Extra History

Exploring the Pacific - Magellan's Mistake (87x4)

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Ferdinand Magellan has made a very, very big mistake. Determined to circumnavigate the world, and cross the ocean Balboa had sighted in 1513, he’d just finished a perilous four-month journey—rounding South America and making it all the way to a previously unknown series of islands: the Philippines. He’d gotten involved in local politics, converting a ruler and his kingdom to the Catholic faith. But to keep their new conquest secure, they must crush a rival sub-chieftain, Lapulapu, who would not submit to Catholicism. Magellan tells his local allies to stay on the ship—he will take forty-nine men and overawe Lapulapu’s men with muskets and crossbows. They wade into knee-deep water, firing muskets, but to little effect. The Mactan warriors are unafraid of their weapons. Magellan has come a long way to die in the surf.