Wendy Anderson, age 13, of Willingsboro, N.J., for her question:
WHO WAS THE FIRST PERSON TO GO AROUND THE WORLD?
A ship navigator from Portugal named Ferdinand Magellan commanded the first expedition that sailed around the world. He did not live to complete the expedition, but he received most of the credit for it.
Magellan is considered by many to be the greatest navigator who ever lived. His voyage provided the first positive proof that the earth is round.
Magellan, a competent navigator who believed that the Spice Islands lay not far west of Spanish America, disliked King Manuel I of Portugal. He entered the Spanish service in 1517 and offered to discover a western route to the Spice Islands for Spain. King Charles I was glad to accept Magellan's proposal.
With a fleet of five ships, Magellan and about 240 men started the famous voyage on September 20, 1519. Traveling west across the Atlantic Ocean, the expedition reached the bay of Rio de Janeiro on the east coast of South America early in December, 1519.
For about 10 months, the group explored the South American coast, looking for a strait that would lead them through the continent. They stayed in San Julian and Santa Cruz in what is now Argentina. Some of the men became dissatisfied because of the hardships and poor food and Magellan was forced to suppress a mutiny uprising.
In October, 1520, the expedition resumed when the Strait of Magellan was discovered. This passage lead from the Atlantic to the Pacific around the southern end of South America. He entered the smooth waters of the western ocean with only three ships. One had been wrecked in a storm and another had sailed back secretly to Spain.
Magellan sailed west and reached the island of Cebu in the southern Philippines. But he made the mistake of assisting a native chief in a war against his enemy. He was killed by tribesmen on April 27, 1521. The expedition reached Spain without Magellan on September 6, 1522.
After Magellan's death, the expedition wandered around the East Indies for many months. One of the ships became unseaworthy and was burned and another was wrecked by unfavorable winds. Only one ship, the Victoria, returned to Spain, traveling through the Indian Ocean and around the Cape of Good Hope.
When the Victoria reached Spain on September 6, 1522, it was commanded by Juan Sebastian del Can o, who receives credit for being the first man to sail around the earth. Only Cano and 17 men returned with the ship.
Magellan named the new ocean the Pacific because it seemed so calm compared with the stormy waters of the Atlantic through which he had sailed.
The voyage from the Strait of Magellan to the Mariana Islands took 98 days. The provisions gave out or spoiled and the water supply ran low. Hunger and disease made the condition of Magellan's men serious. They ate sawdust and rats and many died from starvation. Food and water were most welcome finds. Then it was on to Cebu in the Philippines.