FERNANDO DE MAGALLANES: BIOGRAPHY AND CONTRIBUTIONS TO GEOGRAPHY - HISTORY - 2025

Fernando de Magallanes (1480-1521), also sometimes called Hernando de Magallanes, was a Portuguese sailor and explorer who led the first expedition to circumnavigate the planet. His intention was to reach the Moluccas from the west and take advantage of the wealth in the form of spices that they contained.

Despite his Portuguese origin, Magellan organized the trip for the Spanish crown. He left Seville first on August 10, 1519 and left the peninsula for Sanlúcar de Barrameda (Cádiz) on September 20 of the same year.

During his route, Magellan was the first to cross the strait that today bears his name and that separates the Atlantic and the Pacific. From there, he managed to reach the Philippine Islands, where he was killed in a battle against the indigenous people.

After his death, the expedition continued on its way, reaching the Moluccas and then returning to Spain under the command of Juan Sebastián Elcano.

In addition to the aforementioned Strait of Magellan, the Portuguese explorer gave his name to Tierra del Fuego, the Pacific Ocean and was the discoverer of several of the islands found in those waters.

Biography

Fernando de Magellan was born in 1480 near Porto. There is no certainty of the exact date of his birth or of the locality in which the world came.

In this last matter, there are several towns that dispute this fact: the vila de Sabrosa, the parish of Sé in Porto, Vila Nova de Gaia and Ponte da Barca.

The future explorer, also called Hernando in some written sources, came from an upper-class Portuguese family. His father, Rui de Magalhães was Count of Faro and Lord of Aveiro. Similarly, he held the mayoralties of Estremoz and Aveiro at different times, in addition to having been a councilor of Porto.

Good family relations allowed Fernando to move as a child to the court of Lisbon, where he received a humanistic and scientific training, with special emphasis on geography and nautical.

When he was 10 years old, he began to serve as a page for Queen Eleanor, wife of the monarch Juan II of Portugal.

First trips

Ferdinand Magellan's first voyages began in March 1505, when he was twenty-five years old. The young man enlisted in the Indian Navy, which had the mission of installing Almeyda as the first viceroy of India.

Historians point out that Magellan spent eight years in that part of the world. During this period he visited various parts of India, such as Goa, Cochin and Queloa. Likewise, he went into combat on some occasions, being wounded in the naval battle of Kerala.

During his stay there, he also participated in the first expedition to Malacca. In command of it were Lopes de Sequeira and Francisco Serrão.

Upon reaching their destination, both were victims of a conspiracy. Magellan played a fundamental role in warning the first and saving the second from certain death.

Return to europe

Once Malacca was conquered in 1511, the Serrão and Magallanes roads parted. The second, enriched with the booty and with his slave Enrique de Malaca, returned to Europe.

Serrão, for his part, embarked on a new expedition, this time to the so-called islands of spices, the Moluccas. The letters he sent to Magellan were decisive for the future of the explorer.

Accusations

Magellan's next destination was Morocco. There she participated in the battle of Azamor at the service of that city. After this, he was accused of illegally trading with the locals, something prohibited at the time.

The accusation caused him to stop receiving job offers in 1514. The following year, at last, a Portuguese ship offered him to be part of their tribulation, but the sailor rejected the opportunity.

Magellan returned to Lisbon, where he began to study the most recent maritime charts. Together with Rui Faleiro, a Portuguese cosmographer, he was looking for a route to the Pacific through the South Atlantic. In addition, the idea that the Moluccas were in the area given to Spain in the Treaty of Tordesillas began to germinate in his mind.

The explorer presented his project to the king of his country, Don Manuel of Portugal. However, the monarch did not give him the go-ahead and Magellan decided to go to Spain to try to gather support.

In sevilla

Fernando de Magallanes settled in Seville in 1517, accompanied by Rui Faleiro. In the Andalusian city they met Juan de Aranda, one of the leaders of the Sevillian House of Trade.

The Spanish became an ally for Magellan's project: reaching the Moluccas from the west without crossing the seas that the Treaty of Tordesillas had granted to Portugal. With the help of Aranda and the Bishop of Burgos, Juan Rodríguez de Fonseca, they managed to get King Carlos I to approve the project.

