine archipelago.
• He and his Spaniards went ashore to meet the natives, and to their shock, they were not the first Europeans to make it to the Philippines. The Portuguese had begun trading with the natives during the time between Magellan's banishment from King Manuel's court and King Charles' funding of Magellan's voyage.
• Ferdinand Magellan came in contact with the native tribes of Cebu and was able to communicate with them through his interpreter Enrique, who had been indentured to him in 1511 while Magellan was still sailing for Portugal.
• The leader of Cebu, Rajah Humabon, was friendly towards Magellan and his crew. Rajah and his queen had been converted to Christianity by the Europeans, which aided Magellan's relations with them.
• After much talk, Rajah Humabon, along with his ally Data Zula, enlisted the help of Magellan to kill their enemy based in Lapu-Lapu. Magellan did not want to immediately attack them but first wanted to try to convert them to Christianity. When those efforts failed, he organized an attack force and marched on the coast of Lapu-Lapu.
• The battle marked the end of Ferdinand Magellan's voyage as he was surrounded by the Lapu-Lapu and speared to death.
• The voyage continued without him, and the surviving men sailed throughout the east and around the coast of Africa and into the Spanish harbor.
• The survivors managed to trade a bit with the East, but little was accomplished. Magellan's voyage can be viewed as a success in reconnaissance but a failure in established a spice route. The Spanish would eventually establish trade with the East, but it would be with their New World colonies.

• Wikipedia - Ferdinand Magellan
• Age of Exploration - Ferdinand Magellan Biography
• Royal Museums Greenwich
• Journal of Magellan's Voyages
• Eyewitness to History - Death of Magellan
• Over The Edge of the World
• The History Junkie's Guide to Famous Explorers
• The History Junkie's Guide to European Colonization

Magellan, Elcano and Their Voyage Around the World

Discover the details of the first circumnavigation of the globe..

By Naval Museum

Museo Naval

We Were The First: Magellan, Elcano, and the Voyage Around the World Naval Museum

The Voyage Around the World In 2019, Spain celebrated 500 years since 5 ships set sail from Seville, heading west in search of a new route to the spices of the east. Around 250 men from at least 9 different countries began the journey, which was funded by the Spanish monarch King Charles I. It was a journey that would end 3 years later with the arrival of just 1 ship carrying 18 men, having completed the first circumnavigation of the world.

Chart of Juan de la Cosa (1500) by Juan de la Cosa Original Source: Museo Naval Madrid.

The World of Magellan and Elcano

Finding a maritime route to the east was a constant preoccupation in the Middle Ages and Early Modern Period. The decline of the overland trade route called the Silk Road forced European powers to look for new ways to the east. Portugal began crossing the Atlantic and Spain's Catholic Monarchs, Ferdinand II and Isabella I, financed Christopher Columbus' voyage in search of a new route.

Ptolemy's Mappamundi (1472) by Claudio Ptolomeo Original Source: Museo Naval. Madrid. Todos los derechos reservados.

When Columbus set sail for the Indies in 1492, sea voyages were an adventure into the unknown. The discovery of new lands helped improve cartography, which was essential for navigation. Claudius Ptolemy's Geography, an ancient Roman atlas, was hugely influential in this, as it was the first example of using a systematic method to map the world.

The first map to depict the Americas was produced in 1500 by Juan de la Cosa. It represents the limits of European knowledge of this new world by the time Ferdinand Magellan's expedition set sail in 1519.

The Cantino planisphere. The original is in the Biblioteca Estense Universitaria library in Modena (1502-1505) by Anonimuos Original Source: Museo Naval. Madrid. Todos los derechos reservados.

In the east, accounts from merchants and travelers alluded to rich and fertile lands. To the south, Portuguese explorers had provided more specific details of the outline of the African coast. Looking west, the tales of Spanish conquistadors described the recently discovered Americas as a new land full of natural riches.

In 1502, Alberto Cantino's Planisphere, or world map, was the first to depict the meridian designated by the Treaty of Tordesillas. Signed in 1494, the treaty divided the rights to sail to and conquer new lands in the Atlantic Ocean and the New World between the Spanish monarchy and Portugal.

Model of the Victoria (2019) by Francisco Fernández González, Luis Fariña Filgueira, Fernando Sagra Sanz, José Antonio Álvarez Manzanares Original Source: Museo Naval. Madrid. All rights reserved.

Inspiration and Preparation for the Voyage

By that time, Europe had begun to realize that the Americas were a new continent rather than part of Asia, and so continued to send expeditions there. During one of these, Vasco Núñez de Balboa discovered the South Sea (now known as the Pacific Ocean) in 1513. This created new opportunities for navigation on the other side of Panama.

Ratification of the Treaty of Tordesillas (1494) Original Source: Archivo del Museo Naval. Madrid. Todos los derechos reservados.

Spain and Portugal began searching for a passage to this ocean to reach the Indies, while adhering to the boundaries established in the Treaty of Tordesillas. Signed in 1494, this treaty comprised a series of agreements between King Ferdinand II of Aragon and Queen Isabella I of Castile on the one hand, and King John II of Portugal on the other. These established a new line of demarcation between their kingdoms from pole to pole, 370 leagues west of the Cape Verde Islands.

Portrait of Ferdinand Magellan (19th Century) by Spanish anonimous Original Source: Museo Naval. Madrid. Todos los derechos reservados.

Ferdinand Magellan was a Portuguese-born sailor who knew the Portuguese route to Africa and Asia, having sailed in the service of King Manuel I of Portugal for over 20 years. He wanted to begin a journey that would take a new route to the Moluccas (Spice Islands), but the idea did not get far at the Portuguese court. That is how he ended up in Spain, where he was welcomed by the young monarch Charles I, grandchild of Ferdinand and Isabella.

Model of the Victoria (2019) by Francisco Fernández González, Luis Fariña Filgueira, Fernando Sagra Sanz, José Antonio Álvarez Manzanares. Original Source: Museo Naval. Madrid. Todos los derechos reservados.

In 1518, an agreement (the Capitulaciones de Valladolid) was signed between Magellan, his cosmographer Rui Faleiro, and the Spanish monarch to find a new western route to the Spice Islands that avoided the areas under Portuguese control. They had five ships with which to make the journey (the "Trinidad", "San Antonio", "Concepción", "Victoria", and "Santiago"), which the Casa de la Contratación (House of Commerce) supplied with provisions for a planned two-year voyage.

The Voyage (1519–22)

The expedition left Seville on August 10, 1519, arriving in Sanlucár de Barrameda 10 days later to collect the final provisions and equipment. From there, they set sail into the unknown, on a journey that would take three years.

Map of South America (1630) by Gerardis Mercatoris Original Source: Museo Naval. Madrid. Todos los derechos reservados.

The Familiar: From Seville to Río de Solís Leaving Seville, they journeyed south and, at the beginning of October, they headed southwest across the Atlantic Ocean, which was already familiar to the experienced sailors. On December 13, they dropped anchor in Santa Lucia Bay (now Rio de Janeiro), where they picked up food supplies. In January 1520, they reached the mouth of Río de Solís (now Río de la Plata).

Map of America (Siglo XVI) by Diego Gutierrez Original Source: Museo Naval. Madrid.

