for: Ferdinand Magellan Railcar

Ferdinand Magellan ( , ; ) (Spring 1480 – April 27, 1521, Mactan Island, Cebu, Philippines). Ferdinand Magellan was born circa 1480 at Sabrosa, near Chaves, in the province of Tras-os-Montes, one of the wildest districts of Portugal. However, he subsequently obtained Spanish nationality in order to serve the Spanish Crown, so that he could try to find a westward route to the Spice Islands of Indonesia. He thereby became the first person to lead an expedition across the Pacific Ocean. This was also the first successful attempt to circumnavigate the Earth. Although he did not complete the entire voyage (he was killed during the Battle of Mactan in the Philippines), Magellan had earlier traveled eastward to the Spice Islands, so he became one of the first individuals to cross all of the meridians of the Globe.

Magellan and his crew were the first Europeans to enter the Pacific from the eponymous Strait of Magellan, which he discovered. They were also the first Europeans to reach the archipelago of what is now known as the Philippines, which was unknown to the western world before their landing. Arab traders had established commerce within the archipelago centuries earlier. A number of geographic features and biological species have been named for Magellan, including the eponymous Magellanic Penguin, which Magellan was the first European to note.

Of the 237 men who set out on five ships to circumnavigate the earth in 1519, only 18 completed the circumnavigation of the globe and managed to return to Spain in 1522. They were led by the Basque navigator Juan Sebastián Elcano, who took over command of the expedition after Magellan's death. Seventeen other men arrived later in Spain : twelve men captured by the Portuguese in Cape Verde some weeks earlier, and between 1525 and 1527 five survivors of the Trinidad.

Origins and first voyage

Magellan, because of his family's heritage, became a page to Queen Leonor at the royal court after the death of his parents during his tenth year. Very little is known about Magellan's background. He was the son of Rui de Magalhães (son of Pedro Afonso de Magalhães and wife Quinta de Sousa) and wife Alda de Mesquita, and brother of Duarte de Sousa, Diogo de Sousa and Isabel de Magalhães, but exactly how he is connected to the respective families it is unknown. He was married to Beatriz Barbosa and had two children: Rodrigo de Magalhães and Carlos de Magalhães, both of whom died at a young age.

Magellan made his first known expedition at sea at the age of 25 in 1505, when he was sent to India to install Francisco de Almeida as the Portuguese viceroy. The voyage gave Magellan his first experience of battle when a local king, who had paid tribute to Vasco da Gama three years earlier, refused to pay tribute to Almeida, which resulted in the Battle of Diu in 1509. After taking leave without permission, Magellan fell out of favour with Almeida and was also accused of trading illegally with the Moors. Several of the accusations were subsequently proved and there were no further offers of employment after May 15, 1514. Later on in 1515, Magellan had an employment offer as a crew member on a Portuguese ship, but rejected this offer.