On the other hand, Magellan married that same year in the city of Seville. His wife was Beatriz de Barbosa, a relative of his.

Preparation of the expedition

The Spanish king appointed Magellan and Rui Faleito captains general in March 1518 and later granted them the title of commander of the Order of Santiago.

Within the agreement they reached with the crown, Magellan and his partner obtained the promise of holding a monopoly on the route they discovered for ten years.

In the same way, they would be appointed governors of the new territories they found, they would obtain 5% of the wealth they found and they would be rewarded with an island for each one.

The explorers began to prepare the expedition. The beginnings were not at all encouraging, since they did not have enough funds and there was a mistrust in many men towards Magellan. In addition, the Portuguese king, Manuel I, issued an arrest warrant against his compatriots.

The intervention of the Bishop of Burgos saved part of the problems. He convinced a merchant to bring in new funds, which alleviated the situation.

Due to various problems, Magellan and Faleiro broke the partnership, the former being in command of the ships.

Start of the trip

After months of preparations, on August 10, 1519, the five expeditionary ships left Seville. The first stage was very short: just go down the Guadalquivir River until it reached its mouth in Sanlúcar de Barrameda (Cádiz).

In that town, the ships finished shipping food and water, as well as other supplies. Magellan signed his will on August 24, leaving his assets to his wife and children.

Finally, on September 20, 1519, the expedition left the Spanish shores. The final destination was the islands of spices, which they wanted to reach by following the route to the west and without passing

Atlantic crossing

The expedition made a brief stop in the Canary Islands before heading to America. The first place on that continent where they landed was in what is now Rio de Janeiro, on December 13, 1519.

Magellan and his people continued heading south, until they passed the Río de la Plata, already in March 1520. In the bay of San Julián they were looking for a possible passage, without success. The imminent arrival of winter made them decide to stop there until spring.

Rebellion on board

After six months of navigation and without having been able to find the passage they were looking for, the atmosphere began to get rare. Many of the men wanted to return to Spain and the tension began to get dangerous.

In the end, several of the captains in command of the ships conspired against Magellan. The conspiracy was a failure and one of the leaders was sentenced to death. Another was killed in the fighting that followed the mutiny and two others were abandoned in the bay by the expedition.

Strait of All Saints

After several days of navigation, the boats reached a place that seemed promising to search for the pass. Magellan sent the Concepción and San Antonio ships to explore, although the pilot of the latter took advantage of the occasion and set sail back to Spain.

La Concepción did follow the orders received and discovered that, indeed, the passage towards the then called South Sea was in that position. According to the chronicles, crossing the strait was quite difficult, but the ships accomplished the feat.

Magellan baptized that route as the Strait of All Saints, a holiday that was celebrated on that day. Today, the name it receives is Strait of Magellan.

The Pacific

The strait would not be the only name created by explorers. Magellan and his companions were responsible for calling the ocean they were sailing Pacific, since they did not encounter any storm.

However, his journey was not easy. The days of navigation followed one another without finding land, hunger began to appear and many fell ill with scurvy. The situation was so dire that they had to eat leather from the mast and hunted the rats on the ship.

On March 6, 1521, they were finally able to land, after finding an island on their way and, on it, very hospitable indigenous people who offered them food and water.

The island in question was in the Mariana archipelago. At the time it was known as the Island of Thieves. Currently, its name is Guam and it belongs to the United States.

In Philippines

In better spirits, the expedition went on. Just ten days later, on March 16, they reached Samar, in the Philippines. There, as in the surrounding islands, there was also a significant indigenous presence. Magellan understood that it was essential to create a peaceful environment between the natives and their crew.

Magellan sought to establish an alliance with the local leader. To do this, he promised help to defeat his enemies, a nearby tribe whose chief was Lapulapu.

Before proceeding to attack, the Portuguese tried to parley with Lapulapu to try to get him to surrender and avoid the battle. In addition, he proposed to convert to Christianity and swear allegiance to the Spanish crown.

