Ferdinand Magellan - Quick facts

Born in Sabrosa in Northern Portugal.

!st European to lead expedition across the Pacific Ocean.

1st European to circumnavigate the globe. (18 of his crew did it but Magellan actually died before finishing the voyage)

The circumnavigation voyage set off from Seville in 1519 with the following ships - Trinidad, San Antonio, Concepción, Victoria and Santiago.

Only 110 of the original crew members remained so they abandoned one of the ships - the Conception. The Trinidad tried to return back to Spain the same way they had came but was forced to return to the Spice Islands where they were imprisoned by the Portuguese. The Victoria was the last remaining ship

In 1520, as part of the voyage, his fleet, now 4 ships with the loss of the Santiago on the east coast of South America, sailed through the channel of water between the southern tip of South America and the island of Tierra del Fuego. Today, this channel is known as the Strait of Magellan.

Magellan's expedition proved definitively that the earth is a sphere, and that all its oceans are connected.

Because his family had ties to the royal family, Magellan became a page to the Portuguese queen after his parents' untimely deaths in 1490.

Magellan named the Pacific Ocean for its calm waters.

On April 27 Ferdinand Magellan was killed by natives on the island of Mactan.

The Victoria reached Sanlucar de Barrameda in Spain with only 18 survivors.