In command of five ships and men, Magellan sailed to West Africa and then to Brazil, where he searched the South American coast for a strait that would take him to the Pacific.
He searched the Rio de la Plata, a large estuary south of Brazil, for a way through; failing, he continued south along the coast of Patagonia. At the end of March , the expedition set up winter quarters at Port St. On Easter day at midnight, the Spanish captains mutinied against their Portuguese captain, but Magellan crushed the revolt, executing one of the captains and leaving another ashore when his ship left St.
Julian in August. On October 21, he finally discovered the strait he had been seeking. The Strait of Magellan, as it became known, is located near the tip of South America, separating Tierra del Fuego and the continental mainland. Only three ships entered the passage; one had been wrecked and another deserted. It took 38 days to navigate the treacherous strait, and when ocean was sighted at the other end Magellan wept with joy. He was the first European explorer to reach the Pacific Ocean from the Atlantic.
On March 6, , the expedition landed at the island of Guam. Ten days later, they dropped anchor at the Philippine island of Cebu—they were only about miles from the Spice Islands. In the 15th century, spices were at the epicenter of the world economy, much like oil is today. Highly valued for flavoring and preserving food as well as masking the taste of meat gone bad, spices like cinnamon, clove, nutmeg and especially black pepper were extremely valuable.
Since spices could not be cultivated in cold and arid Europe, no effort was spared to discover the quickest sea route to the Spice Islands. Portugal and Spain led the competition for early control over this critical commodity. Europeans had reached the Spice Islands by sailing east, but none had yet to sail west from Europe to reach the other side of the globe.
Magellan was determined to be the first to do so. By now an experienced seaman, Magellan approached King Manuel of Portugal to seek his support for a westward voyage to the Spice Islands. The king refused his petition repeatedly. In , a frustrated Magellan renounced his Portuguese nationality and relocated to Spain to seek royal support for his venture. When Magellan arrived in Seville in October , he had no connections and spoke little Spanish.
Just 18 years old at the time, King Charles I granted his support to Magellan, who in turn promised the young king that his westward sea voyage would bring immeasurable riches to Spain. On August 10, Magellan bade farewell to his wife and young son, neither of whom he would ever see again, and the Armada De Moluccas set sail. Magellan commanded the lead ship Trinidad and was accompanied by four other ships: the San Antonio , the Conception , the Victoria and the Santiago.
The fleet reached South America a little more than one month later. There the ships sailed southward, hugging the coast in search of the fabled strait that would allow passage through South America. Magellan quickly quelled the uprising, executing one of the captains and leaving another mutinous captain behind. Meanwhile Magellan had sent the Santiago to explore the route ahead, where it was shipwrecked during a terrible storm. With those disastrous events behind them, the fleet left Port San Julian five months later when fierce seasonal storms abated.
On October 21, Magellan finally entered the strait that he had been seeking and that came to bear his name. The voyage through the Strait of Magellan was treacherous and cold, and many sailors continued to mistrust their leader and grumble about the dangers of the journey ahead. By late spring, surviving on seal and penguin meat, the armada entered what is now known as the Strait of Magellan, the narrow body of water separating mainland South America from the Tierra del Fuego.
The armada lost another ship during the passage through the Strait: the San Antonio , which became separated from the rest of the armada, and turned around and returned to Spain. An engraving c. Once the three remaining ships reached the other side of the Strait of Magellan, the sea they found was calm and placid. Magellan christened it the Pacific Ocean. Crossing the Pacific, the crew of the remaining ships suffered terribly.
Twenty-nine sailors died during the four-month voyage. In April , the group put into an island in the Pacific: Cebu, in what is now the Philippines.
Magellan befriended the local ruler, Raja Humabon, and became embroiled in local politics, which would be his downfall. Fighting in the shallow waters off the shore, Magellan and 49 of his men squared off against over 1, Mactanese warriors.
Facing such poor odds, Magellan was killed, as well as seven of his men, and his ships returned to Cebu. A 19th-century illustration of the death of Magellan left ; a plaque in Cebu commemorating the site of Magellan's death, Philippines right.
The rest of the members set sail, fleeing to the safety of the sea. For the next six months the ships engaged in piracy as they made their way to the Spice Islands. Finally, in November, they arrived at the island of Tidore, part of the Malukus, and filled their holds with cloves. The Trinidad, which was taking on water, could not be repaired, and it was abandoned along with its crew.
Detail of a map showing the Victoria , the only ship from the armada to successfully circumnavigate the earth. This voyage took over six months, during which the crew subsisted on rice alone.
In , Magellan decamped to Seville in Spain, where he quickly married the daughter of another Portuguese exile, had two children and began bending the ear of Charles I about a western route to the Spice Islands. The year-old Spanish king — grandson of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, who had commissioned the adventures of Columbus — was desperate to make his mark and smash the dominance his Iberian rivals had over the enormously lucrative spice trade. He seized the potential opportunity to bypass Africa, while avoiding breaking the terms of the treaty with the powerful Portuguese, and commissioned Magellan to undertake the expeditionary mission he had been itching to pursue.
Unlike Columbus — who made a further three journeys across the western ocean, but died in denial that he was actually exploring a totally new continent — the Spanish soon realised this was a different land mass the Americas. Magellan, a visionary who was working with the most advanced cartographers and cosmographers of the era, was convinced there was a way of getting around the Americas.
Word of his mission reached Manuel I, who jealously dispatched a Portuguese naval detachment to follow the expedition, but Magellan outran them. Many of the Spanish sailors in the expeditionary party were suspicious of their Portuguese commander. Some of his crew were criminals released from prison in return for undertaking the dangerous voyage. Others joined just because they were avoiding creditors.
The fleet was hit by a storm, which caused a delay and resulted in food rationing. Magellan had Cartagena arrested, relieved of his command and imprisoned in the brig of the Victoria until they reached South America. The incident was a precursor to the much more dramatic and bloody events to come.
For two weeks they interacted with indigenous people, trading trinkets for food and sexual favours, before the fleet sailed south, scouring the coastline in search of an opening. Supported by the Habsburg emperor Charles V, the voyage is funded by German banking money. The crew is drawn from across Europe and even Africa, and equipped for a voyage of two years.
The fleet reaches the Canary Islands, but is already dogged with problems. Magellan realises he has been swindled out of supplies before departure. He also has to outrun Portuguese ships trying to arrest him as a traitor in the pay of Spain. The fleet successfully crosses the Atlantic and arrives in Rio de Janeiro Bay. Tensions are already running high between the Portuguese commander and the Spanish nobles on the voyage, who continue to question his authority.
Navigating his way takes over a month through unknown waters in terrible conditions with the loss of another ship. Magellan finally emerges into open sea.
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