Person1480 – 1521
Ferdinand Magellan
Also called: Fernão de Magalhães
Portuguese-born navigator who, sponsored by Spain, sailed west for the Spice Islands and was killed on Mactan in the Philippines in 1521
Where they went
2 related events
Sponsored by Spain, Magellan’s fleet crossed the Atlantic and the Pacific westward. Magellan died in the Philippines, but Elcano brought the last ship home, completing the first voyage around the world.
- 1
Lapulapu, chief of Mactan in the Philippines, repelled Magellan, who had come demanding baptism and submission. Magellan was killed in the fight.
People who appear alongside
- Juan Sebastián Elcano1526
Basque Spanish navigator who brought the Victoria home in 1522 after Magellan’s death, completing the first circumnavigation
- Charles V1500 – 1558
King of Spain (as Charles I) and Holy Roman Emperor, who sponsored Magellan’s voyage and under whom the Aztec and Inca empires were conquered
- Lapulapu
Chief of Mactan who defeated Magellan in 1521; honoured in the Philippines as the first hero to resist foreign rule
Themes this person appears in
- The Age of Discovery1415 – 1600
From Ceuta to the Manila galleons — two centuries in which European ships crossed the oceans and bound the world together by sea