Ferdinand Magellan

Ferdinand Magellan is the famous Portuguese explorer who was the first to sail around the world. He lived from 1480 to 1506. He was from a wealthy family with a father who was a mayor of 2 cities. He became interested in navigation and exploration from one of his teachers, Martin Behaim. He studied Christopher Columbus's maps, and joined an expedition to India in the early years. After that, he went on a Portuguese expedition to Morocco, where he was badly injured. On the ship, he had a disagreement with the commanding officer, and left his service without prior permission. When he got back, he tried to persuade the Portuguese court to fund him on an expedition to the spice lands because of his bad behavior on the Morocco trip, so he renounced his nationality and went to Spain, were he persuaded King Charles to fund him. The Spanish government provided him with 5 ships, the Trinidad, the San Antonio, the Conception, the Victoria and the Santiago. Magellan only commanded the Trinidad, while other captains commanded the other ships. On the expedition, Magellan sailed across the Atlantic, South America, Rio De Janeirio, and started looking for a way to the Pacific. He found the Magellan Strait(to be called), and became the first to sail the Pacific. He reached the equator, Guam, and discovered the Philippines. His journey for him ends there, where he was killed by the natives in the Island of Mactan. They returned back to pain the same way, but failed and were imprisoned by the Portuguese. When they finally returned, only 18 people and 1 ship survived. This trip took a total of 3 years and 243 lives.