

(Serrão, possibly a relative of Magellan’s, had sailed with Magellan to India in 1505.) Magellan attempted to return to Portugal afterward but was unsuccessful. During the subsequent fighting he saved the life of a Portuguese explorer, his close friend Francisco Serrão. Magellan is mentioned as being sent to warn the commander of the Portuguese ships in Malacca’s waters of impending attack by Malays. Reaching Cochin (now Kochi, India) in the fleet of Diogo Lopes de Sequeira, he subsequently left for the Malay city-state of Malacca (now Melaka, Malaysia). He took part, on February 2–3, 1509, in the great Battle of Diu, in which the Portuguese defeated a Muslim fleet and thereby gained supremacy over most of the Indian Ocean. Though Correia states that during this early period of his Indian service, Magellan acquired considerable knowledge of navigation, little is known of Magellan’s first years in the East until he appears among those sailing in November 1506 with Nuno Vaz Pereira to Sofala on the Mozambique coast, where the Portuguese had established a fort.īy 1507 Magellan was back in India. During a naval engagement at Cannanore (now Kannur) on the Malabar Coast of India, Magellan is said by the chronicler Gaspar Correia (also spelled Corrêa) to have been wounded. In early 1505 he enlisted in the fleet of Francisco de Almeida, first viceroy of Portuguese India, whose expedition King Manuel sent to check Muslim sea power along the African and Indian coasts and to establish a strong Portuguese presence in the Indian Ocean. At an early age he became a page to Queen Leonor, wife of John II (reigned 1481–95) and sister of Manuel I (reigned 1495–1521), in Lisbon. Magellan was the son of Rui de Magalhães and Alda de Mesquita, members of the Portuguese nobility. The voyage was successfully terminated by the Basque navigator Juan Sebastián del Cano. Though he was killed in the Philippines, one of his ships continued westward to Spain, accomplishing the first circumnavigation of Earth. From Spain he sailed around South America, discovering the Strait of Magellan, and across the Pacific. SpaceNext50 Britannica presents SpaceNext50, From the race to the Moon to space stewardship, we explore a wide range of subjects that feed our curiosity about space!įerdinand Magellan, Portuguese Fernão de Magalhães, Spanish Fernando de Magallanes or Hernando de Magallanes, (born 1480, Sabrosa or Porto?, Portugal-died April 27, 1521, Mactan, Philippines), Portuguese navigator and explorer who sailed under the flags of both Portugal (1505–13) and Spain (1519–21).

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