Ferdinand Magellan

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“Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore.” André Gide shows the struggle of exploration in this quote. He shows that in order to find and do new things you must be willing to let go off things that can hold you back. Ferdinand Magellan, a famous explorer, had lots of things in his life that could have been viable excuses for him to not accomplish things. Although he faced many obstacles, he was able to overcome these things and become one of the greatest explorers of the Renaissance.
Ferdinand Magellan was born in 1480 and lived until 1521. He was born in Sabrosa, Portugal to a family that had minor Portuguese nobility. When he was twelve years old, he and his brother moved to Lisbon where he served in Queen Leonora’s court. While serving there, he heard many stories of sea exploration and also learned a great amount of sea navigation skills. He heard stories about the Spanish and Portuguese rivalry for control over the spice trade in the East Indies. All of these stories sparked great interest for Magellan in the area of sea exploration since it promised great riches and fame.
Ferdinand along with his brother were assigned to a Portuguese ship fleet headed towards India in 1505. After this expedition Ferdinand traveled on many expeditions to India and Africa. Although he gained great knowledge in these expeditions, he was injured in several battles. One of these expeditions was a huge soldier and ship force sent by King Manuel to Morocco to influence the Moroccan governor to pay his taxes to the Portuguese Empire. The Portuguese Empire easily defeated the Moroccan troops but Ferdinand stayed behind in Morocco and was later injured in a skirmish that seriously injured him and left h...

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...and never made it around the world in one trip but if one of his earlier trips to the Spice Islands were included, he would be considered the first person to travel across the entire world. Through Magellan’s voyage European knowledge of the world’s geography increased immensely. His trip again proved that the world was definitely round, but also showed that the world was a lot larger than what was thought at that time. Ferdinand Magellan’s circumnavigation of the Earth set a standard for navigation and exploration of this mysterious and new world.

Works Cited

History.com Staff. "Ferdinand Magellan." History.com. A&E Television Networks,
2009. Web. 01 Mar. 2014.
Thatcher, Oliver J. "Internet History Sourcebooks." Internet History Sourcebooks. Internet Modern History Source, June 1998. Web. 02 Mar. 2014. .

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