Here Magellan delayed in order to make
an alliance with the ruler of Cebu and in-
tercede in a conflict between that tribe and
the ruler of the nearby island of Mactan.
On April 27, the Mactans attacked a party
Magellan was leading ashore and killed the
commander.
After Magellan’s death, the survivors
abandoned another ship and fled the Phil-
ippines. Juan Sebastian Elcano took com-
mand of the company. The expedition
reached the Spice Islands in November and
took on their hard-won cargo of cloves
and cinnamon. Another ship was captured
by the Portuguese and the sole remaining
ship, theVictoria, set out for the return to
Spain. Suffering from disease and malnu-
trition, the crew struggled into port on
September 6, 1522, with only 18 members
of the original 270-man expedition alive.
Magellan’s expedition was the first to
circumnavigate the globe and the first to
navigate the strait in South America con-
necting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.
Magellan’s crew made numerous, valuable
discoveries. They observed several animals
that were entirely new to European sci-
ence. These included the “camel without
humps” (possibly the llama, guanaco,
vicuña, or alpaca) and a black “goose” that
had to be skinned instead of plucked (the
penguin).
Two of the closest galaxies, the Magel-
lanic Clouds, were discovered by crew
members in the southern hemisphere. The
full extent of the earth was also realized,
since their voyage was 14,460 leagues
(69,800 km or 43,400 miles).
Finally, an international date line was
established. Upon their return they ob-
served a mismatch of one day between
their calendars and those who did not
travel, even though they faithfully main-
tained their ship’s log. However, they did
not have clocks accurate enough to ob-
serve the variation in the length of the day
during the journey. This phenomenon
caused great excitement at the time, to the
extent that a special delegation was sent to
the pope to explain this oddity to him.
Malatesta, Sigismondo Pandolfo .......
(1417–1468)
The lord of the Italian city of Rimini,
Sigismondo Malatesta was a tyrant, a ruth-
less commander of mercenary armies, and
a significant patron of Renaissance artists
and architects. He was born in Brescia, the
son of Pandolfo Malatesta, whose ancestral
home of Rimini was violently contested by
the armies of the pope. At the age of thir-
teen, Sigismondo began his military ca-
reer, taking up arms against Carlo Malat-
esta, the lord of Pesaro, who had allied
with Pope Martin V in hopes of conquer-
ing Rimini. After defeating Carlo, Sigis-
mondo was appointed vicar of the towns
of Rimini, Cesena, and Fano by the pope;
in 1432, at the age of fifteen, he became
the lord of Rimini by succeeding his half
brother Galeotto Roberto, who resigned
the title to escape the many conspiracies
and violence surrounding his family’s
court.
His renown as a military leader spread-
ing throughout Italy, Sigismondo joined
forces with the pope while still in his teens
to defeat a campaign by the Spanish mer-
cenary Sante Cirillo. In 1437 he occupied
the city of Cervia; although the pope ex-
communicated him for this action, he was
soon restored to the good graces of the
church and made a commander. He allied
with Francesco Sforza of Milan and in
1442 married Sforza’s daughter, Polissena.
He became Sforza’s rival when the latter
obtained Pesaro from Carlo Malatesta. He
entered the service of King Alfonso V of
Naples but turned against his patron by
Malatesta, Sigismondo Pandolfo