In September 1522, a battered ship carrying just 18 men entered a Spanish port. Three years earlier, the Victoria had sailed from Spain with over two hundred sailors in search of precious spices. The Victoria was one of a fleet of five ships commanded by Ferdinand Magellan, an adventurer so hungry to explore the world that he had left his native Portugal to lead a Spanish expedition. His fleet had nearly been forgotten over its long voyage, but its return marked the beginning of a new era, for the Victoria carried much more than spices—it carried the legacy of Ferdinand Magellan, whose amazing expedition had sailed all the way around the globe.
Magellan was born in 1480 to Portuguese parents of noble ancestry. By age 12, he had become a page in the royal court of Portugal. There, he studied swordsmanship, mapmaking, and navigation. Such skills were critical in the Age of Discovery, when men sailed the seas in search of riches and glory. When Christopher Columbus arrived in the New World and claimed it for Spain in 1492, Magellan was captivated by the idea of new and exotic lands. In 1499, Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama discovered a sea route to India, and Magellan was further inspired. Magellan dreamed that he, too, might become an explorer. In 1505, he joined the Portuguese navy. During the next eight years, he learned seamanship and naval warfare, sailing east to India, China, and Malaysia. He returned to Portugal determined to lead an expedition of his own.
After the discovery of the New World in 1492, Spain and Portugal, the greatest maritime powers in Europe, both wanted to control the lands yet to be found. To resolve the conflict, Spain and Portugal signed a treaty dividing the entire non-European world in two. A line was drawn on a map over the Atlantic Ocean, from north to south. Spain was given rights to all land west of the line, while Portugal claimed the land to the east, including a portion of what is now Brazil.
Spain and Portugal, however, had both been sailing to the Spice Islands (now a part of Indonesia) to buy nutmeg, pepper, and other spices. Who should now control the islands was hotly contested. Portugal sailed east to the islands, but Magellan believed there was a way to the islands through the New World. He brought his idea to Manuel I, the king of Portugal, but the king rejected it. Angered, Magellan left Portugal and proposed his idea to Charles V, the king of Spain, who agreed to pay for an expedition. But Charles did not fully trust the Portuguese Magellan, so he supplied Spanish men for the crew. Magellan commanded the Trinidad, but Spanish officers commanded the other ships—the Victoria, San Antonio, Concepción, and Santiago. Three of the Spanish captains believed that Magellan was really working for Portugal, and planned to kill him once they were at sea.
On September 20, 1519, Magellan sailed his fleet west from Spain to the Canary Islands. There, he discovered the plot against him. He had the conspirators imprisoned aboard the Victoria and appointed three new captains. The fleet continued across the Atlantic Ocean, anchoring in Rio de Janeiro in December 1519. After taking on new supplies, the ships sailed along the coast of South America, but temperatures dropped and heavy storms battered the fleet. By March 1520, ice in the water and bitter cold threatened the expedition. Magellan ordered the ships to anchor near a rocky coast and wait for warmer weather. Again, his captains conspired to abandon the expedition and return to Spain, but Magellan discovered the plot. This time, he had one of the leaders of the mutiny executed and another marooned.
Toward the end of winter, Magellan grew impatient and sent the Santiago along the coast in search of a strait through the continent. The ship was wrecked during a storm, and after rescuing the stranded crew, the remaining four vessels continued south. In October 1520, after nearly a year at sea, the fleet spotted a waterway through the landmass. Magellan named it the Strait of All Saints, but it would come to be known as the Strait of Magellan. Shallow waters and jagged rock formations threatened the safe passage of the fleet. As the ships entered the strait, the San Antonio suddenly turned around, fleeing east with most of the fleet’s supplies. Magellan rallied the rest of his ships onward.
After 38 days of painstaking navigation, the fleet emerged from the strait into open waters. Magellan named the sea rippling before him for its calmness, calling it the Pacific Ocean. He believed that he was just days from the Spice Islands, but he had no idea how vast the ocean was. The ships were low on supplies, and as they sailed west, conditions worsened. There was no fresh food, and the drinking water turned foul. Their biscuits were infested with maggots, but the men ate them anyway. When the biscuits were gone, the starving sailors ate rats, sawdust, and leather. Scurvy, a disease caused by lack of vitamin C, claimed the lives of some of the crew, while others died from starvation. Magellan’s ships sailed for three months, crossing the largest body of water anyone had ever seen, until they reached the island of Guam. The men took on supplies there and sailed again, arriving in the Philippines in March 1521.
The Trinidad, Victoria, and Concepción were badly in need of repair, so Magellan lingered in the Philippines. While his crew mended sails and scrubbed decks, Magellan befriended the native people. A Christian, Magellan felt he had a duty to convert the natives to Christianity. When one island tribe refused, he decided to force them to adopt his faith. On April 27, 1521, he sailed to the island only to find that shallow waters prevented anchoring close to shore. So Magellan and sixty of his men walked through the thigh-high water toward the beach. Thousands of natives rushed at them, hurling spears. Magellan pressed on because he was certain his armor would protect him. But a poisoned-tip spear pierced Magellan’s leg, and the natives rushed to kill the fleet’s leader. There were only 115 crewmen left alive after the battle, not enough to crew three ships. They burned the Concepción, and the last two ships sailed for the Spice Islands on May 1, 1521—without Magellan.
After loading the Trinidad and Victoria with valuable spices, the Victoria’s captain decided to send one ship east and the other west, hoping to minimize the risk that both would perish. The Trinidad, sailing east, was captured by Portuguese sailors; the Victoria sailed west, around Africa’s southern coast. During the three-month voyage, storms and scurvy attacked the crew yet again. Finally, on September 6, 1522, this lone surviving vessel arrived in Spain, almost exactly three years after the fleet had sailed west for the Spice Islands. The expedition had covered 42,000 miles; Magellan had not found a faster way to the Spice Islands. He earned his place in history for something much greater—his expedition had proved that ships could sail around the globe.