Ferdinand Magellan

Ferdinand Magellan (c. 1480 – April 27, 1521) is a Portuguese explorer who organizes the Spanish expedition to the East Indies from 1519 to 1522, resulting in the first circumnavigation of the Earth.

Born into a wealthy Portuguese family in around 1480, Magellan becomes a skilled sailor and naval officer and is eventually selected by King Charles I of Spain to search for a westward route to the Maluku Islands (the "Spice Islands").

Commanding a fleet of five vessels, he heads south through the Atlantic Ocean to Patagonia, passing through the Strait of Magellan into a body of water he names the "peaceful sea" (the modern Pacific Ocean).

Despite a series of storms and mutinies, the expedition reaches the Spice Islands in 1521 and returns home via the Indian Ocean to complete the first circuit of the globe.

Magellan does not complete the entire voyage, as he is killed during the Battle of Mactan in the Philippines in 1521.

The Magellanic penguin is named after him, as he was the first European to note it.

Magellan's navigational skills have also been acknowledged in the naming of objects associated with the stars, including the Magellanic Clouds, now known to be two nearby dwarf galaxies; the twin lunar craters of Magelhaens and Magelhaens A; and the Martian crater of Magelhaens.

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