Ferdinand Magellan Essay, Research Paper

Magellan lived a short life of about 40 years. Magellan was born

around 1480 in Oporto, Portugal. There is little known about

Magellan’s childhood, but we do know that when he was 12 years old,

he was a page at the Portuguese court. While Magellan was a page,

he met another page named Francisco Serrao. Serrao turned out to be

a friend to Magellan for both of their entire lives. Serrao also grew up

to be an explorer. Magellan and Serrao were promoted to squires

together. Magellan was killed on April 27, 1521 during his

explorations.

Magellan’s explorations began when Serrao, now an explorer, went to

the Moluccan Islands and decided to stay there. Magellan wanted to

find his friend and explore west of the Americas so he asked the

Portuguese king for the supplies, ships, and men to do it. After the

Portuguese king refused, Magellan went to King Ferdinand, the king of

Spain who gave him the supplies. Magellan set out exploring west in

1519 with 5 ships: his flagship, the Trinidad, the Santiago, the San

Antonio, the Conception, and the Victoria. Three of Magellan’s ships

were taken over at the very beginning of his voyage. Then, sailing

south on the East Coast of South America, the Santiago wrecked.

Magellan, only having four ships left, found a strait near the bottom of

South America. It was later named the Strait of Magellan. Only a little

way into the strait, the San Antonio retreated back to Spain. At the

end of the strait, Magellan saw another ocean. He named it Pacific

because Pacifico in Portuguese means calm, and this new ocean was

very calm. Magellan was the first European to cross the Pacific Ocean.

When Magellan got to the Philippines, he was thought to have been

eaten by cannibals. When Magellan was killed, the Conception was

abandoned. There were only two ships left: the Trinidad and the

Victoria, and the Trinidad was forced to turn back and head to the

Moluccas. The Victoria reached Spain on September 6, 1522. 230 men

left Spain with Magellan and only 18 returned. Ferdinand got the

credit for circumnavigating the world.

Magellan faced many dangers both before and during his explorations.

Here are some of them. Before his explorations, Magellan was sent

into battle multiple times. He was injured in one of the battles. During

his explorations, three of Magellan’s ships were taken over. Luckily,

Magellan regained control of his ships. Magellan and his men came

close to starving. They had to eat sawdust because they were so low

on food. Those were only some of the dangers that Magellan faced.