The Unknown: From the Río de Solís to The South Sea Due to the weather, they decided to stop in Port St. Julian. The "Santiago" was lost on a reconnaissance mission, although the crew and cargo were saved. Discontent was starting to grow among the crew due to the rationing of supplies and not knowing which route to follow. Juan de Cartagena, led a mutiny with the support of the "Victoria" and the "Concepción". Magellan quelled the uprising, killing the captain of the "Victoria" (Luis de Mendoza) and the captain of the "Concepción" (Gaspar de Quesada), and abandoning Juan de Cartagena on an island in Patagonia.

Tierra del Fuego (18th century) by Anónimo Original Source: Museo Naval. Madrid.

On August 24, the expedition set off again, but with one less ship after the "Santiago" crashed into a sandbank. “On the 21st of the said month [October 1520] … we saw an opening like a bay … within this bay we found a strait … and passing this strait we found another small bay, and then we found another strait …” (Francisco Albo). They had finally found the passage. What is now known as the Strait of Magellan allowed them access to a new ocean that they called the Pacific.

Penguin Original Source: Museo Naval. Madrid.

The accounts of Antonio Pigafetta describe the never-before-seen animals they discovered there, such as the penguin, now known as the Magellanic penguin. During this discovery, the "San Antonio" deserted the expedition and turned east, back to Spain.

Model of a rowboat (rocking boat) (19th Century) by Spanish anonimous Original Source: Museo Naval. Madrid. Todos los derechos reservados.

The seas gradually became more difficult to navigate. They crossed open waters that were unknown to them, leading to a shortage in supplies and illness among the crew. The expedition landed on islands such as San Pablo, Guam, and the Caroline Islands, signing treaties of loyalty to the king of Spain and spreading Christianity along the way. Finally, in 1521, they reached the Archipelago of San Lazaro, now the Philippines.

Kris with wavy blade (c. 1840) by Philippine anonimous Original Source: Museo Naval. Madrid. Todos los derechos reservados.

Magellan's Death The commander of the expedition established good relations with the king of Cebu, Rajah Humabon, arousing suspicion in the other local kings. Quarrels broke out, with some in favor of the Spanish and others against, creating a hostile environment. Finally, in 1521, Magellan and 60 men confronted Lapu-Lapu, the king of Mactan. The island's reefs stopped the Spanish artillery boats from landing and they were attacked by 1,500 islanders. Magellan died in the battle.

Primus Circumdedisti Me (2019) by Augusto Ferrer Dalmau Original Source: Museo Naval. Madrid.

Elcano and the Arrival at the Moluccas The early departure from the Philippines led to a reorganization of the remaining crew. They set fire to the "Concepción", which was in poor condition, and the crew were split between the two remaining ships. The "Trinidad" was commanded by Gonzalo Gómez de Espinosa, and Juan Sebastián Elcano became captain of the "Victoria". At last, on November 8, 1521, they caught sight of the Moluccas, landing on Tidore.

Juan Sebastián Elcano (1854) by J. Donon Original Source: Museo Naval. Madrid. Todos los derechos reservados.

After arriving at these islands, they discovered the "Trinidad" was no longer seaworthy. Gómez de Espinosa stayed for a few months to repair the ship and wait for more favorable winds to help them sail east and return via the Americas. Meanwhile, Elcano began the return journey across the Indian Ocean towards Africa, setting course for the Cape of Good Hope, which was under Portuguese control.

The Return of the Victoria from the Moluccas to Seville Following more storms and illnesses, the "Victoria" landed in Cape Verde, in Portuguese territory, in May 1522 to carry out repairs and take on supplies. When the Portuguese discovered their cargo and the origin of the crew, they were forced to abandon the island suddenly, leaving some of the crew on land.

Juan Sebastián Elcano returning to Seville in 1522 (Ca. 1944-45) by Elías Salaverría Inchaurrandieta Original Source: Museo Naval. Madrid. Todos los derechos reservados.

“On the 4th of the said month [September 1522], in the morning, we saw land, and it was Cape St. Vincent, and it was to the northeast of us, and so we changed our course to the southeast …” (Francisco Albo). They had finally returned home. The "Victoria" reached Seville with 18 survivors, 4 days after catching sight of Cape St. Vincent. They had made it possible to carry out commercial trade around the world. They were the first to circumnavigate the globe.

Charles V welcoming back Elcano (1854) by Carlos Mugica y Pérez Original Source: Museo Naval. Madrid. Todos los derechos reservados.

The king summoned Juan Sebastián Elcano to Valladolid, where he gave him a personal report on the mission and requested the rescue of the crew members held prisoner in Cape Verde. The monarch granted him a lifetime income of 500 gold ducats a year—which he never paid him—and a coat of arms featuring a world globe with the inscription, "Primus circumdedisti me (You were the first to circumnavigate me)."

Model of the barquentine Juan Sebastián de Elcano, a training ship for the Royal Spanish Navy (1927–active service) (1982-1987) by José Francisco Arregui Arambarri Original Source: Museo Naval. Madrid. Todos los derechos reservados.

Elcano died four years later, during a new mission to the Moluccas led by García Jofre de Loaísa. The current Spanish navy training ship bears his name in his honor.

Descriptio Maris Pacifici (1589) by Abraham Ortelius Original Source: Museo Naval. Madrid. Todos los derechos reservados.

Legacy: A New World

The importance of the Magellan-Elcano voyage far exceeded the original plans for the expedition.

Universal Chart (1866) by Diego Ribero Original Source: Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana (Vatican City)

What began as a mission to find a way to the Spice Islands, far from the Portuguese routes, became a successful enterprise for two other reasons: it helped prove the shape of the Earth and showed that the Americas were not part of the Indies, but in fact a whole new continent. It generated numerous economic, geographic, and political changes, and led to the beginnings of globalization.

Organized by the Naval Museum, Madrid Curators: Enrique Martínez Ruiz, Susana García Ramírez, José María Moreno Martín Online adaptation: Blanca Sazatornil, Alicia Suárez. Outreach Department, Naval Museum, Madrid. This exhibition is part of the First Voyage Around the World project.

Chart of Juan de la Cosa: The First Known Map of America

Naval museum, elcano's return (el regreso de elcano), navigational instruments and equipment in the 16th century, scale model ships, masters of the sea, lords of the world, midshipmen: the arrival of science in spain, isaac peral and the invention of the first electric submarine, blas de lezo, the last voyage of the mercedes, la batalla de lepanto.

The Ages of Exploration

Ferdinand magellan interactive map, age of discovery.

Quick Facts:

Ferdinand Magellan is credited for making the first European voyage around the globe

Click on the world map to view an example of the explorer’s voyage.

How to Use the Map

• Click on either the map icons or on the location name in the expanded column to view more information about that place or event

• Original "EXPLORATION through the AGES" site
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Voyages of Ferdinand Magellan

First voyage, king charles i finances the voyage, rio de janeiro, strait of magellan, philippines, death in battle, rounding the cape, voyage home.

The Magellan expedition, also known as the Magellan–Elcano expedition, was the first voyage around the world. It was a 16th century Spanish expedition initially led by Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan to the Moluccas, which departed from Spain in 1519, and completed in 1522 by Spanish navigator Juan Sebastián Elcano, after crossing the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans, culminating in the first circumnavigation of the world.

The expedition accomplished its primary goal – to find a western route to the Moluccas (Spice Islands). The fleet left Spain on 20 September 1519, sailed across the Atlantic ocean and down the eastern coast of South America, eventually discovering the Strait of Magellan, allowing them to pass through to the Pacific Ocean (which Magellan named). The fleet completed the first Pacific crossing, stopping in the Philippines , and eventually reached the Moluccas after two years. A much-depleted crew led by Juan Sebastián Elcano finally returned to Spain on 6 September 1522, having sailed west across the great Indian Ocean, then around the Cape of Good Hope through waters controlled by the Portuguese and north along the Western African coast to eventually arrive in Spain.

