Ferdinand Magellan

Also known as Fernão de Magalhães, Fernando de Magallanes, Magallanes, Magellan, Hernando de Magallanes, Fernando de Magalhães, Fernand de Magaglianes, Fernan de Magalhāes

Portuguese explorer in the service of Spain

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Ferdinand Magellan, also known as Fernão de Magalhães, was a male explorer and sailor born in 1480 in Ponte da Barca, Sabrosa. He held citizenship in the Kingdom of Portugal and the Crown of Castile, and served with allegiance to the Spanish Empire. Magellan held the rank of captain and commanded the Magellan-Elcano expedition and the Trinidad. He received the Military Order of Saint James of the Sword and the Order of Christ.

He spoke Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish. Magellan died on 27 April 1521 in Mactan due to homicide, classified as killed in action. His native name was Fernão de Magalhães. He is described in sources including the Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary, The Nuttall Encyclopædia, the Encyclopædia Britannica 11th edition, and the Granat Encyclopedic Dictionary. One of his top works is titled A primeira viagem a volta do mundo contada pelos que nela participaram.

Synthesized by Vinony from 36 facts across 6 sources: Wikidata, Last.fm, Crossref, MusicBrainz, Open Library, Vinony graph. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.

Wikidata facts

Instance of: human
Gender: male
Citizenship: Crown of Castile
Place of birth: Sabrosa
Place of death: Mactan
Languages spoken: Spanish
Award: Order of Christ
Participant in: Magellan-Elcano expedition
Conflict: Battle of Mactan
Military rank: captain
Image: Ferdinand Magellan.jpg

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on focus list of Wikimedia project: Wikipedia:Vital articles/Level/4
Commons category: Ferdinand Magellan
date of birth: 1480-00-00
date of death: 1521-04-27
Commons gallery: Fernão de Magalhães
topic's main category: Category:Ferdinand Magellan
name in native language: Fernão de Magalhães
military casualty classification: killed in action
commander of (DEPRECATED): Trinidad
allegiance: Spanish Empire
name: Magallanes, Fernando de
member of: Order of Santiago

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Encyclopedic overview

Ferdinand Magellan (c. 1480 – 27 April 1521) was a Portuguese explorer best known for planning and leading the 1519–1522 Spanish expedition to the East Indies. During this expedition, he became the first European to encounter the Strait of Magellan, performed the first European crossing of the Pacific Ocean, and made the first known European contact with the Philippines. Magellan himself was killed in battle in the Philippines in 1521, but his crew, commanded by Spanish navigator Juan Sebastián Elcano, completed the return trip to Spain in 1522, achieving the first circumnavigation of Earth in history.

Born around 1480 into a family of minor Portuguese nobility, Magellan became a skilled sailor and naval officer in the service of the Portuguese Crown in Asia. However, King Manuel I refused to support Magellan's plan to reach the Moluccas, or Spice Islands, by sailing westwards around the American continent. Magellan then proposed the same plan to King Charles I of Spain, who approved it. In Seville, he married, fathered two children, and organized the expedition. In 1518, for his allegiance to the Hispanic monarchy, Magellan was appointed an admiral of the Spanish fleet and given command of the expedition—the five-ship "Armada of Molucca". He also was made a Commander of the Order of Santiago, one of the highest military ranks of the Spanish Empire.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Ferdinand Magellan” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.