Ferdinand Magellan

A detailed Summary of Ferdinand Magellan

Ferdinand Magellan was born circa 1480 in Sabrosa, Portugal. His father was Dom Ruy Magellan, a nobleman and sheriff. He was married to Donha Alda De Mesquite. He was born Fernão de Magalhães, but changed it later. Ferdinand Magellan had 2 siblings: a sister named Isabel and a brother named Diago De Souse.

This aspiring explorer and adventurer spent his childhood as a page at the Portuguese court doing errands and chores. He also went to school at a monastery. When he was only 10 years old, Magellan's parents died. About 5 years later, the King of Portugal died, and Magellan's brother-in-law, Duke Manuel (sometimes called Emanuel), was made the king.

In 1506, Magellan went to the East Indies, taking part in many exploratory and military expeditions in the Spice Islands. By 1510 he had been promoted to the rank of captain. However, his military glory ended after he secretly sailed a ship east without permission. Because of that, Magellan lost his command and had to return to Portugal.

Magellan was expecting a decent job when he returned, but was in for a surprise. He only managed to get a lowly job at court, much like the one he spent in his childhood. Magellan asked the king for a higher paying and more respected job,

but the king refused. From that experience, Magellan concluded that the King of Portugal didn't like him one bit.

Since Magellan had passed the longitude line from where he started before he died, he is considered the first person to circumnavigate, or completely go around, the world. Magellan's new route was of no use to Spain, because it was simply too long to get to the Spice Islands, and sold the land that Magellan had claimed to the Portuguese. Although Magellan's voyage wasn't of much use to Spain, he was still an important person who changed history.

The fleet then went to the Rio de la Plata estuary. On March 31st, 1520, the fleet ported at San Julian. They rested there for 6 months. During that time, there was a mutiny on one ship, and it was destroyed. After the mutiny was settled, Magellan's crew continued south to find a passage through South America.

At long last, after 98 days from their start of reaching the Pacific, Magellan's crew stopped at the Mariana Islands. The date of their stop was March 6th, 1521. Magellan named these islands Islas de Ladrones, because while they were trading, some of the natives stole goods from the ships.

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 869
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)

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