The fleet initially consisted of five ships and about 270 men. The expedition faced numerous hardships including Portuguese sabotage attempts, mutinies, starvation, scurvy, storms, and hostile encounters with indigenous people. Only 30 men and one ship (the Victoria) completed the return trip to Spain. Magellan himself died in battle in the Philippines, and was succeeded as captain-general by a series of officers, with Elcano eventually leading the Victoria's return trip.

The expedition was funded mostly by King Charles I of Spain, with the hope that it would discover a profitable western route to the Moluccas, as the eastern route was controlled by Portugal under the Treaty of Tordesillas. Though the expedition did find a route, it was much longer and more arduous than expected, and was therefore not commercially useful. Nevertheless, the expedition is regarded as one of the greatest achievements in seamanship, and had a significant impact on the European understanding of the world.

In March 1505 at the age of 25, Magellan enlisted in the fleet of 22 ships sent to host Francisco de Almeida as the first viceroy of Portuguese India . Although his name does not appear in the chronicles, it is known that he remained there eight years, in Goa, Cochin and Quilon. He participated in several battles, including the battle of Cannanore in 1506, where he was wounded. In 1509 he fought in the battle of Diu.

After having his proposed expeditions to the Spice Islands repeatedly rejected by King Manuel of Portugal, Magellan turned to Charles I, the young King of Spain (and future Holy Roman Emperor). Under the 1494 Treaty of Tordesillas, Portugal controlled the eastern routes to Asia that went around Africa. Magellan instead proposed reaching the Spice Islands by a western route, a feat which had never been accomplished. Hoping that this would yield a commercially useful trade route for Spain , Charles approved the expedition, and provided most of the funding.

On 10 August 1519, the five ships under Magellan's command left Seville and descended the Guadalquivir River to Sanlúcar de Barrameda, at the mouth of the river. There they remained more than five weeks. The fleet left Spain on 20 September 1519, sailing west across the Atlantic toward South America. Magellan's fleet consisted of five ships, carrying supplies for two years of travel. The crew consisted of about 270 men. Most were Spanish, but around 40 were Portuguese.

On 13 December, the fleet reached Rio de Janeiro, Brazil . Though nominally Portuguese territory, they maintained no permanent settlement there at the time. Seeing no Portuguese ships in the harbour, Magellan knew it would be safe to stop.

The fleet spent 13 days in Rio, during which they repaired their ships, stocked up on water and food (such as yam, cassava, and pineapple), and interacted with the locals. The expedition had brought with them a great quantity of trinkets intended for trade, such as mirrors, combs, knives and bells. The locals readily exchanged food and local goods (such as parrot feathers) for such items. The crew also found they could purchase sexual favours from the local women. Historian Ian Cameron described the crew's time in Rio as "a saturnalia of feasting and lovemaking".

On 27 December, the fleet left Rio de Janeiro. Pigafetta wrote that the natives were disappointed to see them leave, and that some followed them in canoes trying to entice them to stay.

After three months of searching (including a false start in the estuary of Río de la Plata), weather conditions forced the fleet to stop their search to wait out the winter. They found a sheltered natural harbor at the port of Saint Julian, and remained there for five months. Shortly after landing at St. Julian, there was a mutiny attempt led by the Spanish captains Juan de Cartagena, Gaspar de Quesada and Luis de Mendoza. Magellan barely managed to quell the mutiny, despite at one point losing control of three of his five ships to the mutineers. Mendoza was killed during the conflict, and Magellan sentenced Quesada and Cartagena to being beheaded and marooned, respectively. Lower-level conspirators were made to do hard labor in chains over the winter, but later freed.

During the winter, one of the fleet's ships, the Santiago, was lost in a storm while surveying nearby waters, though no men were killed. Following the winter, the fleet resumed their search for a passage to the Pacific in October 1520. Three days later, they found a bay which eventually led them to a strait, now known as the Strait of Magellan, which allowed them passage through to the Pacific. While exploring the strait, one of the remaining four ships, the San Antonio, deserted the fleet, returning east to Spain. The fleet reached the Pacific by the end of November 1520. Based on the incomplete understanding of world geography at the time, Magellan expected a short journey to Asia, perhaps taking as little as three or four days. In fact, the Pacific crossing took three months and twenty days. The long journey exhausted their supply of food and water, and around 30 men died, mostly of scurvy. Magellan himself remained healthy, perhaps because of his personal supply of preserved quince.

On 6 March 1521, the exhausted fleet made landfall at the island of Guam and were met by native Chamorro people who came aboard the ships and took items such as rigging, knives, and a ship's boat. The Chamorro people may have thought they were participating in a trade exchange (as they had already given the fleet some supplies), but the crew interpreted their actions as theft. Magellan sent a raiding party ashore to retaliate, killing several Chamorro men, burning their houses, and recovering the 'stolen' goods

On 16 March, the fleet reached the Philippines , where they would remain for a month and a half. Magellan befriended local leaders on the island of Limasawa, and on 31 March, held the first Mass in the Philippines, planting a cross on the island's highest hill. Magellan set about converting the locals to Christianity . Most accepted the new religion readily, but the island of Mactan resisted.

On 27 April, Magellan and members of his crew attempted to subdue the Mactan natives by force, but in the ensuing battle, the Europeans were overpowered and Magellan was killed by Lapulapu, a native chieftain in Mactan.

Following his death, Magellan was initially succeeded by co-commanders Juan Serrano and Duarte Barbosa (with a series of other officers later leading). The fleet left the Philippines (following a bloody betrayal by former ally Rajah Humabon) and eventually made their way to the Moluccas in November 1521. Laden with spices, they attempted to set sail for Spain in December, but found that only one of their remaining two ships, the Victoria, was seaworthy.

The Victoria set sail via the Indian Ocean route home on 21 December 1521, commanded by Juan Sebastián Elcano. By 6 May 1522 the Victoria rounded the Cape of Good Hope, with only rice for rations.

Twenty crewmen died of starvation by 9 July 1522, when Elcano put into Portuguese Cape Verde for provisions. The crew was surprised to learn that the date was actually 10 July 1522, as they had recorded every day of the three-year journey without omission. They had no trouble making purchases at first, using the cover story that they were returning to Spain from the Americas. However, the Portuguese detained 13 crew members after discovering that Victoria was carrying spices from the East Indies. The Victoria managed to escape with its cargo of 26 tons of spices (cloves and cinnamon).

On 6 September 1522, Elcano and the remaining crew of Magellan's voyage arrived in Sanlúcar de Barrameda in Spain aboard Victoria, almost exactly three years after they departed. They then sailed upriver to Seville, and from there overland to Valladolid, where they appeared before the Emperor. When Victoria, the one surviving ship and the smallest carrack in the fleet, returned to the harbour of departure after completing the first circumnavigation of the Earth, only 18 men out of the original 270 men were on board. In addition to the returning Europeans, the Victoria had aboard three Moluccans who came aboard at Tidore.

