Magellan launched his five ships from Spain with a goal of sailing around the world to open a new route for the spice trade to Asia. Portugal already held a treaty for using the easterly route to India, so Spain needed their own passage to the west. Magellan essentially was completing what Christopher Columbus had failed to do.
But Magellan was neither Italian nor Spanish. Rather, he was a master Portuguese sailor hired by the 18-year-old king of Spain. Despite his skills, which caused him to be included in the ranks of the greatest mariners of his time, Magellan faced innumerable perils of storms, near starvation, scurvy, and multiple mutinies.
His voyage ultimately ended in his death in the Philippines in 1521, a year before the completion of the historic circumnavigation. However, he did succeed in discovering what is now called the Straits of Magellan at the base of South America.
After Magellan’s death, three other captains headed the expedition, two of them only lasting a few days. Some six months later, Juan Sebastián Elcano took charge of the smallest ship, the Victoria. Elcano actually played a large role in one of the mutinies against Magellan.
Magellan showed him mercy, and, after giving him five months of hard labor in chains, he made him captain of one of the ships. A storm destroyed Elcano’s ship, the Santiago. By the time the sailors reached the Spice Islands, only two ships remained.
