3. The Man Who First Sailed Around the World

Columbus said, “Give me money to buy ships, and I will prove that the earth is round by sailing around it.” But he never did sail around the earth, after all. Nor did Americus Vespucius. This was left for another sailor, named Fernando Magellan. In 1519, twelve years after the death of Columbus, he started from Spain with a large fleet of ships, hoping to find, through this new land, a way by which he might sail around the world. He sailed directly across the Atlantic Ocean to America, looking up and down the coast for an opening to the other ocean which a sailor one day had seen. Finding no opening, he sailed down to the most southern point of South America, and after sailing around Cape Horn, he came out into the great ocean. When he saw it first it looked smiling and peaceful. So on account of its calm, sunny appearance, he named it the “Pacific,” which means “peaceful.” Sailing over the Pacific Ocean he came at last to the Indies, to India, and to Spain. Then he knew that he had sailed around the world. So what Columbus had said and believed so earnestly, Fernando Magellan proved at last to be true—the earth is round!