Charlotte

**__//Charlotte//__**

FERDINAND MAGELLAN

I would like to introduce you to Ferdinand Magellan. Magellan was born in 1480 in northern Portugal. When he was 10 years old his parents died. When he was about 12 years old he learned about famous explorers and learned how to navigate ships. This could have been the beginning of his career as an explorer.Ferdinand Magellan is best known for being the leader of the first expedition to go around the world.

Magellan’s first time out at sea was when he was 25 in 1505to Melaka.He then sailed to India in 1509 with Portugal’s first Admiral Francisco de Almedias. He experienced his first battle when the local king refused to support the First Admiral.

Around this time, many explorers were going to the Spice Island. Magellan thought it would be easier to sail west through the New World to get to the Spice Islands. Ferdinand Magellan asked the King of Portugal to support his journey around the world. He refused. So Magellan went to the King of Spain and he decided to help him out. It was going tobe quite difficult to find enough sailors to go on the journey. None of the Spanish wanted to sail around the world with a Portuguese Captain. Eventually he found enough sailors.

On September 17th, 1519 they finally set sail with 5 ships. His fleet and he crossed the Atlantic Ocean. Finally in October of 1520 they reached the tip of South America. He sailed south then west and after 38 days they reached the Pacific Ocean. They sailed weeks without seeing land. The weather got very cold and some of the sailors got very sick. In March of 1521 they reached an island we now call Guam.

When they stopped at Guam, some Indians shot Ferdinand Magellan with a poisoned arrow and he was killed. Most of his crew made it around the world without him.

Ferdinand Megellan is best known for being the first leader whose ship made it around the world. I think that he was a very demanding person, but a great leader to his crew.

 By Charlotte