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EXPLORER

Ferdinand Magellan

1480 - 1521

Photo of Ferdinand Magellan

Icon of person Ferdinand Magellan

Ferdinand Magellan ( mə-GHEL-ən or mə-JEL-ən; Portuguese: Fernão de Magalhães, IPA: [fɨɾˈnɐ̃w̃ dɨ mɐɡɐˈʎɐ̃j̃ʃ]; Spanish: Fernando de Magallanes, IPA: [feɾˈnando ðe maɣaˈjanes]; c. 1480 – 27 April 1521) was a Portuguese explorer best known for having planned and led the 1519 Spanish expedition to the East Indies across the Pacific Ocean to open a maritime trade route, during which he discovered the interoceanic passage thereafter bearing his name and achieved the first European navigation to Asia via the Pacific. Read more on Wikipedia

Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of Ferdinand Magellan has received more than 9,442,652 page views. His biography is available in 158 different languages on Wikipedia (up from 154 in 2019). Ferdinand Magellan is the 3rd most popular explorer, the most popular biography from Portugal and the most popular Portuguese Explorer.

Ferdinand Magellan is most famous for being the first person to circumnavigate the globe.

Memorability Metrics

  • 9.4M

    Page Views (PV)

  • 91.69

    Historical Popularity Index (HPI)

  • 158

    Languages Editions (L)

  • 20.35

    Effective Languages (L*)

  • 3.92

    Coefficient of Variation (CV)

Page views of Ferdinand Magellans by language


Among EXPLORERS

Among explorers, Ferdinand Magellan ranks 3 out of 405. Before him are Marco Polo and Christopher Columbus. After him are Vasco da Gama, Amerigo Vespucci, Bartolomeu Dias, Roald Amundsen, Ibn Battuta, James Cook, Hernán Cortés, Zheng He, and Francis Drake.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1480, Ferdinand Magellan ranks 1. After him are Lucrezia Borgia, Margaret of Austria, Duchess of Savoy, Matthias Grünewald, Albrecht Altdorfer, Johann Georg Faust, Lorenzo Lotto, Götz von Berlichingen, Joachim Patinir, Philibert II, Duke of Savoy, Pier Gerlofs Donia, and Salaì. Among people deceased in 1521, Ferdinand Magellan ranks 1. After him are Pope Leo X, Manuel I of Portugal, Josquin des Prez, Juan Ponce de León, Zhengde Emperor, Sebastian Brant, Christina of Saxony, Leonardo Loredan, Suzanne, Duchess of Bourbon, Francisco Serrão, and Raffaele Riario.

Others Born in 1480

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Others Deceased in 1521

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In Portugal

Among people born in Portugal, Ferdinand Magellan ranks 1 out of 555. After him are Vasco da Gama (1460), Bartolomeu Dias (1450), Anthony of Padua (1195), António de Oliveira Salazar (1889), Prince Henry the Navigator (1394), José Saramago (1922), Pedro Álvares Cabral (1467), António Guterres (1949), Fernando Pessoa (1888), Manuel I of Portugal (1469), and Pope Damasus I (305).

Others born in Portugal

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Among EXPLORERS In Portugal

Among explorers born in Portugal, Ferdinand Magellan ranks 1. After him are Vasco da Gama (1460), Bartolomeu Dias (1450), Prince Henry the Navigator (1394), Pedro Álvares Cabral (1467), Diogo Cão (1440), Diego Columbus (1479), Diogo Dias (1450), Fernão Mendes Pinto (1509), Pêro da Covilhã (1450), João Gonçalves Zarco (1390), and Tristão da Cunha (1460).

Portuguese born Explorers

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