Figures of the Renaissance - Ferdinand Magellan :: essays research papers fc

Figures of the RenaissanceFerdinand Magellan      Ferdinand Magellan was a leader of the Renaissance and a benefactor to modern science. The results of his voyage around the globe were such that the average person living during the Renaissance re-thought their paradigms of the world surrounding them, even know most scholars and opposite educated types knew that in fact, the world was round in shape. Ferdinand, however, proved it. Thus he lays claim to having circumnavigated the first voyage around the world.Born 1480 to lesser nobles living near Vila Real in northern Portugal, Magellan was raised as a page to the Portuguese king John II in the princely court at Lisbon. Magellan was educated from then on, becoming interested in geography and astronomy, thus in 1496 he became a squire. In the year 1505 Magellan would aspire his first taste of the sea, at the age of 20. He was sent to India to install Portuguese viceroy Francisco de Almeida, as well as establis h naval bases along the way. As it turns out, Magellan also had his first combat experience on this mission. A local king refused to pay a tribute to the king, and as such Magellan and Almeidas party attacked, conquering the city of Kilwa in what is now modern-day Tanzania. Magellan continued to do well in his seafaring missions, and was eventually promoted to captain, when in 1510 he sailight-emitting diode a ship east without permission losing him his command and forcing him back to Portugal. After being sent on a mission against a Moorish-Moroccan force, he received a knee injury later which he was accused of illegal trade with the Moors. This coupled with a bad report of Magellan by Almeida to the Portuguese court after Magellan took leave without permission caused him to fall out of favor with current King Emanuel I, who told Magellan that after May 15, 1514. Thus Magellan renounced his nationality and changed his name from the Portuguese "Ferno de Magalhes" to the Spa nish "Fernando de Magallanes" and sought to offer his services to the Spanish court.Upon reaching Spain, Magellan found friends and gained some amount of deviate in the Spanish port of Seville. One such influence worth naming is Juan Rodriguez de Fonseca, rival to Christopher Columbus. Somewhere along the way Magellan had acquired a map that indicated there was a passage through South America that led to the Pacific Ocean, Magellan believed that through this was a route to the Spice Islands, which in this time were very sought after within the spice trade.