Ferdinand Magellan

Ferdinand Magellan was a Portuguese explorer who led the first voyage to sail all the way around the world. He lived from about 1480 to 1521. He sailed for the king of Spain, even though he was born in Portugal. Magellan himself did not finish the trip. He was killed before the journey ended. But the ships he commanded kept going, and a few of his men became the first people in history to circle the globe.

In Magellan's time, Europeans wanted a sea route to the Spice Islands in Asia. Spices like pepper, cloves, and nutmeg were worth huge amounts of money in Europe. Portugal controlled the route around Africa. So in 1519, the king of Spain paid Magellan to find a different way. The plan was to sail west across the Atlantic, around the bottom of South America, and then across to Asia.

Magellan set out with five ships and about 270 men. The trip was brutal from the start. One ship wrecked. Another sailed home early. The crew nearly starved while searching for a way through South America. After more than a year, Magellan finally found a narrow, twisting passage near the southern tip of the continent. Today it is called the Strait of Magellan in his honor.

On the other side of the strait was a huge, calm ocean no European had ever crossed. Magellan named it the Pacific. He thought the crossing would take a few weeks. It took almost four months. The men ran out of food and clean water. They ate sawdust, leather, and rats to stay alive. Many died of a disease called scurvy, which is caused by not eating enough fresh fruits and vegetables.

When the ships finally reached land, they had arrived in what is now the Philippines. Magellan made friends with one local king and agreed to fight the king's enemies on a nearby island. In April 1521, Magellan was killed in that battle on the island of Mactan.

The remaining crew sailed on without him. Only one ship, the Victoria, made it back to Spain in September 1522. Just 18 starving men were on board. They had been gone almost three years. They had sailed about 42,000 miles, far enough to circle the Earth nearly twice over.

Magellan's voyage proved something people had long suspected: all of Earth's oceans are connected, and the planet really is round. Historians today also remember the cost. Hundreds of sailors died, and the voyage opened the door to centuries of European empire-building across the Pacific.