Magellan has come to be renowned for his navigational skill and tenacity. The first circumnavigation has been called "the greatest sea voyage in the Age of Discovery", and even "the most important maritime voyage ever undertaken". Appreciation of Magellan's accomplishments may have been enhanced over time by the failure of subsequent expeditions which attempted to retrace his route, beginning with the Loaísa expedition in 1525 (which featured Juan Sebastián Elcano as second-in-command). The next expedition to successfully complete a circumnavigation, led by Francis Drake, would not occur until 1580, 58 years after the return of the Victoria.

Magellan named the Pacific Ocean (which was also often called the Sea of Magellan in his honor until the eighteenth century), and lends his name to the Strait of Magellan.

Even though Magellan did not survive the trip, he has received more recognition for the expedition than Elcano has, since Magellan was the one who started it, Portugal wanted to recognize a Portuguese explorer, and Spain feared Basque nationalism.

How Did the Caravel Change the World?

Technology of the age of exploration.

Holy Roman Emperor

Ferdinand Magellan

Portuguese Explorer

Juan Sebastián Elcano

Castilian Explorer

Juan de Cartagena

Spanish Explorer

Francisco de Almeida

Mactan Datu

• The First Voyage Round the World, by Magellan, full text, English translation by Lord Stanley of Alderley, London: Hakluyt, [1874] – six contemporary accounts of his voyage
• Guillemard, Francis Henry Hill (1890), The life of Ferdinand Magellan, and the first circumnavigation of the globe, 1480–1521, G. Philip, retrieved 8 April 2009
• Zweig, Stefan (2007), Conqueror of the Seas – The Story of Magellan, Read Books, ISBN 978-1-4067-6006-4

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Why the Magellan Expedition Was So Treacherous

By: Patrick J. Kiger

Updated: July 24, 2023 | Original: July 20, 2023

In September 20, 1519, a fleet of five ships and 260 sailors set sail from the Spanish port of Sanlúcar de Barrameda, under the command of Ferdinand Magellan , a Portuguese mariner who had shifted his allegiance to Spain.

Magellan sought to find a westward route by water to the Spice Islands, a small archipelago in Indonesia that was the source of the nutmeg, cloves and other spices that Europeans coveted as flavorings and medicines. In accomplishing that, the expedition would circumnavigate the planet for the first time in human history. 

It was an audacious plan, one that involved sailing through thousands of miles of uncharted waters and finding a previously undiscovered passage through the Americas from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific. But Magellan, who believed that it was God’s will for him to succeed, was confident of success. 

The mariner was “an unparalleled example of navigational smarts, personal courage and indifference to hardship,” says Laurence Bergreen , author of the 2003 book Over the Edge of the World: Magellan’s Terrifying Circumnavigation of the Globe.

In the end, Magellan’s quest would cost him his life, and lead to the loss of all but one of his ships and most of his crew through death or desertion.

Here are some of the hazards that made Magellan’s expedition so treacherous, and how the explorer and his crew overcame some, but not all, of those obstacles.

Magellan didn't really know how to get to his destination.

Magellan initially tried to get Portugal’s King Manuel to authorize a voyage to discover a water route to the Spice Islands, according to Bergreen, but the king, who didn’t like him, nixed the idea. In frustration, he got permission from Manuel to pitch his plan elsewhere, and in 1517, he moved to Spain, where he lobbied officials on his idea. 

As a selling point, Magellan proclaimed his belief that the Spice Islands were located inside the Spanish realm delineated by the 1494 Treaty of Tordesillas , in which Spain and Portugal agreed to divide the non-Christian world between them. Magellan may actually have believed this, because he had a friend, Portuguese mariner Francisco Serrão, who had settled in the Spice Islands and wrote Magellan letters in which he placed the islands far to the east of where they actually were. 

Not only was Magellan mistaken about his destination, but he was even shakier about the route he would take to get there.

Magellan told Spanish officials that his plan was to sail along the eastern coast of South America until the land ended, and even showed them a globe to illustrate the route. Though he didn’t know the actual distance, he estimated that the round trip from the Spice Islands would take no more than two years.

But Magellan was vague about how he would get past the Americas. According to historian Jerry Brotton’s A History of the World in 12 Maps , a priest and author named Bartolome de las Casas, who witnessed the presentation, asked Magellan, “What will you do if you find no strait to pass into the other sea?” Magellan dodged the question. 

When Magellan finally crossed the Atlantic and got to  South America, finding the passageway turned out to be a lot harder than he had expected. One of his ships, the Santiago, was wrecked in a storm during the search and had to be abandoned. 

Magellan had to defeat a mutiny by some of his crew.

“The greatest danger that he encountered as a masterful navigator wasn’t the physical threats, the storms, or the natural hazards of sailing across a vast ocean,” Bergreen explains. “It was the often-rebellious group that he led, who came from many different countries and spoke different languages, and were often dead set against him and each other.”

“The captains who accompanied him hated him exceedingly,” wrote Antonio Pigafetta, a diplomat who kept a detailed diary of the expedition, which he later published as a book, Magellan’s Voyage Around the World. “I know not why, unless because he was a Portuguese, and they Spaniards.”

After a rough voyage across the Atlantic to Brazil, in which the fleet was battered by storms, the tensions increased when an officer on the Victoria, Antonio Salamón, was tried and executed by strangulation in December 1519 for sexually assaulting an apprentice seaman. The rumblings got worse. One of the captains, Juan de Cartagena, accused Magellan of being a Portuguese double-agent and sabotaging the mission. 

Cartagena and others hatched a plot to stage a mutiny and kill Magellan in April 1520. But according to an account by Portuguese historian Gaspar Correa, Magellan anticipated their treachery. When they tried to strike, an officer loyal to him pulled a dagger and cut the throat of mutineer Luis de Mendoza, whose corpse was then hung by his feet, “so they might see him from the other ships.” 

Magellan captured  the other conspirators, and their punishment was brutal. After one captain was beheaded, his body was drawn and quartered as an example of the price for disloyalty. Cartagena, who had tried to hatch a second plot, was left to starve on a small island off the coast.

Magellan’s severity might seem shocking today, but Bergreen says it wasn’t that unusual in his time. “Captains had life-and-death powers over their sailors, and they sometimes used it,” the historian explains.

But that didn’t quell all the dissent. The officers and crew of one ship, the San Antonio , managed to skip away in November 1520 and return to Spain.

The Pacific turned out to be a lot bigger than Magellan imagined.

In November 1520, Magellan finally discovered the Strait of Magellan , a natural channel that passes between the continent’s southern tip and the island of Tierra Del Fuego, he and his three remaining ships finally were able to sail into the ocean that he named the Pacific, because it seemed so serene. 

“He thought it would be a hop, skip and jump to circumnavigate the world and get to the Spice Islands, and then he would go home in triumph,” Bergreen says. “Of course, it didn’t turn out that way.”

Once the coast of South America disappeared, Magellan found himself out in the middle of an ocean that was vastly larger than he had imagined.

“He's crossing the Pacific, he's expecting to find land any day, not realizing that he’s  crossing the largest body of water on the planet,” Bergreen explains. 

 As the voyage stretched on, the ships’ crews had to subsist on a severely sparse diet and ration their water. The predicament even took its toll upon Magellan. “At one point, he got irritable, maybe because of the shortage of food, and started to become less reasonable,” Bergreen explains. The explorer realized that the maps he had been using were hopelessly inaccurate. Magellan abruptly threw them overboard. 

