Magellan Route Map

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Theexpedition endured many hardships, including sabotage and mutinies by the mostly Spanish crew (and Elcano himself), starvation, scurvy, storms, and hostile encounters with indigenous people. Only 18 men and one ship (the Victoria) completed the return trip to Spain.[n 1] Magellan himself died in battle in the Philippines and was succeeded as captain-general by a series of officers, with Elcano eventually leading the Victoria's return trip.

The expedition was funded mostly by King Charles I of Spain, with the hope that it would discover a profitable western route to the Spice Islands, as the eastern route was controlled by Portugal under the Treaty of Tordesillas. Though the expedition did find a route, it was much longer and more arduous than expected and was therefore not commercially useful. Nevertheless, the expedition is regarded as one of the greatest achievements in seamanship and had a significant impact on the European understanding of the world.[8][9][3]

Given the economic importance of the spice trade, Castile (Spain) urgently needed to find a new commercial route to Asia. After the Junta de Toro conference of 1505, the Spanish Crown commissioned expeditions to discover a route to the west. Spanish explorer Vasco Nez de Balboa reached the Pacific Ocean in 1513 after crossing the Isthmus of Panama, and Juan Daz de Sols died in Ro de la Plata in 1516 while exploring South America in the service of Spain.

Ferdinand Magellan was a Portuguese sailor with previous military experience in India, Malacca, and Morocco. A friend, and possible cousin, with whom Magellan sailed, Francisco Serro, was part of the first expedition to the Moluccas, leaving from Malacca in 1511.[10] Serro reached the Moluccas, going on to stay on the island of Ternate and take a wife.[11] Serro sent letters to Magellan from Ternate, extolling the beauty and richness of the Spice Islands. These letters likely motivated Magellan to plan an expedition to the islands and would later be presented to Spanish officials when Magellan sought their sponsorship.[12]

Historians speculate that, beginning in 1514, Magellan repeatedly petitioned King Manuel I of Portugal to fund an expedition to the Moluccas, though records are unclear.[13] It is known that Manuel repeatedly denied Magellan's requests for a token increase to his pay, and that in late 1515 or early 1516, Manuel granted Magellan's request to be allowed to serve another master. Around this time, Magellan met the cosmographer Rui Faleiro, another Portuguese subject nursing resentment towards Manuel.[14] The two men acted as partners in planning a voyage to the Moluccas which they would propose to the king of Spain. Magellan relocated to Seville, Spain in 1517, with Faleiro following two months later.

On arrival in Seville, Magellan contacted Juan de Aranda, factor of the Casa de Contratacin. Following the arrival of his partner Rui Faleiro, and with the support of Aranda, they presented their project to the king Charles I of Spain (future Holy Roman Emperor Charles V). Magellan's project, if successful, would realise Columbus' plan of a spice route by sailing west without damaging relations with the Portuguese. The idea was in tune with the times and had already been discussed after Balboa's discovery of the Pacific. On 22 March 1518, the king named Magellan and Faleiro captains so that they could travel in search of the Spice Islands in July. He raised them to the rank of Commander of the Order of Santiago. They reached an agreement with King Charles which granted them, among other things:[15]

The expedition was funded largely by the Spanish Crown, which provided ships carrying supplies for two years of travel. Though King Charles I was supposed to pay for the fleet he was deeply in debt, and he turned to the House of Fugger.[citation needed] Through archbishop Juan Rodrguez de Fonseca, head of the Casa de Contratacin, the Crown obtained the participation of merchant Cristbal de Haro, who provided a quarter of the funds and goods to barter.

Expert cartographers Jorge Reinel and Diego Ribero, a Portuguese who had started working for King Charles in 1518[20] as a cartographer at the Casa de Contratacin, took part in the development of the maps to be used in the travel. Several problems arose during the preparation of the trip, including lack of money, the king of Portugal trying to stop them, Magellan and other Portuguese incurring suspicion from the Spanish, and the difficult nature of Faleiro.[21]

The fleet, consisting of five ships with supplies for two years of travel, was called the Armada del Maluco, or Armada de Molucca, after the Indonesian name for the Spice Islands.[22][2] The ships were mostly black, due to the tar covering most of their surface. The official accounting of the expedition put the cost at 8,751,125 maravedis, including the ships, provisions, and salaries.[23]

The fleet also carried flour and salted meat. Some of the ships' meat came in the form of livestock; the ship carried seven cows and three pigs. Cheese, almonds, mustard, and figs were also present.[25] Carne de membrillo,[26] made from preserved quince, was a delicacy enjoyed by captains which may have unknowingly aided in the prevention of scurvy.[27]

