Ferdlnand Magellan was Portuguese but sailed on his un-precedented round-the-world expedition under the flag of Spain，Portugual's chief competitor in exploration .He had served aspage at the court of John Ⅱ，the Portuguese King who turneddown Columbus'request for financing a voyage west to India.Magellan also had been on Portuguese expeditions to the East In-dies and had fought in Morocco ，where he was wounded inaction and permanently lamed.He was accused of tradingwith the Moroccans—tantamount to treason—denied a pen-sion，and dismissed in 1517 from the armed forces .Bitter at thistreatment ，Magellan joined the Spanish service.
费迪南德·麦哲伦是葡萄牙人，但他在史无前例的环球探险中挂的却是葡萄牙探险的主要竞争对手西班牙的国旗。麦哲伦曾经在拒绝资助哥伦布向西去印度的航行的葡萄牙国王约翰二世的宫廷当过差。麦哲伦还参加过葡萄牙组织的去东印度的探险，在摩洛哥打过仗，并因受伤而终身致残跛了一条腿。他被指控同摩洛哥人做交易 ——等于背叛——与1517年从军队被解雇，而且不发给养老金。麦哲伦对此非常不满，所以投效了西班牙。