Magellan’s men were horrified. “They thought they were doomed without the maps,” Bergreen says. On the contrary, they actually were liberated. Without the charts, Magellan was forced to navigate by reading the signs in the ocean environment. He discovered the trade winds that blew across the Pacific, and his skill as a sailor—combined with the agility and maneuverability of his ships’ design—enabled him to speed his way across the Pacific before he and his men died of hunger and thirst.

Magellan's own overconfidence proved fatal.

When Magellan reached the Philippines in March 1521, he saw an opportunity to convert the indigenous people to Catholicism and place them under the authority of the Spanish King, according to Australian Catholic University scholars Kate Fullagar and Kristie Patricia Flannery.

Some local rulers, who saw advantages in an alliance with the Spanish, went along with Magellan. But Lapu Lapu, chief of the island of Mactan, refused. Magellan, who had experience as a soldier, decided to attack. On April 27, 1521, he and a small Spanish force of 60 armed men and 20 to 30 native allies attempted an amphibious invasion at dawn.

As Bergreen notes, Magellan assumed that his superior technology—muskets and armor—would overcome the indigenous people armed with wooden spears. That proved to be a fatal miscalculation. 

In Pigafetta’s account, the invasion force’s boats couldn’t get too close to shore because of rocks in the water, which forced Magellan’s men to jump into the water and try to wade to land. More than 1,500 warriors awaited them. Magellan’s musketeers and crossbow archers fired on the defenders, but in the chaos, they weren’t able to hit them.

“So many were the spears and stones that they hurled at us, that we could offer no resistance,” Pigafetta wrote. Magellan himself was shot through the leg with a poisoned arrow and had his helmet knocked off by attackers. He fought hard to survive, until a warrior slashed him in the leg with a cutlass, and he fell, allowing others to swarm over Magellan and hack and stab him to death.

Only one of Magellan's ships and 18 sailors made it back.

The Spanish suffered so many casualties that they had to abandon another of their ships, the Concepción, because they didn’t have enough men left to sail it. The two remaining vessels eventually made it to the Spice Islands in November 1521.

One of the two remaining ships, the Trinidad, was in disrepair and stayed behind for an overhaul. It was later captured by the Portuguese and eventually sank in a storm. That left only the Victoria to sail around Africa’s Cape Horn and head back along the west coast of Africa toward Europe.

On September 6, 1522, the Victoria reached the same Spanish harbor from which it had departed three years before. As Bergreen describes in his book. The Victoria’s tattered sails and battered, sun-bleached hull were evidence of the ordeal it had survived. Just 18 sailors out of the original 260 were left, and they were so weak from malnutrition and exposure that they had trouble walking or speaking.

The survivors did manage to bring back a load of spices, it was obvious that Magellan’s notion of establishing a westward route to Asia was too slow, costly and downright dangerous to be practical. 

How Magellan's expedition influenced history

Though the expedition might have seemed at the time like a failure, Magellan’s quest changed the world in critical ways.

By circumnavigating the globe, the expedition had extinguished any remaining doubts that the world was round , and it also showed that North and South America were separate continents from Asia and that our planet’s surface was mostly covered with water. 

It would take another half a century before English navigator, pirate and slave trader Sir Francis Drake matched the Magellan expedition’s feat by circumnavigating the globe in 1577-1580.

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Description

The Magellan Route is the trail of the First Voyage Around the World. It is a universal and global road because its itinerary is developed throughout the main oceans and all the continents in both planet hemispheres. The Magellan Route is the way traced by the nautical expedition made by the first world circumnavegation in the dawning of the 16th century. This path was organized and led by one of the most extraordinary explorer and sailor ever, Ferdinand Magellan, who for the first time placed in the maps not only a new and immense ocean (Pacific), which has then been fully navigated for the first time, but also the Strait that connected the two big oceans in the planet, the Atantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean. This route was used during four centuries to connect the East and the West through the sea, since it was the only possible route used by ships until the construction of the Panama Canal in the 20th century. The valuable contribution of this universal route to the human history can be seen not only in the voyage itself, but also in the historical background of the voyage and in the consequences it had in the development of several civilisations.

Such an extraordinary journey cannot be understood without having in mind a historical moment shared by Portugal and Spain. Both were acutely dedicated to research and achieved knowledge about nautical technology, cartography and astronomy, as well as other fields related to the exploration of the oceans. Since the beginning of the 16th century, the navigation route designed by Magellan and his sailors during the First Circumnavigation around the World has geographical and symbolically linked different cultures and civilizations, providing exchanges and achievements in commerce, scientific knowledge and cultural, artistic and religious practices. It may be said that the first globalization of our world started in that moment. Also, for the first time people became aware of the multicultural fact, because multiculturalism was empirically shown as the diversity of people and cultures that made contact with each other, which could be seen by intuition and audacity of an almost unnamed person who was involved in the Magellan trip, the Italian Antonio Pigafetta, the same who left a diary-like written record of the voyage, where he reported day by day befallen events. In sum, Magellan Route represents the confirmation of the Earth’s roundness, is at the origins of the concept of globalism and the universality of knowledge. Thanks to the discovery of the Strait of Magellan and the crossing of the Pacific Ocean, new models of expansion, commercial and economic were well known, involving countries from all continents. This model survives today and is called globalization. The global expansion of scientific and technological knowledge also took place as never before. Both facts are widely theorized and well described by Adam Smith among many others.

Geographical locations included in the Route are situated in the following countries: Uruguay, Argentina, Brasil, Cabo Verde, Chile, Indonesia, Philipines Portugal, and Spain.

Most of the places are very well-known and documented; nevertheless, due to the complexity and vastness of the Magellan Route, more accuracy is required for others. Thus, thorough and in depth research work is needed in all the countries involved, so that, the different territorial places and regional areas that are part of the Route may be scientifically identified and documented.

The analysis and inventory of all the route sites will be accomplished among all the participant countries, based on the very exhaustive available documentation (chronicles, maps, bibliography, etc.), as well as on the monumental remains and stories that are part of the rich historical and heritage memory preserved in the different territories along the itinerary.

Justification of Outstanding Universal Value

The routes travelled by the different populations and cultures who inhabited the planet has been very diverse; nevertheless, the Magellan Route was the first that charted a global map of our world. For the first time the Atlantic and the Pacific oceans were navigated sequentially, thus allowing humanity to perceive the huge richness and diversity (geographical, cultural, anthropological...) in the lands they touched. It was the first integral route that provided unique communication canals used during the following four centuries. Facts and events experienced by those "Magellan Argonauts" were disseminated in hundreds of chronicles almost over five centuries and were the evidence of a singular and unique fact in the history of humanity. Today, the Magellan Route is still a perfect example of oceanic navigation and exploratory trip. A fascinating trail whose waterways, landscapes and geographical landmarks remains intact as they were seen by Magellan and his sailors 500 years ago.

Criterion (ii): The Magellan Route is the perfect example of an exploratory trip as it widened the vision of the world from the 15th to the 18th centuries, particularly due to the discovery of the Magellan Strait and the Pacific Ocean. From that moment on, a spherical world was showed and sailed for the first time. This fact amplified and diversified all routes previously established among Europe, America and Asia. The Magellan Route was a master key-like in communications. It opened doors in the places where they passed, where people, ideas and goods were coming and going. It established commercial contacts between East and West that remained for centuries. Also, it promoted the exchange of multiple sorts of experiences (scientific, cultural, religious...). Huge areas of America and Asia where known and visited afterwards by Europeans thanks to the maps made during this voyage. Those maps where not only geographical ones, but also cultural and linguistic, in sum, anthropological.

