Ferdinand Magellan
Ferdinand Magellan |
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Ferdinand Magellan is poo(Portuguese: Fernão de Magalhães, IPA pron. /fɨɾ.'nɐ̃w̃ dɨ mɐ.ɣɐ.'ʎɐ̃j̃ʃ/; Spanish: Fernando (or Hernando) de Magallanes) (Spring 1480 – April 27, 1521) was a Portuguese maritime explorer who led the first successful attempt to circumnavigate the Earth. Magellan himself did not complete the circumnavigation; he was killed during the Battle of Mactan in the Philippines. He did, however, become the first person to lead an expedition sailing westward from Europe to Asia and to cross the Pacific Ocean.
Of the 250 or so crew members who set out with Magellan to circumnavigate the globe, only eighteen managed to return to Spain and thereby complete the circumnavigation. They were led by Spaniard Juan Sebastian Elcano, who took over command of the expedition after Magellan's death.
Early life
Magellan was born in Sabrosa, near Vila Real in the province of Trás-os-Montes, Portugal. He was the son of Alda de Mesquita and Pedro Rui de Magalhães, the mayor of the town. He had two siblings, an elder brother Diogo de Sousa (named after his grandmother) and a sister Isabel.
Magellan's parents died when he was ten. At twelve, he followed his brother to become a page at the court of John II of Portugal and Queen Eleonora in Lisbon. Here, alongside his cousin Francisco Serrano, Magellan continued his education and became interested in geography and astronomy. He may have been taught by Martin Behaim. In 1496, aged sixteen, Magellan became a squire.
First voyages
Magellan first went to sea aged twenty-five when in 1505 he was sent to India to install Francisco de Almeida as Portuguese viceroy there. The voyage gave Magellan his first experience of battle, when a local king, who had paid tribute to da Gama three years earlier, refused to pay tribute to Almeida. Almedia's party attacked and conquered the king's city, Kilwa (in present day Tanzania).
In 1506, Magellan travelled to the East Indies and joined expeditions to the Spice Islands. In February 1509, he took part in the naval Battle of Diu – which marked the decline of Ottoman influence in the area – and in 1510 he was made a captain. Within a year, however, he had lost his commission, after sailing a ship eastward without permission. He was forced to return to Portugal.
In 1511, Magellan was sent to Morocco, where he fought in the Battle of Azamor and received a severe knee wound. After taking leave without permission, he fell out of favor with Almeida, and was also accused of trading illegally with the Moors. Several of the accusations were subsequently dropped, but Magellan fell into disfavor at the court of the new king Manuel I of Portugal. He refused to increase Magellan's pension and told him that there would be no further offers of employment after May 15, 1514. Magellan therefore decided to offer his services to the court of Spain.
Move to Spain
Magellan arrived in Seville, Spain's major port, on October 201517. From there he travelled to Valladolid to see the teenaged Spanish king, Charles I (later Holy Roman Emperor Charles V). With the endorsement of friends such as Diogo Barbosa (the Portuguese father of Duarte Barbosa) and Juan de Aranda, one of the three chief officials of Seville's India House, Magellan became a natualized Spaniard. He soon acquired great influence, gaining the ear of Charles I and Juan Rodriguez de Fonseca, bishop of Burgos and enemy of Christopher Columbus.
Having revealed the Portuguese cartographical knowledge to the Spanish court, Magellan pointed out that there would exist some passage (that he thought would be the Río de la Plata) from South America to the Pacific Ocean, forming a large bay-like river delta. He decided to pioneer this route and reach the Moluccas (Spice Islands), the key to the strategic and tremendously lucrative spice trade. He allegedly declared himself ready to sail southward as far as 75° to realize his project.
Ruy Faleiro, an astronomer and Portuguese exile, aided him in his planning, and he found an invaluable financial ally in Christopher de Haro, a member of a great Antwerp firm who held a grudge against the king of Portugal. On 22 March 1518, King Charles approved Magellan's plan and granted him generous funds. Under the contract, Magellan and Faleiro, as joint captains-general, would receive one-twentieth of all profits, and they and their heirs would also gain the government of any lands discovered, with the title of Adelantados. Magellan also took an oath of allegiance in the church of Santa María de la Victoria de Triana, giving money to the monks of the monastery so they would pray for his success.
With the money that Magellan and Faleiro had received from the king, the pair obtained five ships: Trinidad (tonnage 110, crew 55), San Antonio (tonnage 120, crew 60), Concepción (tonnage 90, crew 45), Victoria (tonnage 85, crew 42), and Santiago (tonnage 75, crew 32). The Trinidad was Magellan's flagship, and besides Faleiro, the captains for the other four were Juan de Cartegena, Gomez, Gaspar de Quesada and Luis de Mendoza, respectively
The journey
On 10 August 1519, five ships under Magellan's command left Seville and traveled from the Guadalquivir River to San Lucar de Barrameda at the mouth of the rivers, where they remained more than five weeks. Spanish authorities were wary of the Portuguese admiral and almost prevented Magellan from sailing, but on September 20, Magellan set sail from Sanlúcar de Barrameda with about 270 men.
