Ferdinand Magellan
Portuguese explorer in the service of Spain
- Fame90.3
- Momentum4.9
- Global rank#169
Source-basedStable
- Fame90.3
- Momentum4.9
- Global rank#169
- Portugal rank#2
- Scientists rank#11
- Wikipedia148.9K
Lived 1480–1521, aged 41Portugal
PortugalSummary
Updated 2026-07-17
He died halfway through, killed by a poison arrow on a Philippine beach in 1521. But the route he plotted became the first expedition to circle the entire planet — proving the world was one unbroken ocean if you had the will to sail it.
Biography
About
Born around 1480 into minor Portuguese nobility, Magellan became a skilled naval officer in Portugal's Asian fleet but couldn't sell King Manuel I on a western route to the Spice Islands. Spain's Charles I said yes. In 1518 Magellan was named admiral of a five-ship Armada, married in Seville, and sailed southwest from Sanlúcar de Barrameda in 1519. Storms and mutinies plagued the voyage down South America's coast, but the fleet found the strait that now bears his name, passed into the Pacific — which Magellan himself named — and reached the Philippines after a brutal crossing. On 27 April 1521…
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Fame
Stable90.3
Composite of search demand, mentions, audience & graph footprint.
Score components
Momentum4.9
Historical29.4
Now attention13.2
Source confidence60.0
Completeness70.0
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- WikipediaHigh confidencewikipedia · en.wikipedia.org
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- Pantheon 2.0High confidencedatabase · pantheon.world
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