Criterion (iv): The voyage completed by Magellan and his multi-ethnic sailors (a crew composed of Germans, Flemings, French, Greeks, Indians, British, Italians, Moors, Africans, Portuguese, Brazilian, Indonesians and Castellanos) in three years was not only a memorable milestone to be written in history books, but also constituted the enshrinement of the first universal route used for centuries. Even today, the memory of this shared historical unique endeavour is still alive in the different populations that took part in it or were touched by it. It can be seen in many events and occasions of sociological, educational and ritual nature: schools and universities in the south of Chile whose names and values are honouring Ferdinand Magellan; festivities taking place in Cebu City (Philippines) in tribute to the relic of “el Santo Niño”, a small sculpture that Magellan gave to Humabón's wife; social and political strategies made in Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego, as well as in Spain and Portugal, where traditions and Magellan values are enhanced to foster sustainable development projects.

Criterion (vi): The Magellan Route has played a key role in making the world understandable as it is today. The route was used for several reasons: the goal of Spaniards was expanding their territory in America and Asia; British wanted to achieve scientific knowledge - that was, for instance, the case of Charles Darwin, but it was not the same reason that moved Sir Francis Drake, who wanted to oppose the Spanish Empire by establishing strategic enclaves in various places. Many other explorers merchants, military leaders and settlers wished to find new places where to live and develop new societies. At the same time, the singularity of this route can be seen and is reflected upon important publications such as chronicles and annals that for over five hundred years have shown its universal singularity. Antonio Pigafetta’s report: Il Primo Viaggio intorno al Mondo (The First Trip Around the World), for example, is a prodigious book and a true literary monument of ethnographical testimony. It is probably the first global book in history that described the Magellan voyage, but it is also an extraordinary record of traditions, customs and cultural and linguistic features of populations all over the world that were unknown until that moment. To this first literary source produced by one of the main characters of the trip, we may add many others books of historical, scientific, biography and literary character, written by eminent historians, philosophers, moralists and scholars of all times, who have coincided in considering the Magellan trip one of the most exceptional occurrences of all history.

Statements of authenticity and/or integrity

The Magellan Route is a global set of paths across the seas, continents, islands and even stars of all over the world. This route completes the star map of Earth thanks to the description of stars and constellations in the southern hemisphere. For example, the Clouds of Magellan and the Southern Cross were incorporated at that time, and became since then the Polar Star for seafarers in all navigations of the Antarctic Hemisphere. The route is perfectly described in hundreds of maps, chronicles and scientific literature over the last five centuries - documents that we can find in Archivo de Indias in Seville, Arquivo Nacional Torre do Tombo in Lisboa, Museo Naval in Madrid, Museu da Marinha in Lisboa, etc. It is not only a geographical trail (14.460 leagues/85.000km), since it has had a very high commercial, strategic and cultural value that linked many populations of the planet. It is a perfect symbiosis between nature and culture: the Magellan Route reflects its authenticity in natural items (waterways, mountains, bays, straits, cliffs, rivers, estuary, pampas and woodlands), most of them with names related with the First Voyage Around the World, and also with cultural reminiscences that manifest indelible marks (monuments, buildings, landscapes, chronicles, maps...). Undoubtedly, the most distinctive feature is established thanks to the outstanding collective memory that ensures the integrity that is still alive in the places along the Magellan Route. This is probably the main richness, which ensures the integrity of the route. Moreover, there is a clear willingness by many communities to develop innovative plans to make use of a possible transboundary site as a source of shared values of identity.

Comparison with other similar properties

The proposal of the Magellan Route, First Around the World to the Tentative List is based on the unquestioned exceptionality of its universal value (material and intangible, real and symbolic). This route was created thanks to the combination of Magellan individual genius with the common efforts of the people who struggled to overcome the lack of knowledge about oceans and other continents. Afterwards and for some centuries, it became the first global route providing all sorts of exchanges. So that, the process can be repeated in the future: it can be turned into the only global route that promote universal values as it is peace, environmental sustainability and solidarity from a participative perspective (based in the UNESCO Roads of Dialogue concept) where the involvement of all populations and cultures alive along the route is required. It will contribute to promote the very rich and diverse world memory. In this context, the Magellan Route can be compared with other transboundary properties already inscribed in the UNESCO World Heritage List such as the Chinese Section of the Silk Road, the Qhapaq Ñan Andean Road System, the Struve Geodetic Arc, the Astronomical Observatories of Ukraine and the Liberation Heritage Route.

Magellan was first to sail around the world, right? Think again.

Five hundred years on, the explorer’s legacy is complicated—and contested.

In September 1519, Magellan set sail from Spain with five ships. Three years later only one ship, the Victoria (depicted on a 1590 map), made it back to Spain after circumnavigating the world.

Five hundred years ago, Ferdinand Magellan began a historic journey to circumnavigate the globe. Simple, right? Not really— the explorer and his voyage are a study in contradiction. Magellan was Portuguese, but sailed on behalf of Spain. He was a formidable captain, but his crew hated him. His expedition was the first to sail around the world, but he didn’t end up circling the globe himself. His name wasn’t even Magellan.

Like Columbus before him, Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan proposed reaching Asia and the Moluccas, or Spice Islands, by sailing west from Europe.

Nonetheless, it’s clear that Ferdinand Magellan’s 1519 expedition changed the world forever. His journey was “the greatest sea voyage ever undertaken, and the most significant,” says historian Laurence Bergreen , author of Over the Edge of the World: Magellan’s Terrifying Circumnavigation of the Globe . “That’s not hyperbole.”

Brutal, bellicose, and brave, Magellan turned a commercial voyage into a hair-raising showdown with a wide world few Europeans could imagine. At the beginning of his journey, his contemporaries suspected it was impossible to sail around the entire globe—and feared that everything from sea monsters to killer fogs awaited anyone foolhardy enough to try. “It sounded suicidal to do this,” says Bergreen.

The Portuguese nobleman was born Fernão de Magalhães around 1480. As a page to queen consort Eleanor and Manuel I, he experienced court life in Lisbon. But the young man had a sense of adventure, and took part in a string of Portuguese voyages designed to discover and seize lucrative spice routes in Africa and India.

At the time, Portugal and Spain were involved in an intense rivalry to see who could find and claim new territory where they could source the spices coveted by European aristocrats. In 1505, Magellan joined the fight, traveling to India, Malaysia, and Indonesia. But his days in service to Portugal were numbered: He was accused of illegal trading and fell out with Manuel I, who turned down his proposal to locate a new spice route.

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Magellan was convinced that by sailing west instead of east and going through a rumored strait through South America, he could map a new route to Indonesia and India. So he abandoned his Portuguese loyalty and headed to Spain, where he gained both citizenship and Charles V’s blessing for a five-ship journey westward.

The captain stood to gain great wealth and status from the trip: Charles gave him a decade-long monopoly on any route he might discover, a cut of the profits, and a noble title to boot. But he was in an awkward position when it came to his majority-Spanish crew and his royal mission. “The Castilians resented sailing under a Portuguese commander and the Portuguese considered him a traitor,” writes historian Lincoln Paine.

A 16 th -century engraving depicts Magellan surrounded by mythological characters and fantastic animals and represents European views of the still-mysterious Americas.

After winter weather forced his ships to wait for months in what is now Argentina, Magellan’s crew mutinied. One ship wrecked; another ditched the expedition altogether and headed back to Spain. The captain struggled to regain control of his men, but once he did, the repercussions were swift and harsh. He ordered some of the mutineers beheaded and quartered; others were marooned or forced into hard labor.

