Ferdinand Magellan : Ask Biography

Personal information

Birth name

Fernão de Magalhães

Birth date

1480

Place of birth

Sabrosa, Portugal

Date of death

1521, 1480(age 1475)

Death place

Mactan, Cebu, Philippines

Nationality

Portuguese

Citizenship

Portuguese

Known for

Captained the first circumnavigation expedition.

Home | Person | Ferdinand Magellan

Ferdinand Magellan ( , -ptfɨɾˈnɐ̃w ðɨ mɐɣɐˈʎɐ̃jʃIPA; , -esferˈnando ðe maɣaˈʎanesIPA; c. 1480 � April 27, 1521) was a Portuguese explorer. He was born in Sabrosa, in northern Portugal, and served King Charles I of Spain in search of a westward route to the "Spice Islands" (modern Maluku Islands in Indonesia).

Magellan's expedition of 1519 � 1522 became the first expedition to sail from the Atlantic Ocean into the Pacific Ocean (then named "peaceful sea" by Magellan; the passage being made via the Strait of Magellan), and the first to cross the Pacific. It also completed the first circumnavigation of the Earth, although Magellan himself did not complete the entire voyage, being killed during the Battle of Mactan in the Philippines.

Magellan also gives his name to the Magellanic Penguin, which he was the first European to note, and the Magellanic clouds, now known to be nearby dwarf galaxies.