The voyage
King Manuel ordered a naval detachment to pursue Ferdinand Magellan, but Magellan avoided the Portuguese. After stopping at the Canary Islands, Ferdinand Magellan arrived at the Cape Verde Islands, where they set course for Cape St. Augustine in Brazil. On November 20, they crossed the equator; on December 6, the crew sighted Brazil.
Since Brazil was Portuguese territory, Magellan avoided it, and on December 13 anchored near present-day Rio de Janeiro. There the crew was resupplied, but these good conditions caused them to delay. Afterwards, they continued to sail south along South America's east coast, looking for the strait that Magellan believed would lead to the Spice Islands. The fleet reached Río de la Plata on January 10, 1520.
On 31 March the crew established a settlement that they called Puerto San Julian. A mutiny involving two of the five ship captains broke out. It was unsuccessful because the crew remained loyal. Quesada was executed, and Cartagena and a priest were marooned on the coast.
The journey resumed. Santiago, sent down the coast on a scouting expedition, was wrecked in a sudden storm. All of its crewmembers survived and made it safely to shore. Two of them returned, overland, to inform Magellan of what had happened, and bring rescue to their comrades. After this experience, Magellan decided to wait for a few weeks more before again resuming the voyage.
At 52° South latitude on 24 August 1520, the fleet reached Cape Virgenes and concluded they had found the passage, because the waters were brine and deep inland. Four ships began an arduous passage through the 373-mile long passage that Magellan called the Estreito (Canal) de Todos los Santos, or "All Saints' Channel," because All Saints' Day, 1 November, occurred while the fleet traveled through it. Now, the strait is named the Strait of Magellan.
Magellan first assigned Concepcion and San Antonio to explore the strait, but the latter, commanded by Gomez, deserted and returned to Spain. On November 28, the three remaining ships entered the South Pacific. Magellan named the waters the Mar Pacifico (Pacific Ocean) because of its apparent stillness.
Death of Magellan
Heading northwest, the crew reached the equator on 13 February 1521. On 6 March, they reached the Marianas and on 16 March, the island of Homonhon in the Philippines, with 150 crewmen left. Magellan was able to communicate with the native peoples because his Malay interpreter could understand their language. They traded gifts with Rajah Kolambu of Limasawa, who guided them to Cebu, on April 7. Rajah Humabon of Cebu was friendly to them, and even agreed to accept Christianity.
The initial peace with the Philippine natives proved misleading. Magellan was killed in the Battle of Mactan, against indigenous forces led by Lapu-Lapu, on April 27, 1521. Antonio Pigafetta, a wealthy tourist who paid to be on the Magellan voyage, provided the only extant eyewitness account of the events culminating in Magellan's death, as follows:
- "When morning came, forty-nine of us leaped into the water up to our thighs, and walked through water for more than two cross-bow flights before we could reach the shore. The boats could not approach nearer because of certain rocks in the water. The other eleven men remained behind to guard the boats. When we reached land, [the natives] had formed in three divisions to the number of more than one thousand five hundred persons. When they saw us, they charged down upon us with exceeding loud cries... The musketeers and crossbow-men shot from a distance for about a half-hour, but uselessly... Recognizing the captain, so many turned upon him that they knocked his helmet off his head twice... An Indian hurled a bamboo spear into the captain's face, but the latter immediately killed him with his lance, which he left in the Indian's body. Then, trying to lay hand on sword, he could draw it out but halfway, because he had been wounded in the arm with a bamboo spear. When the natives saw that, they all hurled themselves upon him. One of them wounded him on the left leg with a large cutlass, which resembles a scimitar, only being larger. That caused the captain to fall face downward, when immediately they rushed upon him with iron and bamboo spears and with their cutlasses, until they killed our mirror, our light, our comfort, and our true guide. When they wounded him, he turned back many times to see whether we were all in the boats. Thereupon, beholding him dead, we, wounded, retreated, as best we could, to the boats, which were already pulling off."
The circumnavigation
Magellan had provided in his will that his Malay interpreter was to be freed upon his death. His interpreter, who was baptized Enrique (Henry) in Malacca 1511, had been captured by Sumatran slavers from his home islands. Thus Enrique became the first man to circumnavigate the globe (in multiple voyages). Enrique was indentured by Magellan during his earlier voyages to Malacca, and was at his side during the battles in Africa, during Magellan's disgrace at the King's court in Portugal, and during Magellan's successful raising of a fleet. However, after Mactan, the remaining ship's masters refused to free Enrique. Enrique escaped his indenture on May 1, with the aid of Rajah Humabon, amid the deaths of almost 30 crewmen. However, Antonio Pigafetta had been making notes about the language, and was apparently able to continue communications during the rest of the voyage.
