Ferdinand+Magellan

Ferdinand Magellan (1480-1521) by Miss Hill
Ferdinand Magellan is usually said to be the first person to sail all the way around the world, even though he was killed in the Philippines before his ship got back to Spain.

Magellan was from Portugal, but he was working for the King of Spain. There were five ships in the expedition. The ships were called the //Trinidad//, //San Antonio//, //Concepción//, //Victoria// and //Santiago,// and there were 237 men on board. Magellan was the leader because it was his idea to go looking for a better route to bring back spices from Asia. The ships left Spain in 1519.

Magellan sailed across the Atlantic Ocean and then across the Pacific Ocean. He //was// the first person ever to do this. But when they got to the Philippines there was a battle and Magellan was killed. It was the rest of the crew in the ship Victoria under the command of Juan Sebastian Elcano who were actually the first people ever to circumnavigate the globe. There were only 18 of them left when they finally got back to Spain. (Click [|here] to see their names).



This expedition was the first time anybody realised how big the earth was. The sailors kept a record of how far they travelled - 14,460 Spanish leagues (which is 60,440 km). They were also the first Europeans to see a penguin. They thought it was a black goose.

The Straits of Magellan is the narrow waterway between Chile and Tierra del Fuego in the southern tip of South America. It was named in honour of Ferdinand Magellan.

You can also find out more about Ferdinand Magellan [|here].

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The pictures of Ferdinand Magellan, his ship and the map come from Wikipedia Commons. They can be copied but their source should be included: