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René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle was born at Rouen, in Normandy, on the twenty-first of November, 1643. He belonged to a wealthy middle-class family. At the age of fifteen, he was enrolled in the Jesuit noviciate of Rouen, and he took his vows in 1660. Five years later he asked to be sent abroad as a missionary. However, he lost his vocation and invoked "moral weaknesses" as his reason for asking to be released from his vows. On the twenty-seventh of March, 1667, he found himself a free man. This was the background to the start of a career which would eventually lead him to discover the mouth of the great Mississippi, "Father of Waters".

Route

The China Obsession

La Salle arrived in New France in 1667 with no trade and no money. He may have been influenced to make the journey by the fact that his brother Jean, a Sulpician priest, had been living at Ville Marie (Montreal) for a little less than a year. No sooner had young La Salle arrived than he was granted a piece of land in the western part of the island of Montreal. He became so obsessed with the search for a route to the Orient that his seigneurie (estate) became jokingly known as 'La Chine' (French for China.)

Exploration Frenzy

By July, 1669, La Salle was ready to start searching for the "Vermilion Sea" (the Pacific Ocean), which he hoped to reach by way of the Ohio River. Such was his enthusiasm that he who "would lief permit no other man the honour of finding the way to the South Sea and thence to China" sold his estate back to the people who had granted it to him, fitted out five trading canoes and hired fourteen men. As exploration also had its religious side, for evangelizing the Amerindians, the Church took an interest, and so the Sulpician Dollier de Casson accompanied La Salle with three canoes and seven recruits recently arrived from France. De Casson also brought along an invaluable companion, the Abbé René de Bréhan de Galinée, whose task was to draw maps of their discoveries.

It did not take La Salle's fellow travellers long to realize that their leader was incompetent. He could speak neither Algonquian nor Iroquoian. According to Galinée, La Salle "was undertaking this journey almost in a daze, more or less not knowing where he was going."

By September the party reached the north shore of Lake Erie. On the first of November, 1669, La Salle announced that he was returning to Ville Marie because, so he said, of ill health. He disappeared into the bush and resurfaced in the colony only at the end of the summer of 1670. He was later to claim that he had meanwhile discovered the Mississippi ahead of Jolliet and Marquette.

Emissary and Protégé of Frontenac

In 1673, the Governor of New France, Louis de Buade de Frontenac, sent La Salle as his emissary to Lake Ontario. There La Salle convened a council of the chiefs of the Iroquois nations, who granted him permission to build a fort (Fort Frontenac) at Cataracoui (Cataraqui, site of Kingston.) Having acccomplished his mission to ensure that New France would have control of the fur trade on the Great Lakes, La Salle set off for France to seek more. He returned with letters of nobility, and the seigneurie of Cataracoui was created for him in exchange for certain undertakings on his part.

La Salle was still not satisfied. Back again in France in 1677, he bribed an important person of influence and presented an untrue, self-serving report of the discoveries he claimed to have made. By such means he obtained, on the twelfth of May of the following year, the exclusive right to explore the area between Florida and Mexico. This right was later extended to allow him to "build forts at the places where he may consider them necessary and to benefit from the same conditions as at Fort Frontenac."

Builder of Forts

La Salle was back again in the colony on the fifteenth of September, 1678, with some thirty greenhorns from France, among them Father Louis Hennepin of the order of Récollets. Hennepin became the first person to describe and draw a picture of the Niagara Falls. While some of the men were erecting the walls of Fort Conti (or Fort Niagara) at that spot, others were at work building a brigantine, the Griffon. On the seventh of August, 1679, the little vessel set sail from Niagara on a course for Michillimakinac (Mackinac) where it dropped anchor twenty days later.

After making sail towards Baie des Puants (Green Bay) the Griffon was despatched back to Niagara and La Salle continued exploring Lake Michigan by canoe. On reaching the mouth of the Miami River (St. Joseph) he built Fort Miami. In January, 1680, his party reached the site of the present-day city of Peoria, Illinois. There he began to erect Fort Crèvecoeur (Fort Heartbreak.) While the construction was underway, disaster struck Fort Niagara, which was destroyed by fire. As for the Griffon, it was never heard of again.

Louisiana

The expedition which set out from Fort Crèvecoeur in January, 1682, comprised twenty-three Frenchmen and eighteen Amerindians. They made their way southwards by the Chicagou (Chicago), Renard (Fox) and Illinois rivers. By February they reached the Mississippi near the site of present-day Memphis, and there La Salle ordered the building of a small fort, Fort Prud'homme.

On the sixth of April they finally caught sight of the mouth of the Mississippi. Three days later, near to where Venice, Louisana, now stands, La Salle, dressed up in a gold-laced red cloak, had a cross planted and a plate buried under it bearing the following inscription: "In the name of Louis XIV, King of France and of Navarre, this ninth of April, 1682." The official report of the ceremony records the words proclaimed by the explorer who had just extended New France as far as the confines of the Spanish Empire:

"I, René-Robert Cavelier de La Salle, by virtue of His Majesty's commission, which I hold in my hands, and which may be seen by all whom it may concern, have taken and do now take, in the name of His Majesty and of his successors to the crown, possession of the country of Louisiana, the seas, harbours, ports, bays, adjacent straits, and all the nations, peoples, provinces, cities, towns, villages, mines, minerals, fisheries, streams and rivers, within the extent of the said Louisana."

Death in Texas

The French monarch, on hearing of La Salle's discovery, dismissed it as "utterly useless". Nonetheless, Louis XIV was misled by false maps which placed the Mississippi near the Rio Grande and New Spain. Consequently he commissioned La Salle to establish a French colony in Louisiana. On the following twenty-fourth of July, two hundred and twenty-eight recruits, including several women, set sail from La Rochelle aboard four ships. Their objective, though they did not really know where they were going, was to find the Mississipi by way of the Atlantic, the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico.

Sickness, shortage of supplies and drinking water, the loss of one of the vessels and the departure of another for France, the death or desertion of many of the men, all compromised the project to found a colony up the Mississipi.

By February, 1687, La Salle's party was reduced to thirty-six persons. Bad-tempered, haughty and harsh, he alienated even those who had remained faithful to him to the end. He died in the land that is now Texas, shot dead at point blank range. It was the nineteenth of March, 1687. Three of his companions had been murdered just before him. The conspirators who committed the murders then set about killing one another.

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René-Robert Cavelier de La Salle 1670-1687

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René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle was born at Rouen, in Normandy, on the twenty-first of November, 1643. He belonged to a wealthy middle-class family. At the age of fifteen, he was enrolled in the Jesuit noviciate of Rouen, and he took his vows in 1660.

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John Cabot was most likely born in Italy, some time around the year 1450. In Italy, he is referred to as Giovanni Caboto. Not much is known about his early life except for the fact that he became a Venetian citizen (resident of Venice) in 1476. In the 1480s, he married a woman named Mattea and had three sons. In the 1490s, he apparently moved to Spain and then England, at least in part, to escape debt accrued in Italy.

Sailing West to Reach the Indies

After the Columbus discovery of the West Indies, Cabot began formulating a plan to reach "the Indies" by sailing west at a more northerly latitude, where the voyage from Europe would be shorter. Historians believe that Cabot found supporters in the English city of Bristol, which was the second-largest seaport in England. In 1496, he made Bristol the headquarters for his seafaring operations and began to make preparations for a journey across the ocean.

Exploring Eastern Canada

Cabot probably first set sail in 1496, though this first voyage proved unsuccessful and Cabot turned back to England. In 1497, Cabot is thought to have set sail again with his son Sebastian and seventeen other crew members. This time, his voyage was successful. One of the boats under his command, the Matthew, sighted land and probably landed on Labrador, Newfoundland, or Cape Breton Island in modern-day eastern Canada on June 24, 1497, after 52 days at sea. Cabot claimed this land for England. Cabot continued to explore the maritime region of Canada and thought he found part of Asia, but he never found the famed Northwest Passage.

Way Off Course

Cabot and his crew quickly sailed back to England, where he was welcomed as a hero. Cabot promised Henry VII that the land he found was full of silk and spices, and that the land he discovered was close to Japan. The king was easily convinced to finance Cabot's next journey, which set sail in 1498. This expedition was outfitted with two ships and 300 men. Sailing west from Bristol, the expedition pushed north along the coast of Greenland. The farther north they sailed along the coast, however, the colder it became and the larger the icebergs were. Cabot's crew mutinied and he was forced to navigate to the south, where no new discoveries were made. Cabot and his crew returned in England in the fall of 1498 and he died shortly thereafter.

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John Cabot was most likely born in Italy, some time around the year 1450. In Italy, he is referred to as Giovanni Caboto. Not much is known about his early life except for the fact that he became a Venetian citizen (resident of Venice) in 1476.

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John Cabot (or Giovanni Caboto, as he was known in Italian) was an Italian explorer and navigator who may have developed the idea of sailing westward to reach the riches of Asia while working for a Venetian merchant. Though the exact details of his life and expeditions are the subject of debate, he was born in 1450 and by the late 1490s, he was living in England, where he gained a commission from King Henry VII to make an expedition across the northern Atlantic. He sailed from Bristol in May 1497 and made landfall in late June. The exact site of Cabot's landing has not been definitively established; it may have been located in Newfoundland, Cape Breton Island or southern Labrador. After returning to England to report his success, Cabot departed on a second expedition in mid-1498, but is thought to have perished in a shipwreck en route.

John Cabot's Early Life

Giovanni Caboto was born circa 1450 in Genoa, and moved to Venice around 1461; he became a Venetian citizen in 1476. Evidence suggests that he worked as a merchant in the spice trade of the Levant, or eastern Mediterranean, and may have traveled as far as Mecca, then an important trading center for Oriental and Western goods. He studied navigation and map-making during this period, and, similarly to his countryman Christopher Columbus, appears to have become interested in the possibility of reaching the rich markets of Asia by sailing in a westward direction.

Did you know? John Cabot's landing in 1497 is generally thought to be the first European encounter with the North American continent since Leif Eriksson and the Vikings explored the area they called Vinland in the 11th century.

For the next several decades, Cabot's exact activities are unknown; he may have spent several years in Valencia and Seville, Spain, and may have been in Valencia in 1493, when Columbus passed through the city on his way to report to the Spanish monarchs the results of his western voyage (including his mistaken belief that he had in fact reached Asia). By late 1495, Cabot had reached Bristol, England, a port city that had served as a starting point for several previous expeditions across the North Atlantic. From there, he worked to convince the British crown that England did not have to stand aside while Spain claimed most of the New World, and that it was possible to reach Asia on a more northerly route than the one Columbus had taken.

John Cabot's First Voyage

In 1496, King Henry VII issued letters patent to Cabot and his son, which authorized them to make a voyage of discovery and to return with goods for sale on the English market. After a first, aborted attempt, Cabot sailed out of Bristol on the small ship Matthew in May 1497, with a crew of 18 men. The expedition made landfall in North America on June 24; the exact location is disputed, but may have been southern Labrador, the island of Newfoundland or Cape Breton Island. When Cabot went ashore, he reportedly saw signs of habitation but no people. He took possession of the land for King Henry, but hoisted both the English and Venetian flags.

Cabot explored the area and named various features of the region, including Cape Discovery, Island of St. John, St. George's Cape, Trinity Islands and England's Cape. These may correspond to modern-day places located around what became known as Cabot Strait, the 60-mile-wide channel running between southwestern Newfoundland and northern Cape Breton Island. Like Columbus, Cabot believed that he had reached Asia's northeast coast, and returned to Bristol in August 1497 with extremely favorable reports of the exploration.

John Cabot's Second Voyage

In London in late 1497, Cabot proposed to King Henry VII that he set out on a second expedition across the north Atlantic. This time, he would continue westward from his first landfall until he reached the island of Cipangu ( Japan). In February 1498, the king issued letters patent for the second voyage, and that May Cabot set off from Bristol with about five ships and 200 men.

The exact fate of the expedition has not been established, but by July one of the ships had been damaged and sought anchorage in Ireland. It was believed that the ships had been caught in a severe storm, and by 1499, Cabot himself was presumed to have perished at sea.

John Cabot's Legacy

In addition to laying the groundwork for British land claims in Canada, his expeditions proved the existence of a shorter route across the northern Atlantic Ocean, which would later facilitate the establishment of other British colonies in North America.

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John Cabot was an Italian explorer, one of the first who tried sailing westward to reach the riches of Asia. In May 1497 he sailed from England to North America and made landfall in late June. After returning to England to report his success, Cabot departed on a second expedition in mid-1498, but is thought to have perished in a shipwreck en route.

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Who Was John Cabot?

John Cabot was a Venetian explorer and navigator known for his 1497 voyage to North America, where he claimed land in Canada for England. After setting sail in May 1498 for a return voyage to North America, he disappeared and Cabot's final days remain a mystery.

Early Life

Cabot was born Giovanni Caboto around 1450 in Genoa, Italy. Cabot was the son of a spice merchant, Giulio Caboto. At age 11, the family moved from Genoa to Venice, where Cabot learned sailing and navigation from Italian seamen and merchants.

Cabot officially became a Venetian citizen in 1476 and began conducting trade in the eastern Mediterranean. Records indicate that he got into financial trouble and left Venice as a debtor in November 1488. During this time, Cabot became inspired by the discoveries of Bartolomeu Dias and Christopher Columbus.

Discoveries

In 1497, Cabot traveled by sea from Bristol to Canada, which he mistook for Asia. Cabot made a claim to the North American land for King Henry VII of England, setting the course for England's rise to power in the 16th and 17th centuries.

Cabot's Route

Like Columbus, Cabot believed that sailing west from Europe was the shorter route to Asia. Hearing of opportunities in England, Cabot traveled there and met with King Henry VII, who gave him a grant to "seeke out, discover, and finde" new lands for England. In early May of 1497, Cabot left Bristol, England, on the Matthew, a fast and able ship weighing 50 tons, with a crew of 18 men. Cabot and his crew sailed west and north, under Cabot's belief that the route to Asia would be shorter from northern Europe than Columbus's voyage along the trade winds. On June 24, 1497, 50 days into the voyage, Cabot landed on the east coast of North America.

The precise location of Cabot's landing is subject to controversy. Some historians believe that Cabot landed at Cape Breton Island or mainland Nova Scotia. Others believe he may have landed at Newfoundland, Labrador or even Maine. Though the Matthew's logs are incomplete, it is believed that Cabot went ashore with a small party and claimed the land for the King of England.

In July 1497, the ship sailed for England and arrived in Bristol on August 6, 1497. Cabot was soon rewarded with a pension of £20 and the gratitude of King Henry VII.

Wife and Kids

In 1474, Cabot married a young woman named Mattea. The couple had three sons: Ludovico, Sancto and Sebastiano. Sebastiano would later follow in his father's footsteps, becoming an explorer in his own right.

Death and Legacy

It is believed Cabot died sometime in 1499 or 1500, but his fate remains a mystery. In February 1498, Cabot was given permission to make a new voyage to North America; in May of that year, he departed from Bristol, England, with five ships and a crew of 300 men. The ships carried ample provisions and small samplings of cloth, lace points and other "trifles," suggesting an expectation of fostering trade with Indigenous peoples. En route, one ship became disabled and sailed to Ireland, while the other four ships continued on. From this point, there is only speculation as to the fate of the voyage and Cabot.

For many years, it was believed that the ships were lost at sea. More recently, however, documents have emerged that place Cabot in England in 1500, laying speculation that he and his crew actually survived the voyage. Historians have also found evidence to suggest that Cabot's expedition explored the eastern Canadian coast, and that a priest accompanying the expedition might have established a Christian settlement in Newfoundland.

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John Cabot was a Venetian explorer and navigator known for his 1497 voyage to North America, where he claimed land in Canada for England. After setting sail in May 1498 for a return voyage to North America, he disappeared and Cabot's final days remain a mystery.

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Synopsis

Born in Rouen, France, on November 22, 1643, René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle was an explorer best known for leading an expedition down the Illinois and Mississippi rivers. He claimed the region watered by the Mississippi and its tributaries for France and named it Louisiana after King Louis XIV. His last expedition to establish fur trading posts failed and cost La Salle his life in 1687.

Background and Early Life

René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle was born into a wealthy merchant family in Rouen, France, on November 22, 1643. When La Salle was 15, he gave up his inheritance to become a Jesuit priest. However, by age 22, La Salle found himself attracted to adventure and asked to be sent abroad as a missionary to join his brother, Jean, who had been in New France (Canada) for a year and was a priest of the Seminary of St. Sulpice.

New Life in New France

With no craft and no funds, La Salle was nearly destitute when he landed on the island of Montreal in 1667. He asked to be released from the Jesuit Society citing "moral weaknesses." The Seminary of St. Sulpice had laid claim to areas on the island of Montreal and was granting land to settlers for protection against the Iroquois. Soon after his arrival, La Salle received a land grant. He quickly built a settlement, granted land to other settlers and initiated relations with the local natives. The Mohawks told him of a great river named the Ohio that flowed to the Mississippi and out to the sea. La Salle thus became obsessed with the idea of finding a river in North America that flowed to China.

Exploring the Great Lakes Region

About this time, La Salle befriended New France Governor Daniel Courcelle, the Count of Frontenac. Courcelle shared La Salle's obsession with exploration, and together they pursued a policy of extending French military power across the Great Lakes. La Salle sold his settlement and in 1673 traveled to France to obtain permission from French King Louis XIV to explore the region between Florida, Mexico and New France.

By 1677, La Salle had prospered, controlling a large share of the fur trade, but relentless ambition drove him to seek more. He once again sailed to France to obtain permission to explore the western part of New France and the Mississippi in hopes of finding a water route to China. La Salle returned to Montreal with dozens of men and Italian soldier of fortune Henri de Tonti, who became his devoted disciple. By August 1679, La Salle's men had constructed a fort on the Niagara River and built the ship Le Griffon for the journey down the Mississippi. The mission had to be suspended due to the loss of Le Griffon, most likely in a storm, and a mutiny by the sailors. (La Salle was reputedly callous in his treatment of those he deemed subordinate.)

In February of 1682, La Salle led a new expedition down the Mississippi River. Along the way they built Fort Prod'homme at present-day Memphis, Tennessee. In April, they reached the Gulf of Mexico. La Salle named the region "La Louisiane," in honor of King Louis XIV, and cultivated important military, social and political alliances with Native American tribes in the upper Mississippi River area. On his return trip, La Salle established Fort St. Louis in Illinois.

Final Mission

On July 24, 1684, La Salle set out for North America with a large contingent of four ships and 300 sailors to establish a French colony on the Gulf of Mexico at the mouth of the Mississippi River and challenge Spanish rule in Mexico. The expedition encountered problems nearly from the start. La Salle and the marine commander argued over navigation. One ship was lost to pirates in the West Indies. When the fleet finally landed at Matagorda Bay (near present-day Houston, Texas), they were 500 miles west of their intended destination. There, a second ship sunk and a third headed back to France. The last ship was wrecked by a drunken pilot, stranding the remaining crew on land. In October 1686, La Salle took a small team of men and traveled up the Lavaca River trying to locate the Mississippi. Most of the men died. A second team set out but a few months later, a mutiny erupted and five men attacked and killed La Salle on March 19, 1687.

Legacy

Though René-Robert La Salle failed in his last mission, his expeditions built a network of forts from Canada, across the Great Lakes and along the Ohio, Illinois and Mississippi rivers. This defensive front line established the French territory in North America and defined its commercial and diplomatic policy for almost a century. His friendships with numerous Native American tribes assisted and supported French colonial settlers and the military up to the Seven Years' War.

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Born in Rouen, France, on November 22, 1643, René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle was an explorer best known for leading an expedition down the Illinois and Mississippi rivers. He claimed the region watered by the Mississippi and its tributaries for France and named it Louisiana after King Louis XIV.

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Robert de La Salle, also called Robert Sieur de la Salle, was a famous French explorer. He was born on November 21, 1643, in Rouen, France. He spent nine years as a Jesuit student and teacher before renouncing his vows and traveling to the New World.

The Search for the Northwest Passage

La Salle's career in exploration began in 1666, when he traveled to Quebec, Canada as a French colonist. In 1667, he was granted a seigneury (a large plot of land) on Montreal Island, which he sold two years later in the hopes of jump starting his career as an explorer. Eager to find the fabled Northwest Passage to Asia, La Salle set up an impulsive expedition with nine canoes from Montreal, Quebec in 1669. La Salle and his crew, however, were ill-prepared for the exploration, but did reach Lake Ontario. The expedition turned back to Montreal two months later without reaching the river that La Salle believed led to China - the Ohio. La Salle made several other smaller expeditions between 1671 and 1673.

Exploring the Great Lakes

In 1677, in pursuit of his own glory, he returned to France and got permission from the King to explore all lands between Florida, Mexico, and New France. After stockpiling supplies and building a ship on the Niagara River, La Salle and his men explored parts of Lake Erie, Lake Huron, and Lake Michigan and the surrounding land (including Green Bay, Wisconsin) in 1679 and 1680.

Claiming "Louisiana"

On February 6, 1682, La Salle and 40 men reached the Mississippi River and began their journey south. On April 9, La Salle claimed the entire Mississippi River Basin for France when he reached the mouth of the river near Venice, Louisiana. The claim included not only the Mississippi River, but all land where its branches extended - approximately two thirds of the entire United States. La Salle named the region Louisiana, after his King. On the return trip, La Salle and Henri da Tonti, one of his lieutenants, oversaw the construction of Fort St. Louis in 1682 on a butte above the river in modern-day Illinois. Today, the park is known as Starved Rock and is the most visited state park in the state of Illinois. Tonti stayed as commander of the fort, while La Salle returned to France for more supplies.

La Salle's Deadly Failure

In 1684, La Salle and 300 hopeful colonists returned to North America in the hopes of establishing a large French colony along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. The trip, however, was a nightmare. It was plagued by pirate attacks, hostile Indians, and poor navigation. One of La Salle's supply ships became shipwrecked and members of the expedition killed local Indians who had taken supplies from the wreck, making dangerous enemies. The expedition ended up in Texas where they founded another Fort St. Louis, far from their target - the Mississippi River. During one of several searches for the river, 36 of La Salle's men mutinied near present-day Navasota, Texas. It was here where La Salle was murdered by one of his own men on March 19, 1687. The colony of Fort St. Louis would persist until 1688, when its remaining residents were killed by Indians.

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Robert Sieur de la Salle Biography for Kids

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Robert de La Salle, also called Robert Sieur de la Salle, was a famous French explorer. He was born on November 21, 1643, in Rouen, France. He spent nine years as a Jesuit student and teacher before renouncing his vows and traveling to the New World.

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Henry Hudson. From: Edward R. Shaw: ''Discoverers and Explorers''. New York/Cincinnati/Chicago: American Book Company, 1900. Introduction Henry Hudson made four voyages in search of a water route to the Far East. His first two voyages were through Arctic waters and proved to be unsuccessful due to ice.

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English explorer Henry Hudson embarked on multiple sailing voyages that provided new information on North American water routes.

Synopsis

Believed to have been born in the late 16th century, English explorer Henry Hudson made two unsuccessful sailing voyages in search of an ice-free passage to Asia. In 1609, he embarked on a third voyage funded by the Dutch East India Company that took him to the New World and the river that would be given his name. On his fourth voyage, Hudson came upon the body of water that would later be called the Hudson Bay.

Early Life

Considered one of the world's most famous explorers, Henry Hudson, born in England circa 1565, never actually found what he was looking for. He spent his career searching for different routes to Asia, but he ended up opening the door to further exploration and settlement of North America.

While many places bear his name, Henry Hudson remains an elusive figure. There is little information available about the famous explorer's life prior to his first journey as a ship's commander in 1607. It is believed that he learned about the seafaring life firsthand, perhaps from fishermen or sailors. He must have had a talent for navigation early on, enough to merit becoming a commander in his late 20s. Prior to 1607, Hudson probably worked aboard other ships before being appointed to lead one on his own. Reports also indicate that he was married to a woman named Katherine and they had three sons together.

First Three Voyages

Hudson made four journeys during his career, at a time when countries and companies competed with each other to find the best ways to reach important trade destinations, especially Asia and India. In 1607, the Muscovy Company, an English firm, entrusted Hudson to find a northern route to Asia. Hudson brought his son John with him on this trip, as well as Robert Juet. Juet went on several of Hudson's voyages and recorded these trips in his journals.

Despite a spring departure, Hudson found himself and his crew battling icy conditions. They had a chance to explore some of the islands near Greenland before turning back. But the trip was not a total loss, as Hudson reported numerous whales in the region, which opened up a new hunting territory.

The following year, Hudson once again set sail in search of the fabled Northeast Passage. The route he sought proved elusive, however. Hudson made it to Novaya Zemlya, an archipelago in the Arctic Ocean to the north of Russia. But he could not travel further, blocked by thick ice. Hudson returned to England without achieving his goal.

In 1609, Hudson joined the Dutch East India Company as a commander. He took charge of the Half Moon with the objective of discovering a northern route to Asia by heading north of Russia. Again ice put an end to his travels, but this time he did not head for home. Hudson decided to sail west to seek western passage to the Orient. According to some historians, he had heard of a way to the Pacific Ocean from North America from English explorer John Smith.

Crossing the Atlantic Ocean, Hudson and his crew reached land that July, coming ashore at what is now Nova Scotia. They encountered some of the local Native Americans there and were able to make some trades with them. Traveling down the North American coast, Hudson went as far south as the Chesapeake Bay. He then turned around and decided to explore New York Harbor, an area first thought to have been discovered by Giovanni da Verrazzano in 1524. Around this time, Hudson and his crew clashed with some local Native Americans. A crew member named John Colman died after being shot in the neck with an arrow, and two others on board were injured.

After burying Colman, Hudson and his crew traveled up the river that would later carry his name. He explored the Hudson River up as far as what later became Albany. Along the way, Hudson noticed that the lush lands that lined the river contained abundant wildlife. He and his crew also met with some of the Native Americans living on the river's banks.

On the way back to the Netherlands, Hudson was stopped in the English port of Dartmouth. The English authorities seized the ship and the Englishmen among the crew. Upset that he had been exploring for another country, the English authorities forbade Hudson from working with the Dutch again. He was, however, undeterred from trying to find the Northwest Passage. This time, Hudson found English investors to fund his next journey, which would prove to be fatal.

Final Journey

Aboard the ship Discovery, Hudson left England in April 1610. He and his crew, which again included his son John and Robert Juet, made their way across the Atlantic Ocean. After skirting the southern tip of Greenland, they entered what became known as the Hudson Strait. The exploration then reached another of his namesakes, the Hudson Bay. Traveling south, Hudson ventured into James Bay and discovered that he'd come to a dead end.

By this time, Hudson was at odds with many in his crew. They found themselves trapped in the ice and low on supplies. When they were forced to spend the winter there, tensions only grew worse. By June 1611, conditions had improved enough for the ship to set sail once again. Hudson, however, didn't make the trip back home. Shortly after their departure, several members of the crew, including Juet, took over the ship and decided to cast out Hudson, his son and a few other crew members. Mutineers put Hudson and the others in a small boat and set them adrift. It is believed that Hudson and the others died of exposure sometime later, in or near the Hudson Bay. Some of the mutineers were later put on trial, but they were acquitted.

More European explorers and settlers followed Hudson's lead, making their way to North America. The Dutch started a new colony, called New Amsterdam, at the mouth of the Hudson River in 1625. They also developed trade posts along the nearby coasts.

While he never found his way to Asia, Hudson is still widely remembered as a determined early explorer. His efforts helped drive European interest in North America. Today his name can be found all around us on waterways, schools, bridges and even towns.

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English explorer Henry Hudson embarked on multiple sailing voyages that provided new information on North American water routes. Believed to have been born in the late 16th century, English explorer Henry Hudson made two unsuccessful sailing voyages in search of an ice-free passage to Asia.

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Henry Hudson - Exploration - HISTORY.com

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Find out more about the history of Henry Hudson, including videos, interesting articles, pictures, historical features and more. Get all the facts on HISTORY.com

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Hernando de Soto was a Spanish explorer and conquistador who participated in the conquests of Central America and Peru and discovered the Mississippi River.

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Hernando de Soto Biography for Kids - MrNussbaum.com

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After the winter, de Soto's expedition traveled southwest. On May 8, 1541, Hernando de Soto discovered the Mississippi River, although de Soto was not exactly thrilled with the finding. The Mississippi River was a huge, broad river that stood in the way of his expedition.

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Hernando de Soto - Exploration - HISTORY.com

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Find out more about the history of Hernando de Soto, including videos, interesting articles, pictures, historical features and more. Get all the facts on HISTORY.com

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Text Book p. 48

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Christopher Columbus Biography for Kids - MrNussbaum.com

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Christopher Columbus is credited with discovering the continent of North America, although he probably wasn't the first explorer to see the continent, and he believed until his death that the islands he encountered were in the Asian continent. His discoveries were instrumental in the establishment of Spanish colonies in North America.

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Christopher Columbus Leaving Palos, Spain, Aboard the Santa Maria on His 1st Voyage

"Christopher Columbus Leaving Palos, Spain, Aboard the Santa Maria on His 1st Voyage, " circa 1910, by Joaquin Sorolla y Bastida, Gift of Archer Huntington, The Mariners' Museum.

Introduction
We know that In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue. But what did he actually discover? Christopher Columbus (also known as (Cristoforo Colombo [Italian]; Cristóbal Colón [Spanish]) was an Italian explorer credited with the "discovery" of the America's. The purpose for his voyages was to find a passage to Asia by sailing west. Never actually accomplishing this mission, his explorations mostly included the Caribbean and parts of Central and South America, all of which were already inhabited by Native groups.

Biography Christopher Columbus was born in Genoa, part of present-day Italy, in 1451. His parents' names were Dominico Colombo and Susanna Fontanarossa. He had three brothers: Bartholomew, Giovanni, and Giacomo; and a sister named Bianchinetta. Christopher became an apprentice in his father's wool weaving business, but he also studied mapmaking and sailing as well. He eventually left his father's business to join the Genoese fleet and sail on the Mediterranean Sea.
Early Life
¹ After one of his ships wrecked off the coast of Portugal, he decided to remain there with his younger brother Bartholomew where he worked as a cartographer (mapmaker) and bookseller. Here, he married Doña Felipa Perestrello e Moniz and had two sons Diego and Fernando.

Christopher Columbus owned a copy of Marco Polo's famous book, and it gave him a love for exploration. In the mid 15th century, Portugal was desperately trying to find a faster trade route to Asia. Exotic goods such as spices, ivory, silk, and gems were popular items of trade. However, Europeans often had to travel through the Middle East to reach Asia. At this time, Muslim nations imposed high taxes on European travels crossing through. ² This made it both difficult and expensive to reach Asia. There were rumors from other sailors that Asia could be reached by sailing west. Hearing this, Christopher Columbus decided to try and make this revolutionary journey himself. First, he needed ships and supplies, which required money that he did not have. He went to King John of Portugal who turned him down. He then went to the rulers of England, and France. Each declined his request for funding. After seven years of trying, he was finally sponsored by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain.

Voyages Columbus' voyage departed in August of 1492 with 87 men sailing on three ships: the Niña, the Pinta, and the Santa María. Columbus commanded the Santa María, while the Niña was led by Vicente Yanez Pinzon and the Pinta by Martin Pinzon.
Principal Voyage
³ This was the first of his four trips. He headed west from Spain across the Atlantic Ocean. On October 12 land was sighted. He gave the first island he landed on the name San Salvador, although the native population called it Guanahani. ⁴ Columbus believed that he was in Asia, but was actually in the Caribbean. He even proposed that the island of Cuba was a part of China. Since he thought he was in the Indies, he called the native people "Indians." In several letters he wrote back to Spain, he described the landscape and his encounters with the natives. He continued sailing throughout the Caribbean and named many islands he encountered after his ship, king, and queen: La Isla de Santa María de Concepción, Fernandina, and Isabella.

It is hard to determine specifically which islands Columbus visited on this voyage. His descriptions of the native peoples, geography, and plant life do give us some clues though. One place we do know he stopped was in present-day Haiti. He named the island Hispaniola. Hispaniola today includes both Haiti and the Dominican Republic. In January of 1493, Columbus sailed back to Europe to report what he found. Due to rough seas, he was forced to land in Portugal, an unfortunate event for Columbus. With relations between Spain and Portugal strained during this time, Ferdinand and Isabella suspected that Columbus was taking valuable information or maybe goods to Portugal, the country he had lived in for several years. Those who stood against Columbus would later use this as an argument against him. Eventually, Columbus was allowed to return to Spain bringing with him tobacco, turkey, and some new spices. He also brought with him several natives of the islands, of whom Queen Isabella grew very fond.

Subsequent Voyages
Columbus took three other similar trips to this region. His second voyage in 1493 carried a large fleet with the intention of conquering the native populations and establishing colonies. At one point, the natives attacked and killed the settlers left at Fort Navidad. Over time the colonists enslaved many of the natives, sending some to Europe and using many to mine gold for the Spanish settlers in the Caribbean. The third trip was to explore more of the islands and mainland South America further. Columbus was appointed the governor of Hispaniola, but the colonists, upset with Columbus' leadership appealed to the rulers of Spain, who sent a new governor: Francisco de Bobadilla. Columbus was taken prisoner on board a ship and sent back to Spain.

On his fourth and final journey west in 1502 Columbus's goal was to find the "Strait of Malacca," to try to find India. But a hurricane, then being denied entrance to Hispaniola, and then another storm made this an unfortunate trip. His ship was so badly damaged that he and his crew were stranded on Jamaica for two years until help from Hispaniola finally arrived. In 1504, Columbus and his men were taken back to Spain.

Later Years and Death
Columbus reached Spain in November 1504. He was not in good health. He spent much of the last of his life writing letters to obtain the percentage of wealth overdue to be paid to him, and trying to re-attain his governorship status, but was continually denied both. Columbus died at Valladolid on May 20, 1506, due to illness and old age. Even until death, he still firmly believing that he had traveled to the eastern part of Asia.

Legacy Columbus never made it to Asia, nor did he truly discover America. His "re-discovery," however, inspired a new era of exploration of the American continents by Europeans. Perhaps his greatest contribution was that his voyages opened an exchange of goods between Europe and the Americas both during and long after his journeys.
⁵ Despite modern criticism of his treatment of the native peoples there is no denying that his expeditions changed both Europe and America. Columbus day was made a federal holiday in 1971. It is recognized on the second Monday of October.

1. Fergus Fleming, Off the Map: Tales of Endurance and Exploration (New York: Grove Press, 2004), 30.

2. Fleming, Off the Map, 30

3. William D. Phillips and Carla Rahn Phillips, The Worlds of Christopher Columbus (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1993), 142-143.

4. Phillips and Phillips, The Worlds of Christopher Columbus, 155.

5. Robin S. Doak, Christopher Columbus: Explorer of the New World (Minneapolis: Compass Point Books, 2005), 92.

Bibliography

Doak, Robin. Christopher Columbus: Explorer of the New World. Minneapolis: Compass Point Books, 2005.

Fleming, Fergus. Off the Map: Tales of Endurance and Exploration. New York: Grove Press, 2004.

Phillips, William D., and Carla Rahn Phillips. The Worlds of Christopher Columbus. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1993.

Map of Voyages

Click below to view an example of the explorer's voyages. Use the tabs on the left to view either 1 or multiple journeys at a time, and click on the icons to learn more about the stops, sites, and activities along the way.

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Christopher Columbus is credited with the discovery of the Americas in 1492, though Leifr Eiriksson explored the North American continent centuries prior.

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Christopher Columbus and the Age of Discovery

During the 15th and 16th centuries, leaders of several European nations sponsored expeditions abroad in the hope that explorers would find great wealth and vast undiscovered lands. The Portuguese were the earliest participants in this " Age of Discovery," also known as " Age of Exploration."

Starting in about 1420, small Portuguese ships known as caravels zipped along the African coast, carrying spices, gold and other goods as well as enslaved people from Asia and Africa to Europe.

Did you know? Christopher Columbus was not the first person to propose that a person could reach Asia by sailing west from Europe. In fact, scholars argue that the idea is almost as old as the idea that the Earth is round. (That is, it dates back to early Rome.)

Other European nations, particularly Spain, were eager to share in the seemingly limitless riches of the "Far East." By the end of the 15th century, Spain's " Reconquista "-the expulsion of Jews and Muslims out of the kingdom after centuries of war-was complete, and the nation turned its attention to exploration and conquest in other areas of the world.

Early Life and Nationality

Christopher Columbus, the son of a wool merchant, is believed to have been born in Genoa, Italy, in 1451. When he was still a teenager, he got a job on a merchant ship. He remained at sea until 1476, when pirates attacked his ship as it sailed north along the Portuguese coast.

The boat sank, but the young Columbus floated to shore on a scrap of wood and made his way to Lisbon, where he eventually studied mathematics, astronomy, cartography and navigation. He also began to hatch the plan that would change the world forever.

Christopher Columbus' First Voyage

At the end of the 15th century, it was nearly impossible to reach Asia from Europe by land. The route was long and arduous, and encounters with hostile armies were difficult to avoid. Portuguese explorers solved this problem by taking to the sea: They sailed south along the West African coast and around the Cape of Good Hope.

But Columbus had a different idea: Why not sail west across the Atlantic instead of around the massive African continent? The young navigator's logic was sound, but his math was faulty. He argued (incorrectly) that the circumference of the Earth was much smaller than his contemporaries believed it was; accordingly, he believed that the journey by boat from Europe to Asia should be not only possible, but comparatively easy via an as-yet undiscovered Northwest Passage.

He presented his plan to officials in Portugal and England, but it was not until 1492 that he found a sympathetic audience: the Spanish monarchs Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile.

Columbus wanted fame and fortune. Ferdinand and Isabella wanted the same, along with the opportunity to export Catholicism to lands across the globe. (Columbus, a devout Catholic, was equally enthusiastic about this possibility.)

Columbus' contract with the Spanish rulers promised that he could keep 10 percent of whatever riches he found, along with a noble title and the governorship of any lands he should encounter.

Where Did Columbus' Ships, Niña, Pinta and Santa Maria, Land?

On August 3, 1492, Columbus and his crew set sail from Spain in three ships: the Niña, the Pinta and the Santa Maria. On October 12, the ships made landfall-not in the East Indies, as Columbus assumed, but on one of the Bahamian islands, likely San Salvador.

For months, Columbus sailed from island to island in what we now know as the Caribbean, looking for the "pearls, precious stones, gold, silver, spices, and other objects and merchandise whatsoever" that he had promised to his Spanish patrons, but he did not find much. In January 1493, leaving several dozen men behind in a makeshift settlement on Hispaniola (present-day Haiti and the Dominican Republic), he left for Spain.

He kept a detailed diary during his first voyage. Christopher Columbus's journal was written between August 3, 1492, and November 6, 1492 and mentions everything from the wildlife he encountered, like dolphins and birds, to the weather to the moods of his crew. More troublingly, it also recorded his initial impressions of the local people and his argument for why they should be enslaved.

"They... brought us parrots and balls of cotton and spears and many other things, which they exchanged for the glass beads and hawks' bells," he wrote. "They willingly traded everything they owned... They were well-built, with good bodies and handsome features... They do not bear arms, and do not know them, for I showed them a sword, they took it by the edge and cut themselves out of ignorance. They have no iron... They would make fine servants... With fifty men we could subjugate them all and make them do whatever we want."

Columbus gifted the journal to Isabella upon his return.

Christopher Columbus's Later Voyages

About six months later, in September 1493, Columbus returned to the Americas. He found the Hispaniola settlement destroyed and left his brothers Bartolomeo and Diego Columbus behind to rebuild, along with part of his ships' crew and hundreds of enslaved indigenous people.

Then he headed west to continue his mostly fruitless search for gold and other goods. His group now included a large number of indigenous people the Europeans had enslaved. In lieu of the material riches he had promised the Spanish monarchs, he sent some 500 enslaved people to Queen Isabella. The queen was horrified-she believed that any people Columbus "discovered" were Spanish subjects who could not be enslaved-and she promptly and sternly returned the explorer's gift.

In May 1498, Columbus sailed west across the Atlantic for the third time. He visited Trinidad and the South American mainland before returning to the ill-fated Hispaniola settlement, where the colonists had staged a bloody revolt against the Columbus brothers' mismanagement and brutality. Conditions were so bad that Spanish authorities had to send a new governor to take over.

Meanwhile, the native Taino population, forced to search for gold and to work on plantations, was decimated (within 60 years after Columbus landed, only a few hundred of what may have been 250,000 Taino were left on their island). Christopher Columbus was arrested and returned to Spain in chains.

In 1502, cleared of the most serious charges but stripped of his noble titles, the aging Columbus persuaded the Spanish crown to pay for one last trip across the Atlantic. This time, Columbus made it all the way to Panama-just miles from the Pacific Ocean-where he had to abandon two of his four ships after damage from storms and hostile natives. Empty-handed, the explorer returned to Spain, where he died in 1506.

Legacy of Christopher Columbus

Christopher Columbus did not "discover" the Americas, nor was he even the first European to visit the "New World." (Viking explorer Leif Erikson had sailed to Greenland and Newfoundland in the 11th century.)

However, his journey kicked off centuries of exploration and exploitation on the American continents. The Columbian Exchange transferred people, animals, food and disease across cultures. Old World wheat became an American food staple. African coffee and Asian sugar cane became cash crops for Latin America, while American foods like corn, tomatoes and potatoes were introduced into European diets.

Today, Columbus has a controversial legacy -he is remembered as a daring and path-breaking explorer who transformed the New World, yet his actions also unleashed changes that would eventually devastate the native populations he and his fellow explorers encountered.

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Christopher Columbus - Facts, Voyage & Discovery

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The explorer Christopher Columbus made four voyages across the Atlantic Ocean from Spain: in 1492, 1493, 1498 and 1502. His most famous was his first voyage, commanding the ships the Nina, the Pinta and the Santa Maria to the Americas.

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Text Book p. 44-45

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Portrait of Ferdinand Magellan

An anonymous portrait of Ferdinand Magellan, 16th or 17th century (The Mariner's Museum Collection, Newport News, VA) Translation: "Ferdinan[dus] Magellanus superatis antarctici freti angustiis clariss." (Fedinand Magellan, you overcame the famous, narrow, southern straits.)

Introduction Ferdinand Magellan is known for circumnavigating - sailing around - the world. From Spain he sailed around South America, discovering the Strait of Magellan, and across the Pacific. Though he was killed in the Philippines, his ship the
Victoria continued westward to Spain, accomplishing the first circumnavigation of the globe. But in some cases, his journey was filled with more than he would bargain for. Magellan's story is filled with war, storms, mutiny, and hostile native encounters.

Biography Ferdinand Magellan was born in 1480 in Portugal; the exact city is unknown. Many believe it was either Porto or Sabrosa. Ferdinand Magellan is the English version of his name. In Portuguese, his name is Fernão de Magalhães. He came from a noble family. His father was Rui de Magalhães and Alda de Mesquita. Young Magellan was a page in the royal court for the queen of Portugal. Here, he would learn helpful skills such as hunting, fighting, and he would have learned about the stars.
Early Life
¹ His father often traveled to a town called Oporto (also spelled Porto). The harbor here was crowded with shipping and seafaring travelers with tales of adventure. It is possible that Oporto is where Magellan found a love for the sea and exploration. ² But Ferdinand Magellan was not always an explorer. He began his career as a soldier in the Portuguese navy. He left Portugal in 1505 and sailed to India under the command of Francisco de Almeida. They were sent by King Manuel I to break Muslim sea power in India and Africa. ³ Magellan left Lisbon on March 25, 1505. He would travel and fight in several battles over the next few years.

In 1506, Magellan traveled to the East Indies (modern day Indonesia) and joined expeditions to Spice Islands (also called the Molucca Islands). In February 1509, he took part in the naval Battle of Diu, which marked the decline of Ottoman (modern day Turkey) influence in the area. The Portuguese now had dominance over most of the Indian Ocean. He returned to Lisbon in 1512. A year later, he went to Morocco in Northern Africa where he fought in another battle. During the battle, Magellan received a serious wound that would cause him to walk with a limp for the rest of his life. ⁴ Also while in Morocco, Magellan was accused of stealing. He was proven innocent, but the incident ruined his reputation with the Portuguese king. Magellan wanted to command a voyage to the Spice Islands. He believed he could reach them by sailing west. When he returned to Portugal, he petitioned King Manuel I three times to let him go. The King refused each time. Ferdinand Magellan then went to King Charles I of Spain. The Spanish King agreed to sponsor what would become Magellan's great voyage around the world.

Voyages By the end of October 1517, Magellan was in Seville, becoming a Spanish citizen. King Charles I funded Magellan and he set sail September 20, 1519 with a fleet of five ships and roughly 200 men. The five ships were: the
Principal Voyage
Trinidad, captained by Magellan; San Antonio, captained by Juan de Cartagena; Concepción, captained by Gaspar de Quesada; Victoria, captained by Luis de Mendoza; and the Santiago, captained by Juan Serrano. They stopped at the Canary Islands to pick up some supplies, and then continued into the Atlantic Ocean. Magellan received a letter that the Spanish officers planned to kill him after leaving the Canaries. Magellan remained on guard for his life throughout much of the trip. They sailed for several weeks, and by November 20, they crossed the equator into the southern hemisphere. ⁵ In December, they stopped at Guanabara Bay in southeastern Brazil to resupply once again.

Magellan's fleet continued on down the coast of South America. He was searching for a passage that connected one ocean to the other. As their journey went on, life at sea became difficult. Food and water became rationed, and the crew was not happy. On April 1, 1520, while at Port St. Julian, the three captains Cartagena, Mendoza, and Quesada called their crews to mutiny. ⁶ The mutiny was crushed by Magellan. Mendoza had been killed during the mutiny. Quesada and Cartagena were found guilty of murder and treason. Quesada was beheaded for his crime, while Cartagena was left marooned - or stranded - on land when the fleet left. ⁷ The fleet traveled onward. While near Santa Cruz, the Santiago wrecked while on a scouting mission. They continued south and on October 21, 1520 he finally found the passage they were searching for. Shortly after entering the passage, the San Antonio deserted the mission. On November 8, 1520 the Trinidad, Concepción, and Victoria reached the "Sea of the South." ⁸ Today we know it as the Pacific Ocean. This passage at the tip of South America that Ferdinand Magellan had found would later be renamed the Strait of Magellan.

Subsequent Voyages Ferdinand Magellan had problems along the way, but he had finally reached the Pacific Ocean. Once through the strait, Magellan continued northward up the coast of Chile. In March the reached the island we now know as Guam. Here, they found and ate fresh food for the first time in 99 days.
⁹ Having found a route through South America, Magellan was still determined to reach the Spice Islands. He and his fleet continued west. Along their course, they noticed a constant flow of wind. This air provided steady winds to their back which was very helpful to their sailing. Magellan and his crew had unknowingly discovered "trade winds." The name would come from the important role they would later play in transoceanic trade. Their journey continued until they reached the Philippines in March of 1521. By this point, Magellan had endured a somewhat difficult yet successful journey. But his luck would not last much longer.

Later Years and Death Throughout the Philippine Islands, Magellan and his men regularly interacted with the natives. At Cebú, The native chief, his wife, and several of the natives were baptized and converted to Christianity. Because of this, Magellan thought he could convince other native tribes to convert. But not all interactions with the natives were friendly. Chief Datu Lapu Lapu of the Mactan Island rejected conversion. So Magellan took a group of about 60 men to attack Mactan. The Mactan's had about 1500 men. On April 27, 1521, Ferdinand Magellan was killed during battle on the Philippine Islands. The
Trinidad and Victoria soon made it to the Spice Islands. The Trinidad needed much repair. So the Victoria, captained by Juan Sebastian Elcano continued on.On December 21,1521, the Victoria sailed across the Indian Ocean to Spain. September 6, 1522, they arrived with only 18 men at Sanlúcar de Barrameda on the coast of Spain.

Legacy Although he died in the Philippines, we recognize Ferdinand Magellan as the first European to circumnavigate the globe. He fearlessly commanded a fleet of ships, one that completed the journey in his name and honor. Several discoveries were made along the way. The Strait of Magellan, off the southern coast of South America, became an important navigational route. His discovery of the trade winds ranks among his most useful and major findings.
¹⁰ The expedition gave Europeans a much better understanding of the extent of the Earth's size. Much of what we know of Magellan's journey came from Antonio Pigafetta. A crew member of the famed voyage, Pigafetta kept a first hand account of the voyage. He and his story survived the journey around the globe, and his account later was translated. Magellan had set out with a goal to discover a Western sea route to the Spice Islands. What he helped prove, however, is that the world is indeed round, and much bigger than Europeans previously imagined.

1. Mervyn D. Kaufman, Ferdinand Magellan (Mankato: Capstone Press, 2004), 6.

2. Frederick Albion Ober, Ferdinand Magellan (New York: Harper & Brothers Publishers, 1907), 5 - 6.

3. Britannica Educational Publishing, The Britannica Guide to Explorers and Explorations That Changed the Modern World (New York: Britannica Educational Publishing, 2010), 77.

4. Michael Burgan, Magellan: Ferdinand Magellan and the First Trip Around the World (Mankato: Capstone Publishers, 2001), 11.

5. Nancy Smiler Levinson, Magellan and the First Voyage Around the World (New York: Clarion Books, 2001), 55.

6. Ober, Ferdinand Magellan, 143 - 148.

7. Ober, Ferdinand Magellan, 151 - 153.

8. Britannica Educational Publishing, The Britannica Guide, 81.

9. Britannica Educational Publishing, The Britannica Guide, 81.

10. Laurence Bergreen, Magellan: Over the Edge of the World (New York: Roaring Brook Press, 2017), 89.

Bibliography

Bergreen, Laurence. Magellan: Over the Edge of the World. New York: Roaring Brook Press, 2017.

Britannica Educational Publishing. The Britannica Guide to Explorers and Explorations That Changed the Modern World. New York: Britannica Educational Publishing, 2010.

Burgan, Michael. Magellan: Ferdinand Magellan and the First Trip Around the World. Mankato: Capstone Publishers, 2001.

Kaufman, Mervyn D. Ferdinand Magellan. Mankato: Capstone Press, 2004.

Levinson, Nancy Smiler. Magellan and the First Voyage Around the World. New York: Clarion Books, 2001.

Ober, Frederick Albion. Ferdinand Magellan. New York: Harper & Brothers Publishers, 1907.

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An anonymous portrait of Ferdinand Magellan, 16th or 17th century (The Mariner's Museum Collection, Newport News, VA) Translation: "Ferdinan[dus] Magellanus superatis antarctici freti angustiis clariss." (Fedinand Magellan, you overcame the famous, narrow, southern straits.) Introduction Ferdinand Magellan is known for circumnavigating - sailing around - the world.

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This is a complete biography of Ferdinand Magellan

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In search of fame and fortune, Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan (c. 1480-1521) set out from Spain in 1519 with a fleet of five ships to discover a western sea route to the Spice Islands. En route he discovered what is now known as the Strait of Magellan and became the first European to cross the Pacific Ocean. The voyage was long and dangerous, and only one ship returned home three years later. Although it was laden with valuable spices from the East, only 18 of the fleet's original crew of 270 returned with the ship. Magellan himself was killed in battle on the voyage, but his ambitious expedition proved that the globe could be circled by sea and that the world was much larger than had previously been imagined.

Ferdinand Magellan's Early Years

Ferdinand Magellan (c. 1480-1521) was born in Sabrosa, Portugal, to a family of minor Portuguese nobility. At age 12 Ferdinand Magellan ( Fernão de Magalhães in Portuguese and Fernando de Magallanes in Spanish) and his brother Diogo traveled to Lisbon to serve as pages at Queen Leonora's court. While at the court Magellan was exposed to stories of the great Portuguese and Spanish rivalry for sea exploration and dominance over the spice trade in the East Indies, especially the Spice Islands, or Moluccas, in modern Indonesia. Intrigued by the promise of fame and riches, Magellan developed an interest in maritime discovery in those early years.

Did you know? Clove was the most valuable spice in Europe during Magellan's day. It was used to flavor food, but Europeans also believed that its essence could improve vision, its powder could relieve fevers, and mixed with milk it could enhance intercourse.

In 1505, Magellan and his brother were assigned to a Portuguese fleet headed for India. Over the next seven years, Magellan participated in several expeditions in India and Africa and was wounded in several battles. In 1513 he joined the enormous 500-ship, 15,000-soldier force sent by King Manuel to Morocco to challenge the Moroccan governor who refused to pay its yearly tribute to the Portuguese empire. The Portuguese easily overwhelmed the Moroccan forces, and Magellan stayed on in Morocco. While there he was seriously wounded in a skirmish, which left him with a limp for the rest of his life.

Magellan: From Portugal to Spain

In the 15th century, spices were at the epicenter of the world economy, much like oil is today. Highly valued for flavoring and preserving food as well as masking the taste of meat gone bad, spices like cinnamon, clove, nutmeg and especially black pepper, were extremely valuable. Since spices could not be cultivated in cold and arid Europe, no effort was spared to discover the quickest sea route to the Spice Islands. Portugal and Spain led the competition for early control over this critical commodity. Europeans had reached the Spice Islands by sailing east, but none had yet to sail west from Europe to reach the other side of the globe. Magellan was determined to be the first to do so.

By now an experienced seaman, Magellan approached King Manuel of Portugal to seek his support for a westward voyage to the Spice Islands. The king refused his petition repeatedly. In 1517 a frustrated Magellan renounced his Portuguese nationality and relocated to Spain to seek royal support for his venture.

When Magellan arrived in Seville in October 1517, he had no connections and spoke little Spanish. He soon met another transplanted Portuguese named Diogo Barbosa, and within a year he had married Barbosa's daughter Beatriz, who gave birth to their son Rodrigo a year later. The well-connected Barbosa family introduced Magellan to officers responsible for Spain's maritime exploration, and soon Magellan secured an appointment to meet the king of Spain.

The grandson of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, who had funded Columbus' expedition to the New World in 1492, received Magellan's petition with the same favor shown by his grandparents. Just 18 years old at the time, King Charles I granted his support to Magellan, who in turn promised the young king that his westward sea voyage would bring immeasurable riches to Spain.

Strait of Magellan

On August 10, 1519 Magellan bade farewell to his wife and young son, neither of whom he would ever see again, and the Armada De Moluccas set sail. Magellan commanded the lead ship Trinidad and was accompanied by four other ships: the San Antonio, the Conception, the Victoria, and the Santiago. The expedition would prove long and arduous, and only one ship, the Victoria, would return home three years later, carrying a mere 18 of the fleet's original crew of 270.

In September 1519 Magellan's fleet sailed from Sanlúcar de Barrameda, Spain, and crossed the Atlantic Ocean, which was then known simply as the Ocean Sea. The fleet reached South America a little more than one month later. There the ships sailed southward, hugging the coast in search of the fabled strait that would allow passage through South America. The fleet stopped at Port San Julian where the crew mutinied on Easter Day in 1520. Magellan quickly quelled the uprising, executing one of the captains and leaving another mutinous captain behind. Meanwhile Magellan had sent the Santiago to explore the route ahead, where it was shipwrecked during a terrible storm. The ship's crewmembers were rescued and assigned out among the remaining ships. With those disastrous events behind them, the fleet left Port San Julian five months later when fierce seasonal storms abated.

On October 21, 1520 Magellan finally entered the strait that he had been seeking and that came to bear his name. The voyage through the strait was treacherous and cold, and many sailors continued to mistrust their leader and grumble about the dangers of the journey ahead. In the early days of the navigation of the strait, the crew of the San Antonio forced its captain to desert, and the ship turned and fled across the Atlantic Ocean back to Spain. At this point, only three of the original five ships remained in Magellan's fleet.

Magellan: Circumnavigating the Globe

After more than a month spent traversing the strait, Magellan's remaining armada emerged in November 1520 to behold a vast ocean before them. They were the first known Europeans to see the great ocean, which Magellan named Mar Pacifico, the Pacific Ocean, for its apparent peacefulness, a stark contrast to the dangerous waters of the strait from which he had just emerged. In fact, extremely rough waters are not uncommon in the Pacific Ocean, where tsunamis, typhoons and hurricanes have done serious damage to the Pacific Islands and Pacific Rim nations throughout history.

Little was known about the geography beyond South America at that time, and Magellan optimistically estimated that the trip across the Pacific would be rapid. In fact it took three months for the fleet to make its way slowly across the vast Mar Pacifico. The days dragged on as Magellan's crew anxiously waited to utter the magic words "Land, ho!" At last in March 1521 the fleet reached the Pacific island of Guam, where they finally replenished their food stores.

Magellan's fleet then sailed on to the Philippine archipelago landing on the island of Cebu, where Magellan befriended the locals and, struck with a sudden religious zeal, he sought to convert them to Christianity. Magellan was now closer than ever to reaching the Spice Islands, but when the Cebu asked for his help in fighting their neighbors on the island of Mactan, Magellan agreed. He assumed he would command a swift victory with his superior European weapons, and against the advice of his men, Magellan himself led the attack. The Mactanese fought fiercely, and Magellan fell when he was shot with a poison arrow. He died on April 27, 1521.

Magellan would never make it to the Spice Islands, but after the loss of yet another of his fleet's vessels, the two remaining ships finally reached the Moluccas on November 5, 1521. In the end, only the Victoria completed the voyage around the world and arrived back in Seville, Spain, in September 1522 with a heavy cargo of spices but with only 18 men from the original crew.

Seeking riches and personal glory, Magellan's daring and ambitious voyage around the world provided the Europeans with far more than just spices. Although the trip westward from Europe to the east via the Strait of Magellan had been discovered and mapped, the journey was too long and dangerous to become a practical route to the Spice Islands. Nevertheless, European geographic knowledge was expanded immeasurably by Magellan's expedition. He found not only a massive ocean, hitherto unknown to Europeans, but he also discovered that the earth was much larger than previously thought. Finally, although it was no longer believed that the earth was flat at this stage in history, Magellan's circumnavigation of the globe empirically discredited the medieval theory conclusively.

Though Magellan is often credited with the first circumnavigation on the globe, he did so on a technicality: He first made a trip from Europe to the Spice Islands, eastward via the Indian Ocean, and then later made his famous westward voyage that brought him to the Philippines. So he did cover the entire terrain, but it was not a strict point A to point A, round-the-world trip, and it was made in two different directions. His slave, Enrique, however, was born in either Cebu or Mallaca and came to Europe with Magellan by ship. Ten years later, he then returned to both Cebu (with Magellan) and Mallaca (after Magellan died) by ship on the armada's westward route. So Enrique was the first person to circumnavigate the world in one direction, from point A to point A.

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In search of fame and fortune, Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan (c. 1480-1521) set out from Spain in 1519 with a fleet of five ships to discover a western sea route to the Spice Islands. En route he discovered what is now known as the Strait of Magellan and became the first European to cross the Pacific Ocean.

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Text Book p. 47