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50 free Ferdinand Magellan trivia questions with answers — history quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
This Ferdinand Magellan trivia quiz covers the Portuguese captain who planned the first voyage around the world and did not live to finish it. The easy questions cover the basics: the country he came from, the king he sailed for, the ocean he named, the strait that carries his name, the islands where he died and the ship that got home. From there it moves through his years in Portuguese India, the wound at Azemmour that left him with a limp, the falling-out with King Manuel, the slave Enrique who may have been the first man to circle the globe, and the letters from his friend Serrão in the Spice Islands. The harder end covers the crew of 270 and where they came from, the mutiny at St Julian and how Magellan broke it, the wreck of the Santiago and the desertion of the San Antonio, the 98-day Pacific crossing and the quince that may have kept him free of scurvy, the theft at Guam, the first Mass at Limasawa, the blood compact at Cebu, the battle on Mactan as Pigafetta saw it, the poisoned banquet, the 26 tons of cloves, the day the crew lost, and how his reputation was trashed by the survivors before Pigafetta's diary rescued it. Every answer was checked against Magellan's encyclopaedia entry and the article on the expedition before publishing, and the supporting sentence is stored with each question. Our Christopher Columbus and James Cook quizzes are natural companions.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Ferdinand Magellan was born in which country?
Portugal
He sailed for Spain only after King Manuel I of Portugal repeatedly refused to back his plan.
Q 02Which Spanish king approved Magellan's plan to reach the Spice Islands by sailing west?
Charles I
He was the future Holy Roman Emperor Charles V; Magellan became his subject and admiral.
Q 03How many ships made up Magellan's 'Armada of Molucca'?
Five
Only one, the Victoria, completed the circumnavigation.
Q 04Which ship was the flagship of Magellan's fleet?
Trinidad
The Victoria was the smallest carrack in the fleet and the only one to get home.
Q 05How old was Magellan when he enlisted in the fleet carrying Francisco de Almeida to India in 1505?
25
He stayed eight years in the East and was wounded at Cannanore in 1506.
Q 06In which Moroccan campaign of 1513 did Magellan suffer a leg wound that left him with a permanent limp?
Azemmour
He was then falsely accused of trading with the Moors and never got another Portuguese posting.
Q 07Which friend and possible cousin of Magellan settled in the Moluccas and wrote to him about the spice territories?
Francisco Serrão
Serrão became military adviser to the Sultan of Ternate; Magellan had once risked his life to rescue him at Malacca.
Q 08What was the name of the Malay slave and interpreter Magellan brought back from Malacca?
Enrique
Magellan told the Spanish king he was a native of the Spice Islands to 'prove' they lay in Spain's half of the world.
Q 09Which 1494 treaty divided the world between the Iberian crowns and underpinned Magellan's claim to the Moluccas?
The Treaty of Tordesillas
The eastern line was only formalised in the 1529 Treaty of Zaragoza.
Q 10With which cosmographer did Magellan study charts in Seville and plan the westward route?
Rui Faleiro
On 22 March 1518 the king named both men captains general and Commanders of the Order of Santiago.
Q 11From which port did Magellan's fleet finally set sail on 20 September 1519?
Sanlúcar de Barrameda
The ships had left Seville on 10 August and waited five weeks at the river mouth.
Q 12Roughly how many men sailed with Magellan?
About 270
Around 60 percent were Spaniards; there were 28 Portuguese, 27 Italians, 15 Frenchmen and one Englishman.
Q 13How did King Manuel react to Magellan sailing for Spain?
He sent a fleet after him
Manuel allegedly had the Magellan coat of arms defaced at the family house in Sabrosa too.
Q 21How long did Magellan expect the Pacific crossing to take?
Three or four days
It took three months and twenty days, and around 30 men died, mostly of scurvy.
Q 22What personal food supply may have kept Magellan free of scurvy on the Pacific crossing?
Preserved quince
Unknown to anyone at the time, it contained vitamin C.
Q 23On 6 March 1521, at which island did the exhausted fleet first make landfall after crossing the Pacific?
Guam
The Chamorro took rigging, knives and a ship's boat; Magellan retaliated by burning houses and killing several men.
Q 14Which Venetian scholar joined the voyage as a supernumerary and wrote its most reliable account?
Antonio Pigafetta
He published his diary in Venice around 1524, countering the mutineers' version of events.
Q 15Where did the fleet spend five months waiting out the southern winter of 1520?
Port St. Julian
They had spent three months searching the coast for a passage, including a false start in the River Plate estuary.
Q 16How many of his five ships did Magellan briefly lose to the mutineers at St. Julian?
Three
Only the flagship and one small ship stayed loyal; disguised marines retook the Victoria and Mendoza was stabbed in the throat.
Q 17What punishment did Magellan give the mutineer Juan de Cartagena?
Marooned on the coast
Quesada was beheaded, Mendoza was already dead, and a priest was marooned alongside Cartagena.
Q 18Which ship was wrecked in a storm while scouting south of St. Julian, without loss of life?
Santiago
Its 35 survivors lived on shellfish at Santa Cruz for two weeks until rescued.
Q 19Which ship deserted the fleet in the strait and sailed back to Spain?
San Antonio
Its crew reached Seville in May 1521 and blamed everything on Magellan; his wife was placed under house arrest.
Q 20Why did Magellan name the ocean he entered in November 1520 the 'Mar Pacifico'?
Because it was so still and peaceful after the strait
Until the 18th century it was sometimes called the Sea of Magellan in his honour.
Q 24On which small island did Magellan's crew hold the first Mass in the Philippines on 31 March 1521?
Limasawa
They planted a cross on its highest hill; the local rajahs wore quantities of gold that caught Magellan's eye.
Q 25Which ruler of Cebu was baptised 'Carlos' after being converted by Magellan?
Rajah Humabon
His queen took the name Juana and asked for the image of the Santo Niño; the two men then sealed a blood compact.
Q 26On which island was Magellan killed on 27 April 1521?
Mactan
Its chief, Lapulapu, refused conversion and refused to hand over the body even for a ransom of copper and iron.
Q 27According to Pigafetta, how many men did Magellan take ashore for his final battle?
49
They waded through water for 'more than two crossbow flights' because rocks kept the boats offshore.
Q 28How did Pigafetta describe Magellan in the sentence recording his death?
'Our mirror, our light, our comfort, and our true guide'
He was struck in the face by a spear, then in the arm, then cut down in the leg with a cutlass.
Q 29What number of Filipinos had Magellan converted to Christianity in his few weeks in the islands?
As many as 2,200
They included the ruler of Cebu and most leaders around it, but not Lapulapu.
Q 30What did the newly baptised ruler of Cebu do to the Spaniards after Magellan's defeat?
Poisoned many of them at a banquet
The fleet fled the Philippines and later burned the Concepción for lack of men to crew three ships.