Ferdinand Magellan, a Portuguese explorer, was one of the most famous explorers in history. He led a Spanish expedition that became the first crew in history to circumnavigate the world.
Though Magellan did not make it around the world, he did lead the first expedition to do so. And though the Strait of Magellan was too dangerous to be used as a regular route, its mapping proved invaluable to the European understanding of the world — as did the European discovery of the Pacific Ocean and the empirical proof that the world was round.
Today In History
Ferdinand Magellan departed from Sanlúcar de Barrameda, Spain, on a quest to circumnavigate the globe.
Death
“On April 27, 1521, Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan was killed by a poison arrow during a skirmish on the island of Mactan in what is now the Philippines. Magellan and his crew were assisting a local king they had allied with when they landed on the island of Cebu weeks earlier. Magellan and his crew endured a long voyage to the Philippines.”
– National Geographic
THE CHRONICLES UNKNOWN 