Ferdinand Magellan

Ferdinand Magellan

Ferdinand Magellan ( or ; Portuguese: Fernão de Magalhães, IPA: [fɨɾˈnɐ̃w dɨ mɐɣɐˈʎɐ̃jʃ]; Spanish: Fernando de Magallanes, IPA: [feɾˈnando ðe maɣaˈʎanes]; 4 February 1480 – 27 April 1521) was a Portuguese explorer who organised the Spanish expedition to the East Indies from 1519 to 1522, resulting in the first circumnavigation of the Earth, which was completed after his death in the Philippines by Juan Sebastián Elcano. Born 4 February 1480 into a family of minor Portuguese nobility, Magellan became a skilled sailor and naval officer and was in service of the Portuguese crown in Asia. After King Manuel I of Portugal refused to support his plan to reach India by a new route, by sailing around the southern end of the South American continent, he was eventually selected by King Charles I of Spain to search for a westward route to the Maluku Islands (the "Spice Islands"). Read more on Wikipedia

Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of Ferdinand Magellan has received more than 5,804,276 page views. His biography is available in 154 different languages on Wikipedia (up from 149 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.