FERDINAND MAGELLAN. 



m 



lomateya, who was then reigning at Ternate, learned 

 from the Arabs how to build vessels, and, having pre- 

 pared a fleet, conquered the Sxila Islands. The Ai-abs 

 and Javanese meantime made gi'eat exertions to con- 

 vert these people to Mohammedanism, and in a. d, 

 1460 * a little more than two centuries after it had 

 been introduced into Java, Mahum, the prince of Ter- 

 nate, became a Mohammedan " through the influence 

 of the Javanese." About this time Malays and Chi- 

 nese came from Banda to piirchase cloves, whic^ they 

 sold to Indian traders at Malacca In 1512 Francisco 

 Serauo, whose vessel struck on the Turtle Islands, 

 when returning with D'Abreu from Amboina and 

 Banda, induced the natives to assist him iu getting 

 his ship afloat while the rest of the fleet were return- 

 ing to Malacca, and to pilot him to Ternate; and 

 thus he was the first European who reached the great 

 centre of the clove-trade. In 1521 the fleet of Magel- 

 lan anchored off Tidore, an island separated from 

 Ternate by only a narrow strait. 



Ferdinand Magellan, who organized this fleet, was 

 a Portuguese nobleman. He sailed, however, under 

 the patronage of Charles V. of Spain, On the 20th 

 of September, 1519, he left the port of St. Lucas ^vith 

 " five smaU ships of from sixty to one hundred and 

 thirty tons," his object being to find a ti^<?.s^mj passage 

 to the Indies, particularly the Spice Islands. Coast- 



* This diito is corroborated by Pigafetta, wlio wrote in 1621, and 

 remarks in regard to this point : " Hardly fifty yeare h&ve elapsed since 

 the Moors (Araba) conquered (converted) Malucco (tlie Moloccaa), and 

 dwelt there. Previonsly these islands were peopled with Gentiles (i. e., 

 beathen) only." 



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