The voyage got back on track and Magellan managed to navigate a treacherous passage that’s now named in his honor—the Strait of Magellan. But his troubles weren’t over. As the crew forged across the Pacific Ocean, food spoiled and scurvy and starvation struck . Magellan and his men briefly made landfall in what was likely Guam , where they killed indigenous people and burned their homes in response to the theft of a small boat.

A month later, the expedition reached the Philippines. To the crew’s surprise, Enrique, an enslaved man Magellan had purchased before the journey, could understand and speak the indigenous people’s language. It turned out he was likely raised there before his enslavement—making him, not Magellan, the first person to circumnavigate the globe.

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Magellan swiftly claimed the Philippines on Spain’s behalf, but his involvement in what Bergreen calls an “unnecessary war” was his undoing. “He wasn’t defeated by natural forces,” says Bergreen.

In March 1521 the expedition reached the Philippines, where relations with the indigenous people (as depicted in this engraving) went from peacefully trading fruit to engaging in pitched battle. Magellan was killed on Mactan Island on April 27.

Instead, he demanded that local Mactan people convert to Christianity and became embroiled in a rivalry between Humabon and Lapu-Lapu, two local chieftains. On April 27, 1521, Magellan was killed by a poison arrow while attacking Lapu-Lapu’s people.

They “all at once rushed upon him with lances of iron and of bamboo,” wrote Antonio Pigafetta, an Italian scholar who accompanied the journey, “so that they slew our mirror, our light, our comfort, and our true guide.” The crew left his body behind—an indication, perhaps, of how they truly felt about their relentless leader.

After Magellan’s death, his crew continued in the single ship that remained, captained by Juan Sebastian Elcano, a Basque. They returned to Spain in September 1522. Along the way, they had encountered a new ocean, mapped new routes for European trade, and set the stage for modern globalism. Sixty thousand miles later, and after the death of 80 percent of those involved, the expedition had proven that the globe could be circumnavigated and opened the door to European colonization of the New World in the name of commerce.

A legend was born—and in 1989, one of Magellan’s namesakes even traveled to Venus. During a five-year-long journey, NASA’s Magellan spacecraft made images of the planet before burning up in its atmosphere.

But though Magellan’s name is associated with discovery by some, others shy away from that word. “When I write my textbook I will state that Magellan arrived in the Philippines in 1521,” says historian Ambeth Ocampo , former chairman of the Republic of the Philippines’ national historical commission. “Magellan should not be seen as the beginning of Philippine history but one event [in] a history that still has to be written and rewritten for a new generation.”

A 1545 map traces the route of Magellan's world voyage—a milestone in the centuries-long process of globalization.

For the indigenous people encountered by Magellan and his crew, the explorer’s arrival heralded a new age of conquest, Christianization, and colonization. Lapu-Lapu, the Mactan ruler whose forces killed Magellan, is often credited with slaying the explorer. As a result, notes Ocampo, he has become a national hero in the Philippines.

Though Lapu-Lapu likely did not do the deed, he is widely commemorated as a symbol of Filipino resistance and pride. Now, historians are working toward a more accurate portrayal ahead of the 500th anniversary of Magellan’s arrival in the Philippines. The government’s quincentennial celebrations in 2021 will include replacing a 10-foot statue of Lapu-Lapu in the city that bears his name. A monument that shows the battle itself—and the group effort that brought down an epic explorer—will take its place.

Should Magellan be considered a hero, or what Ocampo calls the Philippines’ “first tourist”? As Guam , the Philippines , Spain and even Portugal celebrate and question the quincentennial, the explorer’s legacy remains as complicated as ever.

Related Topics

• CIRCUMNAVIGATION
• AGE OF DISCOVERY
• INDIGENOUS PEOPLES
• CHRISTIANITY

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Ferdinand Magellan and the first Trip around the World

Ferdinand Magellan (1480 – 1521)

On 10 August 1519, five ships under Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan ‘s command left Seville and descended the Guadalquivir River to Sanlúcar de Barrameda, at the mouth of the river. After further preparation 5 weeks later the ships set sail for the very first circumnavigation of the earth.

Growing up in Lisbon

Magellan was born Fernão de Magalhães (or Magalhãens) to an impoverished noble family in the northern Portuguese province of Trás-os-Montes . His father, Rui de Magalhães, was mayor of his home village Sabrosa . His mother was Alda de Mesquita. When he was ten years old, Magellan lost his parents. In 1492, like his brother before him, he went to the royal court of King John II of Portugal and Queen Eleonora as a page. Here, in Lisbon, together with his cousin Francisco Serrão, he enjoyed a comprehensive education, possibly by Martin Behaim , and was raised to the rank of squire in 1496.

Expeditions to India and Malacca

In 1505 he participated in the India expedition of the viceroy Francisco de Almeida , where he distinguished himself as a lifesaver and prevented a mutiny. Under Afonso de Albuquerque he took part in the conquest of the important port of Malacca , now Malaysia, in 1511 and played an important role in the storming of the city on 10 August. In December 1511, an expedition of three ships under the command of António de Abreu sailed on to the Spice Islands . According to a source, Magellan was among the 100-man crew and was appointed captain during the expedition. A short time later, however, Magellan lost his captain’s post again because he had sneaked away from the fleet with his ship and sailed further east.

Fighting in Morocco , Disgrace in Portugal, Service for Spain

On his return he was sent to Morocco in 1513, where he fought in the Battle of Azamor and was wounded at the knee. Because of illegal trade with the Moors, he fell out of favour with King Manuel I and was released from Portuguese civil service on 15 May 1514. Thereupon he went to Spain and offered his services in 1517 to the Spanish King Charles I (from 1519 as Charles V Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire).

In Search for the Spice Islands

Magellan had probably found a secret map in the Portuguese Maritime Archives which indicated that a paso , a passage to the Pacific Ocean, existed in South America. It is possible that the large estuary delta of the Río de la Plata had been misconstrued as a strait. He decided to be the first to use this path to the west to reach the Spice Islands (today’s Moluccas). They were a strategically important starting point for the lucrative spice trade. Moreover, Magellan was convinced that, according to the Treaty of Tordesillas of 1494, the Spice Islands were located on the world half promised by Pope Spain.[4] On 22 March 1518 he signed a contract in Valladolid with Charles I of Spain, who provided Magellan with five ships with which he was to find the Spice Islands.

Starting for a Trip around the World

The provided fleet consisted of five ships of which the flagship Trinidad sailed under Ferdinand Magellan’s command. The crew consisted of 270 men across the continent and took off on August 10, 1519. The ships sailed from Seville down the Guadalquivir, at its mouth near Sanlúcar de Barrameda, where the Spanish authorities tried to prevent the Portuguese admiral from travelling for more than five weeks. It was not until September 20, 1519 that the fleet set sail from here. On his flagship, the Trinidad, Magellan had a torch installed at night so that the other ships could maintain visual contact. Magellan sailed first to the Canary Islands, where he took up supplies in Tenerife on 26 September, and then to the Cape Verde Islands (3 October), where he set course for Brazil. On November 20th, his fleet crossed the equator. On December 6, the fleet reached the South American coast, where it anchored on December 13 in a bay named by Magellan as Bahia de Santa Lucía (now Guanabara Bay) – after the day saint Santa Lucia. The Portuguese later gave it the name of St. Januarius . It is today’s bay of Rio de Janeiro .

