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Known as
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Captain of the first expedition to circumnavigate the world
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Milestones
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1505 Sailed with a Portuguese fleet to explore and conquer the southeast Asian islands then known as the East Indies
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1517 Was denied Portuguese support for an expedition to reach the Spice Islands (Moluccas) by a westward route; gave up his Portuguese citizenship, went to Spain, received funding, and took Spanish citizenship
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September 20, 1519 Sailed west from Spain with five vessels in search of a waterway through South America
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October 21, 1520 Entered what was later named the Strait of Magellan, a channel between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans
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1520 Named the archipelago at the southernmost tip of South America Tierra del Fuego (Spanish for 'Land of Fire') after the campfires that dotted the shore
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November 28, 1520 Emerged from the Strait of Magellan into the Pacific Ocean
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April 27, 1521 Was killed in battle on Mactan, Philippines
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September 6, 1522 Captain Juan Sebastián del Cano returned the remaining ship and crew to Spain, completing the voyage around the world.
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Did You Know
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Because Magellan had been further east on previous voyages, his 1521 arrival in the Philippines technically made him the first man to circumnavigate the earth.
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Magellan's expedition proved definitively that the earth is a sphere, and that all its oceans are connected.
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Patagonia derives its name from patagões (Portuguese for 'big feet'), the name Magellan gave the foot coverings worn by the local people.
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Magellan named the Pacific Ocean for its calm waters.
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During the voyage across the Pacific, food supplies ran so low that the men ate boiled leather, sawdust, and rats to survive.
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