The indigenous chief did not show any interest in Magellan's offer and on April 27, 1521, the fight between the two tribes began, with 50 expedition members supporting one of them. Among the Europeans who participated was Magellan himself.

Death of Magellan

According to the chronicles, Magellan was overconfident during the battle. In fact, it appears that he prevented the other captains of the expedition from participating in the fight.

Tiredness soon began to take its toll on Magellan's men. Ammunition began to run out and Lapulapu's followers began to gain positions.

In the middle of the confrontation, an indigenous man reached the explorer with his spear, wounding him in the leg and causing him to fall. There, on the floor of the beach of Mactan, attacked by more enemies, Ferdinand Magellan met his death on April 27, 1521.

The journey without Magellan

With the captain dead, the rest of the expedition had to decide what to do. The first thing they did was burn the Concepción and distribute the men in the two remaining ships. The replacement for Magallanes was Gonzalo Gómez de Espinosa, who stayed on the Trinidad ship. Juan Sebastián Elcano was in charge of the nao Victoria.

The two ships managed to reach the Moluccas, the final objective of the trip. There, they loaded the ships with spices and set out on their way back to Spain.

During the return, the Trinidad went through problems and stayed in the port of Tirode to be repaired. Elcano became the captain of the little that remained of the expedition and chose to return through the Portuguese seas. Thus, he sailed along the African coasts, on well-known routes.

In September 1522, the Victoria ship arrived in Seville. Only 18 men endured the three years of travel, 216 dying during it. The first round the world tour had been completed.

Map of the first circumnavigation of the world, by Fernando de Magallanes and Juan Sebastián Elcano, from 1519 to 1522.. Magellan_Elcano_Circumnavigation-fr.svg: Sémhurderivative work: Armando-Martin, via Wikimedia Commons

Contributions to geography

Although he was unable to reach the Moluccas or complete the world tour, Magellan was not the only inspirer of the feat. He also left behind important contributions to geography, discovering new seas and lands.

Strait of Magellan

On November 1, 1520, All Saints' Day, the ships led by Magellan entered the strait that separated the Atlantic and the Pacific. The Portuguese baptized it with the name of the religious festival that took place that day.

It was, without doubt, the most important discovery made by the Portuguese sailor. Today, the strait bears his name as a tribute.

New route to the Pacific

The discovery of the Strait of Magellan brought with it the opening of a new route to reach the Pacific from Europe. After entering the pass, the explorer came to the conclusion that they must be in the extreme south of America.

The bonfires that he saw on the shore, lit by the natives, were the reason that he baptized that area as Tierra del Fuego. After seven days of sailing, the ships reached the Pacific.

New ocean name

The name that Núñez de Balboa had given to the ocean was Mar del Sur. In reality, the discoverer could only see the waters that surrounded the Isthmus of Panama.

Magellan, who entered the ocean from the south, is responsible for calling it Pacific, since the mild trade winds and the lack of storms made its navigation very calm.

Islands

Two of the islands discovered by the Magellan expedition were the Marianas and Guam. Later, he was the first European to set foot on several of the islands that make up the Philippines.

References

1. Historical figures. Fernando de Magallanes: biography, discoveries, and more. Obtained from charactershistoricos.com
2. Icarito. Hernando de Magallanes. Obtained from icarito.cl
3. Universal history. Fernando de Magallanes. Obtained from mihistoriauniversal.com
4. Francisco Contente Domingues Mairin Mitchell. Ferdinand Magellan. Retrieved from britannica.com
5. New World Encyclopedia. Ferdinand Magellan. Retrieved from newworldencyclopedia.org
6. The Mariners' Museum & Park. Ferdinand Magellan. Retrieved from exploration.marinersmuseum.org
7. Kelsey, Harry. The First Circumnavigators: Unsung Heroes of the Age of Discovery. Recovered from books.google.es
8. BBC. Ferdinand Magellan (1480-1521). Retrieved from bbc.co.uk
9. Minster, Christopher. Biography of Ferdinand Magellan. Retrieved from thoughtco.com