The casualties suffered in the Philippines left the expedition with too few men to sail the three remaining ships. Accordingly, on May 2, 1521, they abandoned Concepción, burning the ship to make sure it could not be used against them. The fleet, now reduced to Trinidad and Victoria, fled westward to Palawan. They left that island on June 21, 1521, and were guided to Brunei, Borneo by Moro pilots, who could navigate the shallow seas. They anchored off the Brunei breakwater for 35 days, where the Venetian Pigafetta mentions the splendor of Rajah Siripada's court (gold, two pearls the size of hens' eggs, etc.). In addition, Brunei boasted tame elephants and armament of 62 cannon, more than 5 times the armament of Magellan's ships. Brunei disdained the cloves which were to prove more valuable than gold, upon the return to Spain. Pigafetta mentions some of the technology of the court, such as porcelain (which was not yet widely available in Europe), and spectacles (eye-glasses were only just becoming available in Europe).
After reaching the Maluku Islands (the Spice Islands) November 6 1521, 115 crew were left. They managed to trade with the Sultan of Tidore, a rival of the Sultan of Ternate, who was the ally of the Portuguese.
The two remaining ships, laden with valuable spices, attempted to return to Spain by sailing west. As they left the Moluccas, however, Trinidad was found to be taking on water. The crew tried to discover and repair the leak, but failed. They concluded that Trinidad would need to spend considerable time being overhauled. The small Victoria was not large enough to accommodate all the surviving crewmembers. As a result, Victoria with some of the crew sailed west for Spain. Several weeks later, Trinidad left the Moluccas to attempt to return to Spain via the Pacific route. This attempt failed; the ship was captured by the Portuguese, and was eventually wrecked in a storm while at anchor under Portuguese control.
The Victoria set sail via the Indian Ocean route home on December 21 1521. By May 6, 1522, the Victoria, commanded by Juan Sebastián Elcano, rounded the Cape of Good Hope, with only rice for rations. Twenty crewmen died of starvation before Elcano put in to the Cape Verde Islands, a Portuguese holding, where he abandoned 13 more crewmen on July 9 in fear of losing his cargo of 26 tons of spices (cloves and cinnamon).
The return
On September 6, 1522, Juan Sebastián Elcano and the remaining crew of Magellan's voyage and the last ship of the fleet, Victoria, arrived in Spain, almost exactly three years after leaving. The expedition actually eked out a small profit, but the crew were not paid their full wages.
| Name | Rating |
|---|---|
| Juan Sebastian Elcano, from Getaria | Master |
| Francisco Albo, from Axio | Pilot |
| Miguel de Rodas | Pilot |
| Juan de Acurio, from Bermeo | Pilot |
| Antonio Lombardo (Pigafetta), from Vicenza | Supernumerary |
| Martín de Judicibus, from Genoa | Chief Steward |
| Hernándo de Bustamante, from Alcántara | Mariner |
| Nicholas the Greek, from Naples | Mariner |
| Miguel Sánchez, from Rhodes | Mariner |
| Antonio Hernández Colmenero, from Huelva | Mariner |
| Francisco Rodrigues, Portuguese from Seville | Mariner |
| Juan Rodríguez, from Huelva | Mariner |
| Diego Carmena | Mariner |
| Hans of Aachen | Gunner |
| Juan de Arratia, from Bilbao | Able Seaman |
| Vasco Gomez Gallego the Portuguese, from Bayona | Able Seaman |
| Juan de Santandrés, from Cueto | Apprentice Seaman |
| Juan de Zubileta, from Barakaldo | Page |
Four crewmen of the original 55 on the Trinidad finally returned to Spain in 1525.
The discoveries
Magellan's expedition was the first to circumnavigate the globe and the first to navigate the strait in South America connecting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. The men among Magellan's expedition were also the first Europeans to observe the following:
- A "camel without humps" — which could have been the llama, guanaco, vicuña, or alpaca.
- A black "goose" which had to be skinned instead of plucked — the penguin.
- Two of our closest galaxies, the Magellanic Clouds, visible from the Southern Hemisphere.
- The extent of the Earth — their voyage was "14,460 leagues" (or 69,000 km) (or 42,875 m).
- The need for an International date line — That going round the earth westward was winning one day: upon their return they observed a mismatch of one day between their calendars and those who did not travel, even though they faithfully maintained their ship's log. They did not have clocks accurate enough to observe the variation in the length of the day during the journey.
References
- Laurence Bergreen, Over the Edge of the World: Magellan's Terrifying Circumnavigation of the Globe, HarperCollins Publishers, 2003, hardcover 480 pages, ISBN 0066211735
Further reading
For students
- W.D.Brownlee, The First Ships around the World, (1977) Lerner Publications Co., Minneapolis ISBN 0-8225-1204-1
- Richard Humble, The Voyage of Magellan, (1988) Franklin Watts, ISBN 0-531-10638-1
See also
- Military History of the Philippines
- History of the Philippines
- Portuguese Empire
- Spanish Empire
- Age of Exploration
- Henry the Black
External links
- Lists of crew members: