Ferdinand+Magellan

﻿ Around The World In Two Years And 363 Days  by Nic and Lohen

F erdinand Magellan was one of the most famous explorers of all time. He is well known for sailing around the world, even though he died before making it to the end of the journey. Ferdinand Magellan was born in Sabrosa, Portugal 1480. He was the son of a man named Don Roy, a minor nobleman. When he was 12 years old he got chosen as a page at the court of Queen Leonora (she was the wife of King John) in Lisbon, Portugal. While he was at court, King John’s brother-in-law Duke Manuel grew a dislike of Ferdinand. In the year 1495 King John was assassinated. Ferdinand’s enemy Duke Manuel became the King. At this point in his life Magellan had started to try to get support for his expedition but he was unsuccessful. At the age of 25 he was able to join the military. He served for eight years. He fought in the Philippines and present day Indonesia. He did really well in the army and he was promoted. When he fought in Morocco he badly wounded his leg and he had to limp for the rest of his life. That also earned him the nickname Clubfoot. He was also accused of stealing war booty, but he was cleared of any charge. Even though he was cleared, King Manuel turned against him even more. In the summer of 1516 Magellan tried to find a sponsor for his journey. He was unsuccessful. One year later in 1517 he gave up his Portuguese nationality and left for Spain. He never returned to Portugal. This move was hard for Magellan because in Portugal they called him a traitor. When he first moved into Spain he contacted a rich Portuguese merchant by the name of Diogo Barbosa. Magellan’s plan was to explore the Philippines but also find a direct route to the riches of the spice islands. At this point Magellan met Diogo’s daughter and married her. They had two children and two years before he left. In the end he finally got the support from King Charles the 1st of Spain. King Manuel was furious that Magellan was successful. He sent men to steal food from Magellan and replace it with moldy food. On September 8th,1519 he left Spain with 270 crew members and 5 ships,The Victoria, the Trinidad, the San Antonio the Concepcion and the Santiago. __**Brazil** __ After setting out from Spain Magellan and his men saw vast expanse of water. Magellan thought this must be El Paso. He sent his ship the Santiago to explore the water. The other Ships kept going to search the Terra Australis. A few days later the ships met up again with disppointing news. Magellan had been unable to find the southern land, while the stretch of land was nothing more then the mouth of a large river. This was not just a disappointing blow for Magellan it also turned his crew members against him. There were signs of mutiny and Magellan was almost killed. Two years after Magellan went around Cape Horn and Started sailing back to Spain. After he sailed around the Cape he found the Pacific Ocean. He is the man who officially named it .

** The Philippines **

When he was sailing back to Spain Magellan encountered a bunch of islands. These islands are now called Philippines. He put down his anchor and went to one of the islands. This island is called Mactan. At midnight on April 26, 1521, Magellan led a group of about 60 men on to the island of Mactan. When the arrived on the island they met 3,000 islander men. Ferdinand new it was a trap and returned to his ships. They got ambushed and Magellan got taken back to the island. They tied Magellan’s hands around a tree and stabbed him in the brain. The rest of the sailors got away and started sailing for Spain. Now the man in charge of the ship (the only one left the Victoria) was Juan Sebastian del Cano. He successfully made it back to Spain. His death was tragic but what he found was a great part in History.

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