Ferdinand Magellan was born 1480. He was from the northern part a Portugal; he was also a Spanish explorer. When Magellan was just about the age of 10 both his parents died. At the age of 12 Magellan was put as the queen’s messenger in the royal court. In those days young boys were put as messengers as a source of education. As Magellan was in the court he learned about many famous explorers and the most important information about navigation ships. Later on Magellan became a Portuguese sea captain. He was the commander of a voyage that was going around the whole world (this was the first voyage to actually go around the whole world).
Magellan was very interested into Columbus’s way of sailing, Magellan studied Columbus’s maps. The first time Magellan actually went to sea was in 1505, which was when Magellan was just about 25 years old. On this voyage went Francisco de Almedia, he was Portugal’s first admiral. In 1511 Magellan went on another voyage, but its purpose was to conquer the land of Melaka at the end Magellan did conquer the land. At the time of 1513 Magellan asked King Manuel of Portugal for permission to sail to the Spice Islands in the Far East. Those islands grew cloves and many other spices which would be very valuable if brought back to Spain.
After a couple of voyages Magellan studied Astronomy and Navigation, but that was only for about two years. After studying a couple of years Magellan made a very good friend Ruy Falesrio. In 1518 Magellan went left of Portugal and went to Spain. He presented the information he had learned about the Spice Islands. The year after that, Magellan convinced King Charles I of Spain to support his voyage. The king promised Magellan one-fifth of the profits from the voyage to the Spice Islands.
The voyage around the whole world did not start until September 20, 1519. Magellan’s voyage had a couple of requirements, for example a total of 241 men where needed for the voyage. Also five ships were needed for the voyage. The voyage sailed across the Atlantic Ocean to South America. The ships followed the South American coast. They landed on the bay where Rio de Janeiro is now located. They remained there for two weeks and then sailed south to find a passage to the Pacific Ocean.
In late March 1520, Magellan's voyage anchored for the winter at Puerto San Julian in what is now southern Argentina. They were the first Europeans ever to sail across the Pacific, and it was far larger than anyone had imagined. They went for 98 days without seeing any land and ran out of food and used almost all their water. They ate rats and sawdust to avoid starvation. Nineteen men died before they reached the Pacific island of Guam on March 6, 1521. Conflicts with the people of Guam and the nearby islands prevented Magellan from fully resupplying his ships. The crew finally got enough food to set out westward again, toward the Philippines.
Magellan and his crew stayed in the Philippines for many weeks and they got to know the islanders very well. On April 27, 1521, Ferdinand Magellan was killed when he took part in a battle between rival Filipino groups on the island of Mactan. After the battle only about 110 of the original members remained. That was not enough to sail three ships. Therefore they abandoned one of the ships, called Conception. The two remaining ships sailed to the Spice Islands. At the Spice Islands the ships were loaded up with spices for the trip back. The ship called the Trindad tried to return back to Spain the same way they had came. They sailed eastward across the Pacific Ocean but were caught in really bad weather. More than half of the crew members died. The rest of the group was forced to return to the Spice Islands and when they arrived there, the Portuguese imprisoned them. The last ship that remained was the Victoria. That ship continued back to Spain. The Victoria experienced many hardships and many of the crew members died of malnutrition and starvation. Finally, on September 6, 1522, they reached Sanlucar de Barrameda in Spain, nearly three years after the voyage started. Five ships and 241 men began the journey. Only eighteen survivors returned to the starting spot. Those people completed the first voyage around the world that started with the dream of Ferdinand Magellan.