The fleet initially consisted of five ships, with Trinidad being the flagship. All or most were carracks (Spanish "carraca" or "nao"; Portuguese "nau").[n 2] The Victoria was the only ship to complete the circumnavigation. Details of the ships' configuration are not known, as no contemporary illustrations exist of any of the ships.[30] The official accounting of the Casa de Contratacin put the cost of the ships at 1,369,808 maravedis, with another 1,346,781 spent on outfitting and transporting them.[31]

The crew consisted of about 270 men,[43] mostly Spaniards. Spanish authorities were wary of Magellan, so that they almost prevented him from sailing, switching his mostly Portuguese crew to mostly men of Spain. In the end, the fleet included about 40 Portuguese,[44] among them Magellan's brother-in-law Duarte Barbosa, Joo Serro, Estvo Gomes and Magellan's indentured servant Enrique of Malacca. Crew members of other nations were also recorded, including 29 Italians, 17 French, and a smaller number of Flemish, Greek, Irish, English, Asian, and black sailors.[45] Counted among the Spanish crew members were at least 29 Basques (including Juan Sebastin Elcano), some of whom did not speak Spanish fluently.[45]

Ruy Faleiro, who had initially been named co-captain with Magellan, developed mental health problems prior to departure (or, as other sources state, chose to remain behind after performing a horoscope reading indicating that the voyage would be fatal for him[46]) and was removed from the expedition by the king. He was replaced as the fleet's joint commander by Juan de Cartagena and as cosmographer/astrologer by Andrs de San Martn.

Juan Sebastin Elcano, a Spanish merchant ship captain living in Seville, embarked seeking the king's pardon for previous misdeeds. Antonio Pigafetta, a Venetian scholar and traveller, asked to be on the voyage, accepting the title of "supernumerary" and a modest salary. He became a strict assistant of Magellan and kept a journal. The only other sailor to keep a running account during the voyage would be Francisco Albo, who kept a formal nautical logbook.Juan de Cartagena, suspected illegitimate son of archbishop Fonseca, was named Inspector General of the expedition, responsible for its financial and trading operations.[47]

On 10 August 1519, the five ships under Magellan's command left Seville and descended the Guadalquivir River to Sanlcar de Barrameda, at the mouth of the river. There they remained more than five weeks. Finally they set sail on 20 September 1519 and left Spain.[48]

On 26 September, the fleet stopped at Tenerife in the Canary Islands, where they took in supplies (including vegetable and pitch, which were cheaper to acquire there than in Spain).[49] During the stop, Magellan received a secret message from his father-in-law, Diogo Barbosa, warning him that some of the Castilian captains were planning a mutiny, with Juan de Cartagena (captain of the San Antonio) being the ring-leader of the conspiracy.[50] He also learned that the King of Portugal had sent two fleets of caravels to arrest him.

On 3 October, the fleet departed the Canary Islands, sailing south along the coast of Africa. There was some disagreement over directions, with Cartagena arguing for a more westerly bearing.[51] Magellan made the unorthodox decision to follow the African coast in order to evade the Portuguese caravels which were pursuing him.[52]

Toward the end of October, as the Armada approached the equator, they experienced a series of storms, with such intense squalls that they were sometimes forced to strike their sails.[53] Pigafetta recorded the appearance of St. Elmo's fire during some of these storms, which was regarded as a good omen by the crew:

During these storms the body of St. Anselme appeared to us several times; amongst others, one night that it was very dark on account of the bad weather, the said saint appeared in the form of a fire lighted at the summit of the mainmast, and remained there near two hours and a half, which comforted us greatly, for we were in tears, only expecting the hour of perishing; and when that holy light was going away from us it gave out so great a brilliancy in the eyes of each, that we were near a quarter-of-an-hour like people blinded, and calling out for mercy. For without any doubt nobody hoped to escape from that storm.[54]

During the ocean crossing, the Victoria's Sicilian master, Salomon Antn was caught in an act of sodomy with a Genoese apprentice sailor, Antnio Varesa, off the coast of Guinea.[55][56][54] At the time, sodomy was punishable by death in Spain, though in practice, sex between men was a common occurrence on long naval voyages.[57] Magellan held a trial on board the Trinidad and found Antn guilty, sentencing him to death by strangulation. Antn was later executed on 20 December 1519, after the fleet's landfall in Brazil at Santa Lucia (present-day Rio de Janeiro), his strangled body being burnt.[55][54] Varesa drowned after going overboard on 27 April 1520, having been thrown off by his shipmates.[58][55][59]

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