Magellan’s ship Victoria , detail from a world map by Abraham Ortelius, 1590

Reaching the South Sea

On March 30, the fleet reached a bay called Puerto San Julián. As the southern winter was approaching, Magellan decided to hibernate. Because of running out of supplies, he had his food rations cut. Already on April 1, the poor supply situation led to a mutiny. Due to hunger, disease and exhaustion, some crew members demanded their return to Spain. In October 1520 the four ships left Puerto San Julián after seven months of winter quarters. Again all bays and estuaries were searched in detail for the paso. On October 21, 1520, Magellan reached a cape he called Cabo Vírgenes. The Concepción and the San Antonio were sent on a reconnaissance trip south of the cape and discovered the entrance to the long sought-after passage. Before the passage, Magellan asked the captains of the other ships whether they favoured a continuation of the voyage or a return. No one except the pilot of the San Antonio  dared to recommend a change. Since the passage is divided several times, a boat and two ships were sent out for exploration. From the crew of the boat came the message that the road had an exit to the northwest: The South Sea was reached.

The Island of Thieves

The fleet continued and in early 1521 they reached the equator and later Guam . The cities they traveled to were named by Magellan according to the features he observed. For instance he renamed the island to the ‘ Island of Thieves ‘ since his small boats on board of the Trinidad were stolen.

The Magellan–Elcano voyage. Victoria, one of the original five ships, circumnavigated the globe, finishing 16 months after Magellan’s death.

The Philippines and a Poisoned Arrow

After taking up much-needed supplies, Magellan’s fleet sailed on to the Philippines . At that time, 150 sailors were still alive. With the help of his interpreter Enrique Melaka, Ferdinand Magellan was able to exchange gifts with the Prince of Limasawa, Raja Kolambu, who led the Spaniards to the island of Cebu , where they succeeded in converting the prince of Cebu, Rajah Humabon, and many of his subjects to Christianity. The chief Lapu-Lapu on the neighbouring island of Mactan , however, rejected the idea of supremacy and missionary work. As a result, Magellan tried to take possession of the island by force for his ally and thus for Spain and Christianity. The military action on Mactan on 27 April 1521 failed: despite their firearms, the Spaniards were pushed back on the shore by the locals and had to mourn several casualties. Magellan was killed in that battle. According to the reports of his chronicler Pigafetta , he was one of the last to fight in the water to cover the retreat of his people. A poisoned arrow had pierced his thigh; shortly thereafter he had been struck down by two lance shots, one wounding him in the face, the other under his right arm. Soon after the failed attack on Mactan, the prince of Cebu renounced Christianity and lured the Europeans into a trap. 35 sailors were killed.

Elcano Finishing the Journey

The Spaniards barely escaped, but they were now so few that they sank the Concepción themselves and distributed the survivors to Trinidad and Victoria. Juan Sebastián Elcano captained the Victoria and Gonzalo Gómez de Espinosa the Trinidad . Elcano had been chosen captain, although he had only been a simple bosun at the beginning of the voyage. They began their journey home with the flagship and the Victoria, arriving in September, 1522. Through interviewing some of the survivors, Europe learned about the first circumnavigation of the globe. Also during this journey, the crew observed numerous animals that were completely new to Europeans. Afterwards, several straits and locations were named after Ferdinand Magellan and even craters on the Moon and Mars have been named after him.

Since the 19th century, Ferdinand Magellan’s name has been associated primarily with the first historically documented circumnavigation of the Earth. However, Magellan neither circumnavigated the earth himself, nor did he ever plan to do so – even if his companion and admirer Antonio Pigafetta claimed he did. But Pigafetta’s statements about Magellan are clearly written with apologetic intent, that is, he wanted to defend the reputation of his late boss against his enemies and critics. In the documents from the planning phase of the expedition, there is not a single indication that Magellan or anyone else had planned a circumnavigation of the earth at that time. In the end, this came about only out of necessity, because Juan Sebastián Elcano , the last captain of the Victoria , and his crew hoped to bring their worn-out ship with its valuable spice cargo back to Spain this way – which they eventually succeeded in doing. Consequently, Elcano and his crew first reaped the glory of being the first humans to circumnavigate the earth. Since every educated contemporary at the time knew that the earth was a sphere, the voyage of the Victoria was seen not so much as proof of the spherical shape as of the superiority of their own time, in which they lived, over antiquity. Before the 19th century, little of this fame fell on Magellan. While his Spanish patrons did not hold him in particularly high esteem either during his lifetime or afterwards, his Portuguese compatriots reviled him as a traitor. However, his seafaring and military achievements were certainly recognized – especially the discovery and passage of the strait between South America and Tierra del Fuego, known as the “ Estrecho de Magallanes ” ( Strait of Magellan ) from around the middle of the 16th century.

However, subsequent expeditions – notably that of García Jofre de Loaísa in 1525, in which Elcano also participated – showed that the practical value of the sea route to the Pacific and on to Asia found by Magellan was very small. The passage of the Strait of Magellan was a gamble, and the Pacific Ocean was not only immensely large, but made it impossible to establish lasting trade and dominion relations as long as it could only be crossed from east to west. The opposite direction was not achieved until 1565, when Andrés de Urdaneta succeeded in making his way back from the Visayas to Mexico by sailing far out into the North Pacific and taking advantage of the prevailing westerly winds there. Only now were the Spaniards able to colonize the Philippines (soon to be called the Philippines).

References and Further Reading

• [1]  Magellan at Britannica  
• [2] Stefan Zweig (2007), Conqueror of the Seas – The Story of Magellan
• [3]  The Voyage of Ferdinand Magellan
• [4]  How the Pope divided the New World among Spain and the Rest of the World , SciHi Blog
• [5]  Juan Sebastián Elcano and the First Circumnavigation of the Earth , SciHi Blog
• [6]  Dr. Gallup-Diaz,  Great Voyages: Ferdinand Magellan, ‘Our One True Guide’: The First Circumnavigation of the Globe , Penn Museum @ youtube
• [7]  Primera vuelta al mundo Magallanes-Elcano – V Centenario , official Spanish website for the 500th anniversary of the first circumnavigation of the earth
• [8] Antonio Pigafetta :  Magellan’s voyage around the world.  3 vol. Ed. by James Alexander Robertson, Cleveland (Ohio), 1906.
• [9] Antonio de Herrera y Tordesillas :  Historia general de los hechos de los castellanos en las islas y tierra firme del mar océano.  Madrid 1601.
• [10] Ferdinand Magellan at Wikidata
• [11] Timeline of 16th Century Explorers via DBpedia and Wikidata

Tabea Tietz

Related posts, henry the navigator and the age of discoveries, baltasar gracian and the art of wisdom, antónio egas moniz and the cerebral angiography, michael servetus and the pulmonary circulation.

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Though Magellan is often credited with the first circumnavigation on the globe, he did so on a technicality: He first made a trip from Europe to the Spice Islands, eastward via the Indian Ocean, and then later made his famous westward voyage that brought him to the Philippines. So he did cover the entire terrain, but it was not a strict point A to point A, round-the-world trip, and it was made in two different directions. His slave, Enrique, however, was born in either Cebu or Mallaca and came to Europe with Magellan by ship. Ten years later, he then returned to both Cebu (with Magellan) and Mallaca (after Magellan died) by ship on the armada s westward route. So Enrique was the first person to circumnavigate the world in one direction, from point A to point A.

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